Raw Story apparently has
another "scoop" regarding Leakgate/The Neocon Conspiracy/the Plame Affair, but, unfortunately, they got a key fact wrong in this statement:
Those close to the investigation say that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has been told that David Wurmser, then a Middle East adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, met with Cheney and his chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby in June 2003 and told him that Plame set up the Wilson trip.
The part in bold is inaccurate, if the June 2003 date is correct.
But, that may be a good thing, because in June 2003, Wurmser was still working at the State Department as senior adviser to John Bolton.
Come with me below the break to follow the complicated path of Mr. Wurmser through different offices of the executive branch...
(Note: this information comes from my
Franklin Case timeline, which can still be seen at my old, defunct blog)
As Raw Story points out, David Wurmser was ther author of "A Clean Break" in 1996. And, as they also point out, he was recruited in September 2001 by Doug Feith and Harold Rhode to help create the secret intelligence unit which was tasked with finding the "intelligence" needed to support a case for war with Iraq. Wurmser came to the Pentagon by way of the American Enterprise Institute, where he had worked as Director of Middle East Studies, and has been described as a protoge of Richard Perle.
As the theory goes, Rhode, Larry Franklin (indicted and plead guilty in AIPACgate), and Michael Ledeen (the Neocon of Iran-Contra fame, and national security adviser to Karl Rove), met with Manucher Ghorbanifar, Nicolo Pollari (head of Italy's military intelligence agency, SISMI), and Italian Minister of Defense Antonio Martino (well-known in neoconservative circles in Washington) in December 2001. It is suspected that this is where and when the plan regarding creating forged documents concerning attempts by Iraq to obtain uranium yellowcake from Niger was hatched. This theory seems plausible, as the infamous break in at the Niger embassy in Rome had taken place back on January 1, 2001. Nothing was reported stolen, but documents were rifled through. The yellowcake documents were then obtained by SISME several months after the meeting.
Then, in early 2002, the secret Pentagon intelligence unit was falded into the new Office of Special Plans (OSP), headed by William Luti. Rhode, not Wurmser, reportedly began acting as the offical liason between OSP and Ahmed Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress.
Luti had come to OSP by way of Cheney's office, where he had served on the staff. Wursmer, meanwhile, was shifted out of DoD and became senior adviser to Undersecretary of State John Bolton, who was then in charge of the State Department's disarmament, proliferation, and WMD office and was actively promoting the Iraq war at State.
Then, May 2003 comes around and Ambassador Wilson begins discrediting the Niger yellowcake theory/rationale. Wurmser was still at State (not in Cheney's office, as Raw Story states), but he would have had every reason to discredit/silence Wilson since he had been involved in the intelligence unit that had likely helped create the Niger fogeries.
The fact that Wurmser worked at State at the time is also important because it put him in proximity to a man that likely knew of Valerie Plame, her work, and her relationship to Joseph Wilson. Specifically, Bolton's senior advisor and sometimes chief of staff, Frederick Fleitz.
From Fleitz's own testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on April 7, 2005:
FREDERICK FLEITZ: My name is Frederick Fleitz, I'm a CI[A]
officer on detail to John Bolton's staff as a Special Assistant, I've been on detail since August 2001. I've been a CI[A] officer for nineteen years, and I came the, a CI[A] WINPAC, the Weapons Intelligence Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Center. I've done some work in WMD, most of my work has been on international organizations,...
WINPAC. Sound familiar? It should, because Scooter Libby told Judy Miller that Valerie "Flame" worked for WINPAC, which we now know was inaccurate information. Also, from emptywheel's diary on Fleitz we know that it is possible that Fleitz, despite working in a different office Plame, may still have known of her identity (maybe only enough to get the name wrong?).
So, let's follow the logic regarding Wurmser so far:
- Wurmser worked within the office that helped create the phony Niger documents
- Wurmser then is moved to State to help Bolton push for the war in a Department headed by the more moderate Colin Powell
- When Joe Wilson begins discrediting the yellowcake accusations, the Neocons probably get nervous that the faked documents will be tracked back to them. Wurmser learns from Fleitz that Wilson's wife works at CIA
- Wurmser, believing that Plame worked with Fleitz at CIA, tells Scooter that Valerie Plame/Flame worked at WINPAC
- Scooter passes this inaccurate information on to Judy Miller, who dutifully jots it down in her notes
These events take place in May/June 2003. It was not until
mid-September 2003 that Wurmser was moved over Cheney's office as Middle East adviser.
This little adjustment to the facts reported by Raw Story helps illuminate this case a bit more, and indicates further that Fitzgerald may be looking at other actors, such as Fleitz, as well as the broader case surrounding the falsified Niger documents.