Another leaked memo pops up in the news across the pond ...

   "TONY BLAIR had to persuade US President George Bush not to launch a military strike on the studios of TV station Al-Jazeera.

   New reports claim the two leaders debated an attack on the station which has broadcast video messages from al-Qaida head Osama bin Laden and leaders of the insurgency in Iraq, as well as clips of dead British and US soldiers.

   There have been calls for Downing Street to publish the transcript of their conversation.

   According to sources it records Mr Bush suggesting that he might order the bombing of Al-Jazeera's studios in Qatar.

   And the transcript allegedly details how Mr Blair argued against an attack on the station's buildings in the business district of Doha, the capital city of Qatar, which is a key ally of the West in the Persian Gulf.

   It is claimed the transcript records a conversation during Mr Blair's visit to the White House on April 16 last year, in the wake of a failed attempt to root out insurgents in the city of Fallujah, in which 30 US Marines died.

   A spokesman for 10 Downing Street refused to discuss the leaked memo."

See extended entry for link, and more.

On Monday night, former CIA official Philip Giraldi appeared on "Countdown" to discuss his article for the November 21, 2005 issue of The American Conservative, "Forging the Case for War," in which he suggests that "both the Italian SISMI and the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans had access and the motive" for producing the forged Niger uranium documents.

"... Information developed by Italian investigators indicates that the documents were produced in Italy with the connivance of the Italian intelligence service. It also reveals that the introduction of the documents into the American intelligence stream was facilitated by Undersecretary of Defense Doug Feith's Office of Special Plans (OSP), a parallel intelligence center set up in the Pentagon to develop alternative sources of information in support of war against Iraq."

<snip>

"... The possible forgery of the information by Defense Department employees would explain the viciousness of the attack on Valerie Plame and her husband. Wilson, when he denounced the forgeries in the New York Times in July 2003, turned an issue in which there was little public interest into something much bigger. The investigation continues, but the campaign against this lone detractor suggests that the administration was concerned about something far weightier than his critical op-ed."

'Scuse me -- what? Senior staffers of Rumsfeld's Defense Department might've had a hand in creating and circulating those documents? I've been sorta following this story, but this was news to me.

And I've been more than a little surprised that this "story" hasn't been picked up by any other news outlet -- from the blogland, or otherwise (then again, maybe I'm just looking in all the wrong places).

Anyone else see the "Countdown" interview? Transcripts haven't been posted on the website yet, but the full-text of Giraldi's article is available online, here: http://www.amconmag.com/2005/2005_11_07/feature.html

Check it out.  It's pretty interesting.

The right-wing American Family Association is using the Schiavo case to get constituents to demand that Congress eliminate the filibuster provision (see the extended entry). They correctly state that this will be the most important vote taken in this session of Congress.

People for the American Way is launching a targeted tv campaign and petition drive to SAVE the filibuster and protect our independent judiciary.

Sign and circulate the petition NOW!
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=17698

SUPPORT "VIVA 2005" for Voter Verified Paper Ballots.

Time is running out!

Three competing election reform bills are being introduced in the Senate in the next two weeks.

But only ONE of them deserves YOUR  SUPPORT!

Find out why, and how to support this legislation at National Ballot Integrity Project: http://www.ballotintegrity.org/action.html

Please, pick up the phone today and call your Senators.

If you have a Republican senator, call and ask them to co-sponsor Senator Ensign's bill.

If you have a Democratic senator, call and ask them to support this bill, and NOT to support Senator Dodd's bill. It's a fast, simple phone call. The aides are nice people.

Here's the Capitol Switchboard number: (202) 224-3121 or toll free (888) 508-2974.

See the extended entry for a brief rundown of V.I.V.A 2005.

http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/index.html

January 26, 2005

 Big labor weighs in on DNC  
 By Hans Nichols

 AFL-CIO President John Sweeney has summoned four of the seven candidates to be the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee, dangling the prospect of an important endorsement and discussing their visions for how to rebuild the party, according to campaign and union officials.

The private, often lengthy meetings occurred independently of yesterday's cattle call of all seven DNC candidates before some 50 AFL-CIO political directors, providing a clearer indication of which candidates labor sees as viable.