The Fuel Fixers

The above article, published in this week's New York Times Sunday Magazine, concerns James Giffen whose participation in the Kazakhstan bribery scheme was documented in a two-part article in FTW in 2002. I have been unable to find part 2 on the FTW website or on the net. But Mike says it contained an interview he conducted with a member of the Kazakhstan parliament who implicated Dick Cheney in the scheme.

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Transcript of Bill Moyers Show on Iraq War

"PHIL DONOHUE: Our producers were instructed to feature two conservatives for every liberal.
BILL MOYERS: You're kidding."

"BILL MOYERS: IN DUMPING DONAHUE, NBC CITED RATINGS. BUT A BLOGGER GOT HIS HANDS ON AN INTERNAL MEMO AND THE PRESS PICKED IT UP.
BILL MOYERS: Now that memo said, "Donohue presents a difficult public face for NBC in a time of war. At the same time our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity." Did you know about that memo at the time?
PHIL DONOHUE: No. No. I didn't know about that till I read about it in The NEW YORK TIMES.
BILL MOYERS: What did you think? What does that say to you? That dissent is unpatriotic?
PHIL DONOHUE: Well, not only unpatriotic, but it's not good for business."

"ERIC BOEHLERT: One of the first big embarrassments was Powell had talked about this British intelligence report.
COLIN POWELL: I would call my colleagues attention to the fine paper that United Kingdom distributed yesterday, which describes in exquisite detail Iraqi deception activities.
BILL MOYERS: SUPPOSEDLY THAT 'EXQUISITE DETAIL' FROM BRITISH INTELLIGENCE CAME FROM A TOP SECRET DOSSIER.
ERIC BOEHLERT: Literally within a day or two it was proven in the British press that that had simply been downloaded off the Internet. And was plagiarized. And it actually contains the typos that were in the original.
BRITISH REPORTER: (2/7/03): The British government dossier is supposed to be about Iraqi deception and concealment. It says it draws upon a number of sources including intelligence material. Well, actually what it largely draws on is a thesis written by a Californian post graduate student...
ERIC BOEHLERT: That was just the first of many embarrassments that were to come. But within days the British press was going crazy over this revelation.
BRITISH REPORTER: As for the student himself, he's accused the government of plagiarism.
BRITISH REPORTER: If the government is reduced to trawling academic journals then how good is the rest of its case for war against Iraq?"

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