105^th in continuing blog series on the administration push to war. September ends with a grand jury convened on the CIA leak matter. The White House, increasingly desperate to stave off exposure and criticism, incorporates a new tactic into its media strategy. A White House-friendly, web-site employed neophyte journalist is planted in the White House press corps.
September 30, 2003:

Sept. 30, 2003 – A grand jury is sworn to investigate the CIA leak matter.

Sept. 30, 2003 – Emails from the Office of the Vice President from this day are missing.

Sept. 30, 2003 – At least 12 hours after being contacted by the investigation, White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales emails White House staff, telling them to preserve all materials and emails relating to the investigation; “you must preserve all materials that might in any way be related to the department's investigation.” Also another email is sent re “all records of any kind relating to the Ambassador’s trip to Niger, his wife's relationship with the CIA, any contact with the press about these topics, and any contact at all with journalists Robert Novak, Knut Royce, Timothy M. Phelps.”

Same day – At 6:37 p.m., David S. Addington, Cheney’s government lawyer, sends an email to the heads of components in the Office of the Vice President concerning the preservation of documents, when the Vice President’s office does not receive the same document preservation message received by offices in the White House, above. The memo instructs all personnel receiving it to “preserve and maintain the following”: records pertaining to the Wilsons, Mrs. Wilson at CIA, the trip to Niger, or contacts with reporters about same.
http://wid.ap.org/documents/libbytrial/jan29/GX05201.PDF

Initially the memos seem somewhat limited, omitting to request some material on contacts with news media. Later memos will expand the list of records to be preserved.

Same day – Former CIA analyst Larry Johnson, interviewed by Jim Lehrer on PBS’ Newshour, confirms that Wilson's wife was an undercover operative:

“LARRY JOHNSON: Let's be very clear about what happened. This is not an alleged abuse. This is a confirmed abuse. I worked with this woman. She trained with me. She has been under cover for three decades she is not as Bob Novak suggested a CIA analyst. But given that, I was a CIA analyst for four years. I was under cover. I could not divulge to my family outside of my wife that I worked for the Central Intelligence Agency until I left the agency on September 30, 1989. At that point I could admit it.

       So the fact that she has been under cover for three decades and that has been divulged is outrageous because she was put under cover for certain reasons. One, she works in an area where people she meets with overseas could be compromised. When you start tracing back people who she met with, even people who innocently met with her, who are not involved in CIA operations, could be compromised. For these journalists to argue this no big deal and if I hear another Republican operative suggesting, well, this was just an analyst. Let them go undercover. Let's put them overseas and let's out them and see how they like it. They won't be able to stand the heat.”

Sept. 30 – The New York Times reports that massive dumps of munitions remain unguarded in Iraq, and piles of bombs, thousands of tons of ammunition and an uncalculated number of weapons are unsecured. Thousands of U.S. troops are not enough to search out and secure all the munitions, which will take years to control or to destroy.

Same day – Jim Lehrer also interviews General Anthony Zinni, about the aftermath in Iraq:

“GEN. ANTHONY ZINNI (RET.): Well, I think we should have anticipated that if you take down the government of an authoritarian centrally controlled organization like Saddam Hussein had and you pull it out, and you rip it out, if you dismantle the army, if you tell the businessmen that were ever Baathists this they can't do business again because they were Baathist. It's like telling communist businessmen in Russia they couldn't do business after the revolution. If you are going to take out the institutions and remove them, then you have to be prepared to restructure them from scratch. There was no secret as to the conditions that these institutions might be in once you ripped out the leadership, once you dismantled them. I think that should have been anticipated. I think the tensions in the Sunni triangle should have been anticipated. I think the potential for civil war, the potential for outsiders, Jihadys coming in to see this as a potential battlefield, seeing this as a place where if they can defeat us and make us fail, their stature in the region improves. That should have been seen clearly. I mean, those things were not something that -- should have realized.

JIM LEHRER: Who should have seen it, who blew it?

GEN. ANTHONY ZINNI (RET.): I think the planners.

JIM LEHRER: Are you talking about Secretary Rumsfeld, Secretary Wolfowitz, those folks?

GEN. ANTHONY ZINNI (RET.): I think those responsible for planning in the Pentagon should have seen this. I mean, whether they're wearing uniforms, or they're civilians; they owe our troops on the ground the very best in planning, just like the generals on the battlefield . . .”

 
The Bush administration is obviously clear from the outset that investigation into the CIA leak matter, the illegal disclosure of the classified information that Valerie Plame Wilson worked for the CIA, will clarify much about the extent of behind-the-scenes ambition to go to war. The administration pulls out an all-points coordinated effort, with help from allies in media, to prevent further disclosure, partly by discrediting anyone who speaks out and partly by giving access to chosen journalists and media outlets.

Sept. 30 – Bush’s Solicitor General, Theodore Olson, files a certiorari petition asking the Supreme Court to hear arguments in the lawsuit to open records from Vice President Cheney’s 2001 energy task force.

 
The administration, of course, is trying to keep the documents out of public hands.