Kos put up a front-page story earlier today on Murray Waas's
article in the National Journal on how
Rove feared Yellowcake could sink Bush's reelection.
BooMan23 followed it up with a diary and some more analysis,
Latest Waas on Plame: Aluminum Tubes. I'm sure there have been other diaries on this as well.
Well, Josh Marshall over at the Talking Points Memo claims that there's been a DEEP coverup on this and anything having to do with the administration's bogus claims of an Iraqi nuclear WMD program, and that it's been going on for a very long time. We obviously know about the whole Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame story that is clearly a key part of this coverup. But as Marshall claims, there is still much about this coverup that we haven't yet heard about.
And when it finally comes out--and it will--it will probably blow the doors off of this administration. As the saying goes, it's always the coverup that does the most political damage. And if they think they're in a world of hurt right now, they probably have no idea how much worse things are likely to get for them in the coming months (and years, once we take back the house and senate).
Here's Marshall's piece in the Talking Points Memo:
(March 30, 2006 -- 03:45 PM EST // link)
Murray Waas has another great piece in National Journal. This lengthy piece details how Karl Rove told the people at the White House that President Bush's 2004 reelection prospects would be severely damaged if the truth came out about what he knew about the bogus uranium story -- particularly, the fact that he'd personally been warned that the Niger story was probably bunk.
Here's what I can add to this story.
We saw this and the cover-up it spawned first hand. While I and reporters from CBS were working on this story through 2004 it was clear that folks on the Hill would agree to talk and then suddenly un-agree when they got the call from the White House. The White House worked doggedly at almost every turn to get the story killed or delayed beyond the election, which they of course did.
That's not all.
Various arms of the US government actually have been trying or at least been interested in trying to get to the bottom of the story. But that would require the cooperation of the Italian government. And that, of course, is not likely to be forthcoming since at least some elements in the Italian government are responsible for or participated in the scam. The problem? The Bush administration has not lifted a finger to get the Italians to cooperate. That's the hang-up. Why wouldn't the White House want the Italian government to cooperate with US law enforcement and intelligence agencies on getting to the bottom of this? Go back and read Waas's description of Rove's analysis -- the Niger case was kryptonite for the president.
The cover-up on this one is deep. Really deep. And much of it has yet to be uncovered.
You've got to wonder just how much of that $1.62 billion spent on advertising and PR by the Bush administration (yes, $1.62 BILLION!) has been diverted towards squelching the media and getting it to spin this and other stories its way (where do all those right-wing blogs get their funding, anyway?).
And, I've no doubt, there's got to be a massive slush fund (a la Watergate) being used for "unconventional pursuasive methods" to strong-arm, blackmail and perhaps bribe members of the media to back off from hard reporting on this and similar stories.
And don't forget the various legislative and executive order threats and enticements that have no doubt been made to corporate media owners to get them to steer coverage in favor of the Bush administration (why do you think Michael Powell was pushing so hard for media deregulation over at the FCC while his daddy was pushing hard for the war?).
It's the coverup, stupid. And if the coverup on this and who knows what other stories is as big as Marshall says it is (and which I believe it is), it's going to be absolutely NUKULAR once it comes out. And it will come out.
Democrats' October Surprise, anyone?