CIA official for phony Habbush memo fingered

Via Raw Story, Ron Suskind has posted a transcript of his interview of former Deputy Chief of Clandestine Operations Robert Richer.

Suskind himself notes that it goes against normal journalistic practice and is something he’s never done in 25 years, but that the amount of White House pushback about Suskind’s story that the White House forged a document, allegedly from Saddam Hussein’s chief of intelligence, Tahir Jalil Habbush, claiming Iraqi connection with Muhammad Atta and other 9/11 actors.

Here’s Richter, in black and white:

“Now this is from the Vice President's Office is how you remembered it--not from the president?” Suskind asked.

“No, no, no,” Richer replied, according to the transcript. “What I remember is George (Tenet) saying, ‘we got this from’ — basically, from what George said was ‘downtown.’”

“Which is the White House?” Suskind asked.

“Yes,” Richer said. “But he did not — in my memory — never said president, vice president, or NSC. Okay? But now — he may have hinted — just by the way he said it, it would have — cause almost all that stuff came from one place only: Scooter Libby and the shop around the vice president.”

“But he didn't say that specifically,” Richer added. “I would naturally — I would probably stand on my, basically, my reputation and say it came from the vice president.”

Well, Richter, your reputation has been staked. Too late to try to pull it back.

Read the fullRaw Story account for more background, then head to Suskind’s webpage of book interview transcripts.