Fw: Wayne Madsen Report October 26, 2005
http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/
October 26, 2005 -- Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald quickly departed the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Court House at 1:00 PM EDT. The Grand Jury met again in a court room in the new annex to the court house. Fitzgerald had no comment in response to several questions asked by a throng of reporters who huddled around him as he walked to his waiting car, which drove him from the court house to his New York Avenue offices. One question was whether Fitzgerald has requested an extension of the grand jury, which is due to expire on Friday.
There is informed speculation that Fitzgerald may have requested an extension of the current grand jury. Others have speculated that Fitzgerald delivered sealed indictments on Leakgate today and will ask for a new grand jury in order to seek further indictments outside the scope of the original leak probe because of additional evidence that other crimes were committed related to the use of forged documents by the Bush administration.
Some details have emerged about the makeup of the grand jury. There is a majority of African-American women, a large number of which are employed by the Federal government.
There are also unconfirmed reports that Fitzgerald met with Karl Rove's attorney yesterday. A deal was reportedly offered to Rove in return for his cooperation. I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby reportedly also reached a deal with the prosecutor in return for his cooperation against Vice President Cheney. Fitzgerald reportedly met with Cheney's lawyers last Friday. Monday a questionnaire was reportedly delivered to Cheney by the prosecutor's staff seeking additional information on Cheney's knowledge of the CIA leak.
Fitzgerald entered the Court House this morning with a number of documents. Fitzgerald departed without the documents he he had in his possession when he entered the court house, giving rise to speculation that he delivered sealed indictments as WMR reported yesterday.
An expressionless Fitzgerald (third from left) had no response to questions from huddled reporters
Fitzgerald leaves the US Court House early this afternoon for his New York Avenue offices at the Bond Federal building (see article below)
October 26, 2005 -- The Grand Jury in CIA Leakgate is meeting again today at the US Court House in DC. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald entered the US District Court House at 9:00 am EDT. There are reports that sealed indictments will be returned against up to five individuals involved with the leak of classified CIA information to the media and criminal conspiracy to carry out and cover up the crime.
October 26, 2005 -- It is expected that up to five counts will be handed down against at least five individuals associated with CIA Leakgate. The counts include the organic crime (Intelligence Identities Protection Act and/or the Espionage Act, and/or mishandling classified material), perjury before a Grand Jury, making false statements to a Federal law enforcement official, obstruction of justice, and civil rights violations.
October 26, 2005 -- More details are emerging from the Italian newspaper La Repubblica concerning the backdooring of forged Niger documents into the White House and the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans by a special cell operating inside the Italian intelligence agency SISMI. The essential element of the Italian revelations is that Nicolo Pollari, the head of SISMI, went around CIA Director George Tenet to establish a personal liaison with then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy and Plans Douglas Feith, Pentagon and National Security Council consultant Michael Ledeen, and Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.
Pollari bypassed his own SISMI chief in Washington, Admiral Giuseppe Grignolo, an expert on WMD proliferation, to ensure forged Niger documents and other tainted intelligence on Iraqi weapons went directly to Rice and Ledeen through the Italian ambassador to Washington, Gianni Castellaneta, a Pollari loyalist. During the summer of 2002, Castellaneta set up a meeting between Pollari and Rice, a meeting at which phony intelligence on Iraqi WMDs was allegedly transmitted by the Italian official.
Grignolo had excellent relations with the CIA's Deputy Director for Operations James Pavitt (who was Valerie Plame Wilson's ultimate boss). The outing of Plame, Brewster Jennings & Associates, and the emaciation of the CIA's Counter Proliferation Division by Porter Goss loyalists is seen by intelligence officials in Washington and Rome as a blatant attempt to expose and ruin an untainted source of intelligence on WMD proliferation, thereby setting the stage for more phony WMD intelligence "finds" and a possible nuclear terrorism event.