More from the Fitzgerald investigation of the Rove - Plame connection

Good discussion of the investigation of Rove regarding the outing of Valerie Plame in Hullabaloo by Digby. His discussion also connects to 'The Iraq Group', a White House group of policy leaders who were instrumental in organizing the media blitz that convinced the American and British public to support the invasion of Iraq. Apparently Fitzgerald's investigation has looked at a lot of documents they created as part of the Plame investigation.

Digby also refers to his earlier discussion of the Iraq Group itself. Go look at my earlier discussion of the manner in which the Bush Administration used The Big Lie technique to stampede everyone into the unnecessary war in Iraq. Digby also refers to the report by Col. Sam Gardiner in which he describes how the White House planted over 50 false stories in the media to make their case.

"It was not bad intelligence" that lead to the quagmire in Iraq, "It was an orchestrated effort [that] began before the war" that was designed to mislead the public and the world. Gardiner's research lead him to conclude that the US and Britain had conspired at the highest levels to plant "stories of strategic influence" that were known to be false.

The Iraq Group was apparently the place where that propaganda effort was organized and coordinated. This is from Col. Gardiner's report:

Gardiner's dogged research identified a long list of stories that passed through Rumsfeld's propaganda mill. According to Gardiner, "there were over 50 stories manufactured or at least engineered that distorted the picture of Gulf II for the American and British people." Those stories include:

The link between terrorism, Iraq and 9/11

Iraqi agents meeting with 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta

Iraq's possession of chemical and biological weapons.

Iraq's purchase of nuclear materials from Niger.

Saddam Hussein's development of nuclear weapons.

Aluminum tubes for nuclear weapons

The existence of Iraqi drones, WMD cluster bombs and Scud missiles.

Iraq's threat to target the US with cyber warfare attacks.

The rescue of Pvt. Jessica Lynch.

The surrender of a 5,000-man Iraqi brigade.

Iraq executing Coalition POWs.

Iraqi soldiers dressing in US and UK uniforms to commit atrocities.

The exact location of WMD facilities

WMDs moved to Syria.

Every one of these stories received extensive publicity and helped form indelible public impressions of the "enemy" and the progress of the invasion. Every one of these stories was false.

This is classic "Big Lie Technique."

The connections to be found in the Fitzgerald investigation of the Plame Affair are becoming more interesting all the time.