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A GOP Congressman Asks Questions About Valerie Plame Wilson’s Testimony
National Review.Com ^ | March 26, 2007 12:00 AM | Bryon York

Posted on 03/26/2007 2:17:41 AM PDT by Laverne

When Valerie Plame Wilson testified recently before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, just two Republicans — out of 17 on the committee — bothered to show up. Ranking Republican Rep. Tom Davis asked few questions and seemed largely uninterested in the matter. The only other Republican to appear, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia, showed more interest but appeared not to have mastered the details of the case.

Now, however, Westmoreland wants to know more. In a letter to committee chairman Rep. Henry Waxman Friday, he submitted more questions for Mrs. Wilson and requested that Waxman ask the Senate Intelligence Committee for information that could shed light on issues left unresolved after her testimony.

As part of its investigation into pre-war intelligence, the Senate committee interviewed Mrs. Wilson, as well as some of her colleagues at the CIA. The committee also reviewed CIA documents about the Niger uranium affair. In his letter, Westmoreland asked Waxman to ask the Senate committee for the full text of Mrs. Wilson’s interview with Senate investigators. Westmoreland also asked for the “full text of Ms. Plame’s February 12, 2002 email/memo to her boss regarding sending her husband, Joseph Wilson, to Niger.”

Westmoreland is attempting to learn more about the origin of Joseph Wilson’s trip — a question that was perhaps less clear after Valerie Plame Wilson’s testimony than before. Testifying before the House, Mrs. Wilson said the story began on February 12, 2002, when “a young junior officer who worked for me came to me very concerned, very upset. She had just received a telephone call on her desk from someone, I don’t know who, in the Office of the Vice President, asking about this report of this alleged sale of yellowcake uranium from Niger to Iraq.”

As the young officer told her story, Mrs. Wilson continued, “someone passed by, another officer heard this. He knew that Joe had already — my husband — had already gone on some CIA missions previously to deal with other nuclear matters. And he suggested, ‘Well, why don’t we send Joe?’“

As for questions about her own actions, Mrs. Wilson flatly denied that she had played a role in sending her husband to Africa. “I did not recommend him,” she testified. “I did not suggest him.” She testified that what she called a “quick e-mail” in which she described her husband’s qualifications for the trip had been “taken out of context” by the Senate Intelligence Committee to “make it seem as though I had suggested or recommended him.”

Her testimony seemed to offer new insight into the beginnings of the Niger mission. But soon after Mrs. Wilson’s appearance, Missouri Republican Sen. Christopher Bond, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told National Review Online that Mrs. Wilson, in her interview with Senate investigators, never mentioned the young junior officer, the call from the vice president’s office, or the passing CIA official who suggested Joseph Wilson’s name.

“Friday [March 16] was the first time we have ever heard that story,” Sen. Bond said in a statement. “Obviously if we had, we would have included it in the report. If Ms. Wilson’s memory of events has improved and she would now like to change her testimony, I’m sure the committee staff would be happy to re-interview her.”

Sen. Bond also took issue with Mrs. Wilson’s description of her “quick e-mail” touting her husband’s qualifications. “We have…checked the memorandum written by Ms. Wilson suggesting her husband to look into the Niger reporting,” Bond told NRO. “I…stand by the Committee’s finding that this memorandum indicates Ms. Wilson did suggest her husband for a Niger inquiry. Because the quote [the portion of the memo quoted in the Senate report] obviously does not represent the entirety of the memorandum, I suggest that the House Government Reform Committee request and examine this memorandum themselves. I am confident that they will come to the same conclusion as our bipartisan membership did.”

Now, Rep. Westmoreland is trying to do just that. In addition to asking for the transcript of Mrs. Wilson’s interview with Senate investigators, and the full text of her February 12, 2002, memo, Westmoreland submitted a question to Mrs. Wilson that could tell us more about that chance, why-don’t-we-send-Joe meeting with unnamed CIA colleagues. “List all the parties participating in the conversation you described in detail during the March 16, 2007 hearing,” Westmoreland asked Mrs. Wilson, “including, but not limited to, who told you there was a query from the Vice President’s office and who suggested your husband for the trip to Niger because of his expertise in Africa?”

The question now is whether chairman Waxman will be inclined to do anything about Westmoreland’s request. Other than place it into the official record of the hearing, he doesn’t have to do anything. But Westmoreland is hoping otherwise. “It is our understanding that no one is under any obligation to pass on our questions, and Mrs. Wilson is not obligated to answer them,” says Brian Robinson, Westmoreland’s deputy chief of staff. “That said, it is our hope and intent in doing this that she will be made aware of them, and that she will want to answer them.”


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 200202; 20020212; nigerflap; valerieplame
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1 posted on 03/26/2007 2:17:43 AM PDT by Laverne
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To: Howlin; STARWISE; the Real fifi

Free Scooter Ping


2 posted on 03/26/2007 2:18:17 AM PDT by Laverne
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To: piasa; Fedora

ping


3 posted on 03/26/2007 2:19:31 AM PDT by Cindy
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To: Laverne
Westmoreland seems, from this article, to be the rare person in Washington who, when caught unprepared, attempted to educate himself and get back on track.

Plame's testimony was a wet firecracker for the Dems. Looks like the Republicans may be able to use it to our advantage--"us" being Americans who want to know the truth about this Plame BS, and who want to expose the Dems shameless political gameplaying over this issue.

4 posted on 03/26/2007 2:21:07 AM PDT by Darkwolf377 (Anti-socialist Bostonian, Anti-Illegal Immigration Bush supporter, Pro-Life Atheist)
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To: Laverne

If Val does time, will Joe be faithful?


5 posted on 03/26/2007 2:26:36 AM PDT by Doctor Raoul (What's the difference between the CIA and the Free Clinic? The Free Clinic knows how to stop leaks.)
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To: Doctor Raoul
If Val does time,

Now, there's something to dwell on...
6 posted on 03/26/2007 2:40:21 AM PDT by Thrownatbirth (.....when the sidewalks are safe for the little guy.)
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To: Laverne

She is a liar... Now why don't the GOP get a set and ask to have Joe Wilson brought up to the Senate for questioning... Why does he get a pass on all his lies.... First question...

Why did you wait until after the military found no traces of WMD in Iraq before you wrote about or even mentioned it?

They might as well bring her along and clear up all this made up B.S.


7 posted on 03/26/2007 3:08:00 AM PDT by tomnbeverly (At least 50,000 more American Civilians must die before the left realizes we are at war.)
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To: Laverne

Too late, too little Congressman... they're p•ssing on your other leg now.


8 posted on 03/26/2007 3:30:47 AM PDT by johnny7 ("We took a hell of a beating." -'Vinegar Joe' Stilwell)
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To: Laverne

Its downright embarrassing that only two republicans bothered to show up at Waxmans head hunting expedition.

Plame came in and lied her butt off, and only one Republican cared enough to even bring it up.

Is it any wonder the Democrats are running things to suit themselves?


9 posted on 03/26/2007 3:36:33 AM PDT by sgtbono2002 (I will forgive Jane Fonda, when the Jews forgive Hitler.)
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To: Laverne

This whole thing is a travesty. How the jury found him guilty is beyond me. There must have been 12 Democrats on that jury.


10 posted on 03/26/2007 3:37:25 AM PDT by kellynch ("Our only freedom is the freedom to discipline ourselves." -- Bernard Baruch)
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To: johnny7
I agree. This is something the House and Senate should have done BEFORE the Dems took over. Hmmmm.... Say back in 2003/4 when the Driveby Media started making such a fuss over it, in their efforts to erode Pres Bush popular support and the Iraq war effort.

It's not doing these things, while they'd have been difficult, partisan and invoke caterwauling from the DBM, that might have kept the GOP in power and more of them in their seats.
11 posted on 03/26/2007 3:38:25 AM PDT by Alas Babylon!
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To: Darkwolf377

I am not sure how long I am going to hold my breath on this one. I am trying to remember the las time the GOP used Dem wrong-doings to pin them to the wall. If Wax man chooses to ignore, I am sure the media will ignore as well.


12 posted on 03/26/2007 3:47:37 AM PDT by David Isaac (Duncan Hunter '08)
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To: David Isaac

I think you're right. I got caught up in the moment, imagining what *I* would do were I a congresscritter with this kind of info.


13 posted on 03/26/2007 3:52:38 AM PDT by Darkwolf377 (Anti-socialist Bostonian, Anti-Illegal Immigration Bush supporter, Pro-Life Atheist)
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To: Darkwolf377

Geesh....WHY would ANY Republican NOT know ALL the details about PLAME/WILSON??? LAZY ASSES!! DUMB ASSES!! It was designed to bring down the administartion and yet only TWO Pubbies bother to show up, and Tom Davis is a USELESS, TOOTHLESS RINO! Westmoreland should be ASHAMED that he didn't know the details.....he could have asked ANY freeper!


14 posted on 03/26/2007 3:55:05 AM PDT by Suzy Quzy (Hillary '08...Her Phoniness is Genuine!!!)
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To: Suzy Quzy

Looks to me like the Republicans simply want to stay away from W.


15 posted on 03/26/2007 3:55:54 AM PDT by Darkwolf377 (Anti-socialist Bostonian, Anti-Illegal Immigration Bush supporter, Pro-Life Atheist)
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To: sgtbono2002

The REPUBLICANS should have called for Val and Joe to come up before them when they were in charge...they are just so pathetic.


16 posted on 03/26/2007 3:56:17 AM PDT by Suzy Quzy (Hillary '08...Her Phoniness is Genuine!!!)
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To: Darkwolf377

No......they are LAZY and STUPID and ELITE. They have brought themselves down, W hasn't brought them down.


17 posted on 03/26/2007 3:57:18 AM PDT by Suzy Quzy (Hillary '08...Her Phoniness is Genuine!!!)
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To: Darkwolf377
I'd like to think something would come of this, but let's be realistic: both Tom Davis and Westmoreland were UNPREPARED for their limited role in this fiasco of an "interview". Waxman will do nothing. Valerie Plame knew that she could lie under oath about all of this with impunity -- the Dems in charge would never challenge her, and if it ever went to court: it's just more publicity and (the old "hole card") it would be a DC jury!

So you have pundits like Mort Kondracke who concluded "Plame demolished the notion that she wasn't covert" and other stupid conclusions that were not at all "proved" -- but that's the consensus in this Beltway 2007. Shame on the GOP for playing patsy with these lying Demos.
18 posted on 03/26/2007 3:59:08 AM PDT by ReleaseTheHounds ("Salvation is not free")
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To: Darkwolf377

The Republicans seem to have a different "rules of engagement" set, than do the Dems. This seems to be the case since the '94 election, when they found they could win if they clearly delineated the differences between the two parties. This has been the reason for the GOP losses, not any movement of the electorate towards the "center".


19 posted on 03/26/2007 3:59:28 AM PDT by David Isaac (Duncan Hunter '08)
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To: Suzy Quzy

They aren't called the stupid party for no reason. On the other hand they know if they are more aggressive like Weldon, they will have their heads handed to them.


20 posted on 03/26/2007 4:02:08 AM PDT by palmer
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