Part 4
Now to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. There are the major anomalies listed in part 1. The fact that, as explained in part 2, it was virtually guaranteed that the investigator and the person in Plame's department who suggested him would have close personal ties. The fact that, as explained in part 3, the Busheviks are known to have made pre-emptive attacks upon those who presented the threat of exposing their lies about WMD's and Plame's department was a similar threat (perhaps even a bigger threat than the others).
The plan, in outline, goes like this. Pick a WMD (or sub-component of a WMD, or whatever) and a country that could potentially supply it. Forge some not-very convincing documents suggesting that Iraq had contacted that country about that WMD (or sub-component, or whatever). Ask the CIA to investigate the claim. When the report comes back negative, deliberately ignore it and continue to make use of it. Eventually the investigator leaks the report to the press. Attack and smear the investigator's integrity. Say that the investigator was sent on a boondoggle by somebody within the CIA to whom he had strong personal ties, and expose that person within the CIA. Watch the CIA department investigating WMD proliferation and trafficking crash and burn. Claim you didn't mean to destroy the department, it was collateral damage in your attack on the investigator and you didn't realize it would happen. Grin, evilly, at getting away with it.
Now for the nitty-gritty and how it resolves the anomalies.
There were two good reasons for choosing Niger yellowcake. Firstly, it is used to make nuclear weapons, the scariest of WMDs. Secondly, it would not be a problem when the report was (as intended) negative and leaked to the press, because you could always point out that Iraq already had many barrels of the stuff. So the first major anomaly, of why the Busheviks apparently relied on the Niger yellowcake claims when they could have pointed out all the yellowcake Iraq already had, is resolved. If they'd gone with the existing yellowcake there would be no reason for an investigation because El Baradei and the IAEA confirmed that Saddam already had that (after all, they'd put seals on the barrels so they could tell if Iraq opened them).
The forgeries were intentionally bad. They had to be. If they'd been perfect in all respects the CIA might take them as conclusive and not bother to investigate any further. If they'd been even worse forgeries then the CIA might dismiss them altogether without further investigation. They had to be just right: not too hot, not too cold. Bad enough that the CIA tells Cheney that they are obvious forgeries. But with just enough that was correct that Cheney could legitimately require further investigation. "OK, you think they're forgeries. But could there be a grain of truth in them? Could the forger have heard of a deal and decided to create these documents to make money out of what he knew? I know it's unlikely, but I don't think we can take the risk. You'd better investigate." Cheney buys himself "plausible deniability" by asking the CIA to investigate just in case. So that's the second major anomaly resolved.
The third major anomaly was that Cheney, this one time, instead of taking bogus intelligence and using it despite the CIA telling him it was bogus, asked for an investigation. We know that he had little regard for the truth because long after various Bushevik lies had been exposed (unfortunately, too late to prevent the war) he continued to claim them as truth. We know that he was quite happy to take at face value the aluminium tubes story despite the State Department saying the intelligence was bogus and the Department of Energy saying the tubes were entirely unsuitable for centrifuges. He even continued to make those claims long after everyone else in the administration had conceded the tubes weren't for making centrifuges after all. But this one time, rather than gleefully pouncing on these documents and using them, Cheney requested an investigation. Well, of course he did: the investigation was an integral part of the plan to destroy Plame's department.
The fourth major anomaly was Condi telling Wilson to go public about it. Cheney and Bush were both continuing to make the Niger claims despite Wilson repeatedly using all his contacts to try to alert the administration that what they were saying was untrue. So despite knowing that Cheney and Bush were apparently relying on the Niger claims to bolster the case for war, and that Wilson could blow those claims out of the water, faithful, loyal Condi told Wilson to go ahead and make Cheney and Bush out to be liars. Well, of course she did: attacking Wilson by outing his wife was an integral part of the plan to destroy Plame's department.
The fifth major anomaly, as I pointed out in part 2 turns out not to be an anomaly for the conventional explanation of Plamegate. But that explanation also shows why the plan to destroy Plame's department in this manner required no luck at all. Whoever was sent to investigate would have strong personal ties to whoever in Plame's department suggested his name. So it was pretty much guaranteed that when the negative report was leaked to the press it would be possible to attack the investigator by suggesting that he'd been sent on a boondoggle by that person in Plame's department, thereby outing a CIA NOC and destroying the entire network of contacts and sources for that department.
Not convinced? Compare the two explanations side-by-side:
| Conventional Explanation | Destroy a Potential Threat |
|---|---|
| In their attempt to justify war, the Busheviks bizarrely sieze upon a claim about Niger yellowcake even though Saddam already has plenty of the stuff. | The Niger documents were an integral part of the plan to destroy Plame's department, whereas the existing yellowcake could not be used to destroy Plame's department. |
| Although there is mounting evidence that the Busheviks were behind the forgeries, which they were (apparently) to use as a major selling point for war, the forgeries contained many obvious errors. | The errors were an integral part of the plan to destroy Plame's department. |
| Despite making use of every other bit of information that the CIA had warned him was bogus, Cheney uncharacteristically decides that he wants further investigation. | The investigation was an integral part of the plan to destroy Plame's department. |
| Despite the fact that it would remove what was an apparently major argument in support of the war, despite the fact that it would make Bush and Cheney look like fools and liars, Condi practically begged Wilson to go public about it. | Having Wilson go public was an integral part of the plan to destroy Plame's department. |
| The Busheviks go all out to attack Wilson. One of the attacks happened to be that, by pure luck, Wilson's wife suggested his name. | There was no luck involved, it was virtually guaranteed that there would be strong personal ties between whoever was sent to investigate and whoever in Plame's department put the investigator's name forward. These personal ties were an integral part of the plan to destroy Plame's department. |
| The Busheviks didn't realize at the time they mentioned her name that Plame was a CIA NOC. | It was an integral part of the plan to destroy Plame's department that they could count on whoever put forward Wilson's name being a CIA NOC. |
| It is an ironical coincidence that Plame worked for the CIA department that deals with the proliferation and trafficking of WMDs and nobody who leaked her name realized that. | It was an integral part of the plan to destroy Plame's department that Wilson would be sent by that department. |
| It is doubly-ironic, and entirely accidental, that by outing Plame they destroyed her department at the very time when they supposedly needed it most, to protect the country from all the terrorists who might get hold of WMDs. | That was the plan all along, so they wouldn't have to worry about Plame's department exposing their lies. But, of course, it had to look like an accident. |
| The cynical would suggest that, purely by accident, the Busheviks got a "two-fer" because they not only retaliated against Wilson, they "accidentally" removed a potential threat that might, in the future, expose their lies about WMDs either (prior to the Iraqi war) in Iraq, or about whichever oil-rich country on the list they decide to invade next. It couldn't have worked out better for them had they planned it that way. | They did plan it that way. |
| Oooops! When we attacked Wilson we accidentally destroyed the CIA department responsible for monitoring the proliferation and trafficking of WMDs. It was an accident. We were just attacking Wilson and this happened as an unwanted side-effect. | Woohoo!!!!! Another potential threat dealt with, just like Bustani. Too bad we failed with El Baradei. |
Which explanation seems more convincing to you? The one full of bizarre anomalies and "accidents" that just happened to remove a potential threat? Or the one that has no anomalies or accidents and was the result of deliberate planning to remove a potential threat?
Are they bright enough to come up with such a convoluted scheme? Rove certainly is. Are they evil enough to go through with it? They repeatedly told many lies to persuade the US to embark upon a war of imperial aggression; a war which has killed over 2,000 US soldiers; a war which has killed tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis; a war which breaks Geneva conventions by deliberately targeting civilians and torturing prisoners. Bush and Cheney are, at this moment, fighting desperately to overturn a Senate proposal to make torture illegal (it already is, but this proposal gets rid of a few loopholes that the Busheviks have exploited) or at least to permit the CIA to continue using torture even if the Military is barred from using it (all the while proclaiming that the Bush administration does not condone torture and would never authorize it).
These people are truly evil. Even if you didn't know how evil these people are, which of the two explanations for Plamegate seems more likely? There can be only one answer.
And, knowing how evil these people are, you don't really need to know about the five left-over pieces of the jigsaw puzzle to figure out what really happened. Without those pieces you might not understand how they did it, but knowing that the end-result suited their plans so well you'd have to conclude that they must have done it somehow.