corrente

Redux: Excerpts below from an interview with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now.

RAY MCGOVERN: What this indicates, I mean, this is all sort of in the weeds until you step back and you say why is all this happening? It is all happening because there are lies upon lies, deceit upon deceit that have been used to justify this illegal war on against an unprovoked enemy, or an enemy that does not provoke us. Once the lies start unraveling, and people see they can speak out, that is going to be real trouble for the administration, and so what do you do? You do all you can to intimidate them. And how you intimidate them is to try to hurt them in a personal way. Going after somebody's wife, I mean, not even Richard Nixon stooped to that.

Ray McGovern, referring above to the outing of Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, as a CIA operative.

McGovern, a 27 year veteran CIA analyst, (1981-85) conducted daily briefings for Vice President George Bush Sr. during the Reagan administration.

RAY MCGOVERN: Well, you know it's really interesting. When we saw these people coming back in town, all of us said who were around in those days said, oh my god, "the crazies" are back - "the crazies" - that's how we referred to these people.

McGovern, referring above to the "Wolfowitzes" the "Rumsfelds" and the "Cheneys".

RAY MCGOVERN: Well, when Wolfowitz prepared that defense posture statement in 1991, where he elucidated the strategic vision that has now been implemented, Jim Baker, Secretary of State, Brent Scowcroft, security advisor to George Bush, and George Bush said hey, that thing goes right into the circular file. Suppress that thing, get rid of it. Somebody had the presence of mind to leak it and so that was suppressed. But now to see that arise out of the ashes and be implemented. while we start a war against Iraq, I wonder what Bush the first is really thinking. Because these were the same guys that all of us referred to as "the crazies".

The things ya see when you don't have a butterfly net.