Raw Story interview w/Michael Ledeen

by **albion** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 7:20 pm

Larisa Alexandrovna of Raw story has another interview with Ledeen. Here's a few excerpts: <blockquote>Quote:<hr> Conversations with Machiavelli's ghost: Denials mark neoconservative's account of past and present scandal [...] Raw Story's Larisa Alexandrovna: Looking back at your career and over the many controversies, the allegations that you were tied to P2 were the most intriguing. Is there any truth to this? Did you know Francesco Pazienza? Michael Ledeen: There’s no truth to the P2 charges. In fact I didn’t believe in its existence, even though various Italians, including Pazienza, were pushing me to interview Licio Gelli, who was the head of it. I was New Republic correspondent at the time, and it probably would have been a good story, but I thought it was just another of the endless conspiracy theories that one ran into every day. Probably I should have talked to Gelli, then you’d have another suspicious connection… Raw Story: I am not accusing you or attempting to locate suspicious connections. I am simply asking about allegations. How did you meet current SISMI chief Nicollo Pollari? You are good friends, no? Ledeen: Pollari isn't a good friend; he's a person I met occasionally, at bridge games in Rome. [...] The Niger forgeries RS: What about Panorama, the publication to which the Niger documents now known to be forgeries were delivered? You wrote for Panorama as we had previously discussed. Ledeen: As I've told you before, these claims are nonsensical. I have no point of contact with the Niger documents, I haven't even seen them or read them. I've never met Rocco Martino, and the sum total of my "work with SISMI" consists of one half day in Rome. RS: No point of contact with the Niger forgeries at all, as in you did not even hear of conversations regarding those documents? Ledeen: Again, I have no involvement of any sort in the Niger forgeries. I don’t know Burba or Berlusconi, never met either one. Rosella is a good professional journalist and editor, smart and fun to be with. But it is wrong to say that I “worked for Panorama.” They published occasional columns from me. Probably 15 or so over a couple of years in the mid-nineties. RS: In our last conversation you said it was a couple of years back that Panorama published your work. The "mid-nineties" is considerably more than a couple of years back. Have there been any columns since 2000 or 2002? Did you do any consulting work, outside of writing, for Panorama? Ledeen: I don't think I've written anything for Panorama since 2002, and probably not since 2000, although I would have to check. My only relationship with Panorama was the sale of occasional columns. <a href="http://rawstory.com/news/2006/Conversations_with_Machiavellis_ghost_Denials_mark_0307.html">rawstory.com/news/2006/Co..._0307.html</a><hr></blockquote> Found via <a href="http://wotisitgood4.blogspot.com/">wotisitgood4.blogspot.com/</a> That blogger, "Lukery," is also the one who's been in touch with Sibel Edmonds. He also stopped by here a few weeks ago. Here's a recent post of his about Larisa Alexandrovna of Raw Story, I think she's one to watch: <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Tuesday, February 21, 2006 sibel, larisa & plame I've long said that Larisa is closer than any of us to unravelling the mess that is the Bush Maladministration - and she's already gone to enormous lengths to paint the picture for us, although it is still just out of reach. Larisa's latest article in Raw Story makes it clear that it is just one of a series of related stories, ranging from: 1. Bush restricting intelligence access to congress' Gang of Eight, with Pat Roberts controlling the bottleneck and blocking investigations 2. The shenanigans of Feith, Perle, Cambone, Hadley and Rumsfeld and Chalabi in the NSC, DoD and OSP and AIPAC et al and attempts to plant WMD in Iraq 3. The Niger forgeries and Ledeen, Ghorbanifahr, and other assorted dodgy stories, including an attempt to suggest that Iran was stealing enriched uranium from Iraq 4. Plame's work in Iran, and the apparently intentional outing of her and her work - setting back intelligence about Iran by a decade. Here are the stories, in order. I suggest you read them all, in full, in one sitting. 1. August11: "Senate Intelligence chairman quietly 'fixed' intelligence, and diverted blame from White House over Iraq" 2. August11 (pt2): "Through leaks and smears, Senate chairman protects White House to blame CIA, Democrats" 3. December 2 "Senate Intelligence Committee stalling pre-war intelligence report" 4. Jan5 "Secretive military unit sought to solve political WMD concerns prior to securing Iraq..." 5. Jan11 "Spurious attempt to tie Iran, Iraq to nuclear arms plot bypassed U.S. intelligence channels" 6. Jan17 "American (Ledeen) who advised Pentagon says he wrote for magazine that found forged Niger documents" 7. Jan 30 "Pentagon investigation of Iraq war hawk (Feith) stalling Senate inquiry into pre-war Iraq intelligence" 8. Feb13: "Outed CIA officer (Plame) was working on Iran..." I've excerpted (very) liberally from them all below - [much more at link] <a href="http://wotisitgood4.blogspot.com/2006/02/sibel-larisa-plame.html">wotisitgood4.blogspot.com...plame.html</a><hr></blockquote> On edit: Alexandrovna concludes her latest inteview with this note: "The final part of Conversations with Machiavelli's Ghost will run next week and will focus on Ledeen's work on fascism, September 11, and Iran." Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=albion@rigorousintuition>albion</A> at: 3/8/06 4:42 pm

by **Rigorous Intuition** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 1:20 am

Thanks for posting this Albion. Read it earlier today. What a smooth operator Ledeen is ("a person I met occasionally, at bridge games"). Looking forward to the second part.

by **lukery** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 1:43 am

hi - lukery here again. thanks for posting this - and yep, you are correct that larisa is onto some important stuff. i hope to publish an interview i'm doing with her starting in the next few days. cheers

by **albion** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 2:52 am

I believe the above story is actually part two, and that this the first part, from 2/28: <a href="http://rawstory.com/news/2006/Conversation_with_Controversial_Neoconservative_0228.html">A conversation with Machiavelli's ghost: Controversial neoconservative Ledeen talks to Raw Story</a> I'm sure he'll break down and confess to everything in part 3, heh. Seriously though, it's nice to see a real journalist asking the right questions for a change.

by **lukery** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 5:18 am

methinx there might be some plame in part 3....

by **albion** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 5:37 am

I just have to highlight this exchange from part 1: <blockquote>Quote:<hr>RS: I agree that a systematic processing of such precision in order to exterminate a group of people is entirely unique to the Holocaust. As a Jew, I understand this quite well, but you say that American sadists are not close to the evil of the Third Reich. Yet the Third Reich came to power because and only because the West allowed the financing of the regime. In other words, the "sadists" in the US and Britain funded the "sadists" in Germany. ML: I reject the theory that Hitler came to power "because and only because the West allowed the financing of the regime." Hitler came to power because most Germans wanted it. They loved it when they got it, and they fought and died for it. To reduce a horror of such dimensions to mere cash flow is unworthy of a serious person. RS: I understand your sentiment, but with all due respect, I disagree with the notion that a nation of people wanted this or asked for it. Some may want such a thing, but not a nation of people. You are excluding the systematic fear tactics, propaganda of hate, and other control mechanisms that over a period of time convinced an entire people that they were under constant threat by a whole other group of people. The Holocaust did not occur overnight and in a vacuum. It started as a fire that was blamed on the terrorists, at that time "the Communists." Anyone who spoke out was branded as an enemy and jailed. Those who did not speak out were fed large doses of psychological manipulation. The horror of the Final Solution did not start with the installment of Hitler to power. The Jews did not become the object of Hitler's insanity until later, much later. But how was this propaganda machine possible and to such an extent? How was the war machine possible or the facilities for what would later be used as extermination centers, or any number of things required to achieve such a horrible end? The Germans were still paying reparations from WWI and were largely bankrupt. If it were not for the funding made possible by US and British companies, like DuPont or Ford Motors, would the Nazis have been able to rise to power and achieve what they had achieved? ML: I don't like the behavior of American corporations any more than you, but I think that Joseph Kennedy did more damage than DuPont. And I'm quite happy that so many corporations have been compelled to pay significant funds to the survivors. RS: What about accountability? The Third Reich continued to be funded by US "free trade" interests, thanks to companies even after the United States entered the war. So again, we are back full circle, where the "tool" of its handler is the evil thing, but the handler is not. When we see such funding again, over and over and all over the world, we are seeing a stunning failure of humanity to punish the handler of the tool as well as the tool itself, do we not? Ford Motors and General Motors, whose subsidiaries became engines of the German war machine, were not held to account, and neither was DuPont. If they had been, would they be in a position, such as in Ford's case (later sued for involvement in Argentinian abuse), to go on to commit such crimes again? What about Halliburton? The company does business with nations that have long harbored extremism and terrorists, such as Libya , and even currently with Iran, one of the members of the so-called Axis of Evil. Despite this and the appearance of impropriety in the Vice President's being the firm's former chief executive, the company continues to be awarded no-bid contracts and overcharge the US government. Would they be engaged in such behavior if their predecessors were held accountable? ML: If they are guilty, I'm all for holding them accountable, but, alas, I don't think it would deter evil people from doing evil things today or tomorrow. I'm afraid that the struggle against evil is probably endless.<hr></blockquote> Wow.

Raw Story interview w/Michael Ledeen

Raw Story interview w/Michael Ledeen

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