[Shermy]

Here is some background on Wilson, items not usually related in articles about him.

Here’s one bio:An Official Wilson Bio

Wilson has a website dedicated to him www.restorehonesty.com. The website is operated by the John Kerry campaign. It was registered October 22, 2003.

Here’s a French language article regarding a 1998 trip by Gabon President Omar Bongo to the United States. Apparently, the Gabonese hired Wilson’s second wife Jacqueline as a lobbyist in support of the trip. Another who worked with her was the famous Pierre Salinger, known for many things, eg he was JFK’s press secretary and for his TWA 800 theories. But even more lobbyists were engaged, they apparently had a “too many cooks in the kitchen” kind of conflict, and the trip didn’t come off well Joseph Wilson was “very present” at the events of the visit.

Salinger wrote a book on the first Gulf War, “Dossier.” In it are about ten pages of a recounting of conversations between Saddam and Wilson. I can only guess Wilson was the source.

Wilson was apparently an adviser to the Al Gore presidential campaign. In these two November 2000 Belgian television transcripts it’s stated he is an adviser, at least according to the interviewer. I can find no other links describing Wilson as an adviser.

Adviser to Al Gore

Foreign affairs adviser to Gore Campaign

On a humorous note, and perhaps explaining his affinity with John F. Kerry, the French media likes Wilson. The Parisian newspaper “Liberation” described Wilson as a “francophile” and “When it rains, he wears a beret.” (“Quand il pleut, il porte un béret.) Liberation article, almost half way down this page

[Shermy]

Ping.

[Fedora]

Excellent work!--very enlightening to have that all pulled together in one place and organized like that. I've only had a chance to skim it so far, but what jumps out at me is a pattern of anti-Bush collusion between:

1. Saddam's regime.

2. Saddam's supporters in the UN, esp. Blix and Al-Baradei.

3. Anti-Bush elements in the British and US intelligence community, e.g. Wilson.

4. Anti-Bush elements in the British government (I'm reminded of the Galloway scandal) and US State Department (as you note regarding the December 20, 2002 instance of State keeping in the reference to Niger).

5. Anti-Bush elements in the British and US media, with a couple specific names mentioned here being Walter Pincus and Seymour Hersh, both of whom have long-standing connections to left-wing elements in the intelligence community. With respect to the question you raise about Pincus' November 10, 2002 article regarding how Pincus knew the contents of the unreleased British intelligence report, I'd be very interested to identify Pincus' source there, which I'm inferring must be linked to Blix at the UN and the British elements of the anti-Bush collaboration mentioned above. Along those lines, I'd likewise be interested to identify which British papers and reporters were key in leading the spin on this story.

[Just mythoughts]

Thank you so much for this, I will have to wait until later to read through.

[Shermy]

Ping to you guys too.

[marron]

Excellent work.

Wilson is a liar. That is not in question. Dissection of his op-ed reveals as much, and you don't even have to go to Niger to prove it.

The easiest lie is his sleight of hand, switching the word "sought"in the Bush address for the word "sale" in his piece. Another is his reference to IAEA monitoring of the mines in Niger, when IAEA says they weren't monitoring them.

But really, the whole thing is a fake controversy, because the Iraqi trade mission to Niger in 1999 is public knowldege. Why Bush and Rice and Wilson et al keep referring to British intel and forged documents is a mystery to me, because the trade mission is not a secret, nor is it controversial. Niger, of course, has only one export of note.

The information that dates his enlistment in the Kerry campaign is worth the price of admission, as is his relationship with the other various pundits. As you point out, Mrs. Wilson is an obvious source for much of their inside knowledge, which means that in the question of who outed Mrs Wilson the answer is that she did.

[Ben Hecks]

Thanks for the ping! Impressive research job! This gets bookmarked with the recent Pincus thread.

[piasa]

I see you've found some things I hadn't some across yet- thank you for putting this together and posting it for us, excellent work.

[Dolphy]

Did you catch this from Tenet's statement:

The same former official also said that in June 1999 a businessman approached him and insisted that the former official meet with an Iraqi delegation to discuss "expanding commercial relations" between Iraq and Niger. The former official interpreted the overture as an attempt to discuss uranium sales.

Assuming Wilson is the single source for this statement, the State Department fact sheet that says Iraq's efforts to procure uranium were not exactly refuted by Wilson.

Also, have you seen what journalists made the subpoena list. I also ran into this article about Novak's history of being used, which I hadn't known.

Back to your research, again great job. It's almost funny to line up the journalist's manipulation of the facts as they try to charge Bush with manipulating the facts for his own ends.

[Ben Hecks]

"-In 1985 Wilson returned to the USA to work in Tom Foley’s and Al Gore’s offices. He married Jacqueline in 1986."

Thanks for the ping. Interesting that Wilson worked for Tom Foley - Foley was later Chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. By coincidence, Plame's boss at CIA was an Alan Foley.

[doug from upland]

Thanks for an outstanding post.

[coloradan]

Why was this thread moved to the backroom? It seems to be good, original research, and also seems to lack flame wars.

[Allan]

When exactly did Wilson retire?

Seems to me
his 'revelations' were nicely timed
to get his 15 minutes of fame
write his book
get on the TV and lecture circuit
and add a healthy padding
to his no doubt generous pension.

[rrgg]

I'm surprised that so few seem interested in the fact that the Congo is also mentioned in the NIE.

The Congo threat is actually a very underreported story.

Civil unrest is precisely the reason Congo is a threat in terms of blackmarket uranium. It's not just the US but South Africa and other countries that have come to this conclusion, and it's not just Bush but the Clinton adminstration too.

(1) Congo was suspected of trying to reopen the Shinkolobwe uranium mine a few years ago, and was accused of working with North Korea after a team of North Korean mining engineers arrived.

(2) In a separate event two nuclear fuel rods went missing from Congo's research reactor, one recovered in an thwarted sale to the Mafia. I don't believe the other was ever recovered.

(3) Congo offers the highest grade naturally occurring ore anywhere, making it easier to process into weapons grade uranium.

(4) Congo's resources are virtually unprotected

(5) A number of weird stories appeared in the Guardian in the fall of 2002 regarding Iraq and Congo (certainly not a right-wing source or "hawkish" newspaper). Iraqi agents were negotiating with "criminal gangs" to trade Iraqi weapons for minerals; Leaders from a Congo militia twice delivered diamonds and minerals to Baghdad in 2002; Five Iraqis were inexplicably found in the Congo, and were arrested while travelling on false Indian passports.

[Shermy]

Look at my "May 2003" entry:
_____________

[According to a October 25, 2003 Boston Herald editorial, the earliest proximate time Wilson dates his own position as a foreign policy adviser to the John Kerry campaign is May:

“Wilson was beamed into New Hampshire via a conference call Thursday to make the endorsement official. He'll put in a personal appearance there next month. It had already been revealed that Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame, had contributed to the Kerry campaign. Wilson also acknowledged that he has been advising Kerry on foreign policy for about five months. Yes, that would put it BEFORE Wilson started criticizing President Bush for the line in his State of the Union message about Iraq seeking uranium from Niger for use in Saddam Hussein's nuclear program. (Wilson was the one sent to Niger by the CIA to investigate the charge, but insists he found no evidence of same.) “

[Eva]

I can't believe that I have spent so much time delving into the history of this story and you had it right here all the time. Thanks for all your work. What I was looking for was the Boston globe article that you have posted under the date, May 2003.

Joe Wilson Lied/Kerry lied too!

[Eva]

read this

[Cindy]

Adding to the archives....

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1173832/posts

"Joe Wilson’s Creative Fiction" (On CNN, Wilson Continues To Spin False Tales With “Literary Flair)
Republican National Committee ^ | July 18, 2004


Posted on 07/18/2004 3:38:32 PM PDT by RWR8189

[kennedy]

The Kerry campaign suddenly took down their restorehonesty.com website. It now just takes you to a link on the Kerry campaign website.

The google cache is also gone and there is no record of it on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

The Democrats are quite skilled at erasing history.

[Eva]

Shermy, I haven't seen you around for awhile, but this is the best timeline on the Wilson/Plame affair that I have seen. Great work!

[Eva]

bump