Guessing Game Results: Anonymous Ex Post Facto Buck-Passing? Could Be Anyone
"Presidential knowledge was the ball game," says a former senior government official outside the White House who was personally familiar with the damage-control effort. "The mission was to insulate the president. It was about making it appear that he wasn't in the know. You could do that on Niger. You couldn't do that with the tubes." A Republican political appointee involved in the process, who thought the Bush administration had a constitutional obligation to be more open with Congress, said: "This was about getting past the election."
Your answers? Well, there weren't many. As to the first, the commenterariat immediately named our first guess: George Tenet.
The only remotately credible/readable email we got on the subject named Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former chief-of-staff -- the emailer cited Wilkerson's access to the intel and "military-esque" language.
As for the second: One vote for Powell himself, which makes as much sense as anything. And nothing else. We're still curious, so if you have a better idea, feel free drop us a line.
Earlier: Senior Administration Official Guessing Game: Damage Control