as we address the challenges:
A key House committee issued a stinging critique of U.S. intelligence on Iran yesterday, charging that the CIA and other agencies lack "the ability to acquire essential information necessary to make judgments" on Tehran's nuclear program, its intentions or even its ties to terrorism.Dafna Linzer/WaPo 24.Aug.06
[...]
Jamal Ware, spokesman for the House intelligence committee, said three staff members wrote the report, but he did not dispute that the principal author was Frederick Fleitz, a former CIA officer who had been a special assistant to John R. Bolton, the administration's former point man on Iran at the State Department. Bolton had been highly influential in the crafting of a tough policy that rejected talks with Tehran.
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a relay team of hawkish officials providentially placed:
In April 2005, the New York Times reported on several antagonistic e-mails sent during 2002 by Fleitz to Christian Westermann, "the State Department's top expert on biological weapons," who also worked under Thielman.Christopher Deliso/balkanalysis.com/antiwar.com 24.11.05
Apparently, John Bolton could not tolerate the "wimpy" language that the INR recommended he use in a speech about Cuba. The always bellicose Bolton sought to accuse Cuba of developing biological weapons - a prospect even more fanciful than Iraq's alleged ambitions in the field. In any case, the war of attrition had its effect on Westermann, who on Sept. 23, 2002, wrote a high-ranking INR official, Thomas Fingar, stating that the incessant attacks from Bolton/Fleitz were "affecting my work, my health, and [my] dedication to public service."
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Fleitz and Joseph have been working:
The officials who have been leading the State Department reorganization plan are Frederick Fleitz and Robert Joseph. Fleitz now works for Joseph. Both men were appointed to their positions by President Bush. They have claimed publicly that the State Department reshuffle has nothing to do with retribution, rather it is aimed at helping that branch of the federal government to better deal with 21st century threats.Jason Leopold/truthout 24.03.06
Both men were directly involved in the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson, and have been targeted by Fitzgerald's probe as possible sources that unmasked Plame Wilson's identity to reporters, according to several people knowledgeable about the Fitzgerald probe and the roles Fleitz and Joseph played in the Plame Wilson leak.
At the time of the leak, Fleitz was a senior CIA Weapons Intelligence, Nonproliferation and Arms Control official as well as the chief of staff to John Bolton, the former Undersecretary of State for Arms Control, a position that Joseph was appointed to when Bolton was selected to be Ambassador to the United Nations by President Bush.
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Because he was his buddy and he likes to blog:
Ms. O'Connell: Bruce, it's patently absurd that the person who sends the e-mail is not going to speak about it, but the recipient is.War and Piece 11.05.05
Mr. Brown: I think what you want to know is what Freedman's role --
Ms. O'Connell: No, I want to know what Mr. Fleitz thought he was doing when he sent the e-mail. Why did he send it? Because he was his buddy and he likes to blog?
Mr. Brown: Mr. Fleitz --
Ms. O'Connell: I assume Mr. Fleitz is a busy man, and he sends e-mails for a purpose. Maybe I'm mistaken.
Mr. Fleitz: I think we're done. ..
Ms. O'Connell: So the record shows Mr. Fleitz is refusing to answer? ..
Mr. Brown: -- well, Mr. Fleitz thought about it, and we thought about it, and I think maybe perhaps these are questions that are probably best -- are best posed to Mr. Freedman.
Ms. O'Connell: That's laughable, Bruce.
Mr. McKeon: Can you at least give us a justification why Mr. Fleitz is not allowed to explain his own e-mails, or willing to? ...
[Whereupon, at 12:00 p.m, the hearing was adjourned.]
