Times Watch for July 16, 2003

Kristofs Conspiratorial Sources

Tuesdays 16 Words, And Counting column by Nicholas Kristof pounces on the controversial sentence in Bushs 2003 State of the Union address concerning Saddam seeking uranium in Africa. Kristof opens: After I wrote a month ago about the Niger uranium hoax in the State of the Union address, a senior White House official chided me gently and explained that there was more to the story that I didnt know. Yup. And now it's coming out. Based on conversations with people in the intelligence community, this picture is emerging: the White House, eager to spice up the State of the Union address, recklessly resurrected the discredited Niger tidbit.

Kristof later writes: So the problem is not those 16 words, by themselves, but the larger pattern of abuse of intelligence. The silver lining is that the spooks are so upset that they're speaking out.

Since Kristof doesnt repeat the 16 words Bush said in the State of the Union, Times Watch will: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Note Bush didnt even refer to Niger. A world-traveler like Kristof surely knows that Africa isnt just one big country, but many, including some that arent Niger.

Bob Somerby (editor of the Daily Howler, and Al Gores roommate at Harvard) of all people, defends Bush against Kristofs very strange column, accusing Kristof of conflating the Niger uranium hoax with Bushs 16 words about Saddam seeking uranium in Africa.

Another question raised by another blogger: Where is Kristof getting his information? In his latest column, Kristof also approvingly notes that a group of retired spooks has written an open letter to Bush fingering Vice President Dick Cheney for blame over the Niger uranium controversy and calling for Cheneys resignation.

What Kristof surely knew, but didnt mention, and what blogger William Sjostrom discovered with a little digging, is that the group Kristof cites, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, has close ties to a left-wing site, Counterpunch, a newsletter and website run by Nation columnist Alexander Cockburn, a man so far left hes been called a Stalinist by fellow Nation columnist Eric Alterman.

How close? Well, VIPS open letter appears on the Counterpunch website and you can reach VIPS at Counterpunch: Their email address is vips@counterpunch.org.

Counterpunch has committed some dubious journalism in the past. Cockburn spreads anti-Semitic conspiracy theories in the March 12, 2002 edition of Counterpunch: It's supposedly the third rail in journalism even to have a discussion of how much the Jews do control the media.Certainly, there are a number of stories sloshing around the news now that have raised discussions of Israel and of the posture of American Jews to an acrid level. The purveyor of anthrax may have been a former government scientist, Jewish, with a record of baiting a colleague of Arab origins, and with the intent to blame the anthrax on Muslim terrorists. Rocketing around the web and spilling into the press are many stories about Israeli spies in America at the time of 9/11. On various accounts, they were trailing (Mohammed) Atta and his associates, knew what was going to happen but did nothing about it, or were simply spying on US facilities.

VIPS has made some interesting conspiratorial musings as well, regarding Iraq. Ray McGovern, a retired CIA intelligence analyst on VIPS steering committee. On the June 4 Fox News Channel show The Big Story With John Gibson, McGovern advanced the claim that the famous toppling of Saddams statue was actually done by fifty members of Chalabis horde. (Thats a reference to Iraqi opposition leader Ahmed Chalabi, who the left criticizes as too close to American interests.)

In April, McGovern suggested to Agence France Presse that the United States would plant WMD if they failed to find it: "Some of my colleagues are virtually certain that there will be some weapons of mass destruction found, even though they might have to be planted. I'm just as sure that some few will be found, but not in an amount that by any stretch would justify the charge of a threat against the US or anyone else."

Yet Kristof apparently finds VIPS credible, which begs the question: Is Kristof?

For the rest of Kristofs column on VIPS, click here.