Details on Joseph Wilson's trip to Niger September 16, 2003 08:12 AM
There seems to be some confusion surrounding Joseph Wilson's trip to Niger. [--That's for sure!] I've talked to him in detail about the trip, so hopefully this will clear things up. Here's how he explained it.Presumes, again, the "documents" are those supposedly that came from the Italians later to be proven to be forgeries. Gilliam mentions Andrea Mitchell. I think Gilliam is confused (who isn't) - Wilson's own words indicate the documents Andrea Mitchell has are different than the forged documents. Again, Bush never said a sale occurred, but that Iraq "sought" uranium in Africa per British Intelligence. The Brits said it wasn't based on the forged documents, Tenet indicated there was information about two other African countries other than NigerWilson never saw the documents before the trip. It was only in the last few months that Andrea Mitchell showed them to him. His goal was to understand the process and determine whether such a sale could have occurred.
The Niger uranium business is a consortium with several international partners - France, Germany, Spain, Japan and Niger. France is the operating partner, and is the only member that handles the uranium itself. The uranium is produced at a loss - the mine is maintained to 1) supply a steady, secure supply to the consortium members and 2) provide development assistance to Niger.Why people feel secure "France" is involved is beyond me...
It's impossible for Wilson to go to Niger without causing a bit of a ruckus. Everyone there knows him, and his arrival was widely known. This was not a clandestine operation, and he made sure the CIA knew this when they asked him to investigate the documents.Well, if a cabinet meeting was "required" that ends that! BTW, as noted by Ari Fleischer, it was Wilson's info that an Iraqi, later identified as Baghdad Bob, sought commercial contacts, which raised new suspicions.He met with Barbro Owens-Kirkpatrick, another diplomat in the region, who was surprised to find out what Wilson was investigating, because she had already determined it was bogus (Carlton Fulford also came to the same conclusion). [--exactly what was "bogus" is unclear] Nevertheless he met with the appropriate government officials to determine what the process would be for a sale of uranium between two sovereign countries.
Such a sale would require a cabinet level meeting and a minimum of three signatures: the Minister of Mines, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Prime Minister. He also investigated a couple other minor leads related to possible meetings between Iraqi officials and the Niger government and quickly determined there was even less there.
Now it gets weird:
The first flight back was 8 days after he arrived, and he had a business trip the following day. He met with a CIA report officer and gave him a full debriefing with the understanding that the report officer would file a written report in "CIA-speak" about his trip.CIA-speak? Would that be his wife?
Wilson deliberately avoided writing a report in Niger because he didn't want it to inadvertently fall into the wrong hands.Does this make sense? Who are the wrong hands? He's telling the CIA when back home, why not write a memo? Is this some kind of Novak-like lame excuse to flit around the criticism he wrote no report?
His concern about the sensitivity of this information extended to his note taking, which was indecipherable to anyone but himself.OK, so maybe he wrote notes in his own top secret language...maybe worried the Nigeriens would take it from his hotel? I don't think Gilliam could make up something like this. So Wilson he did write something - did he give them to the CIA?
He reported back that unless the documents had those three signatures, it was a fake, and if the CIA wanted to pursue this any further they would have to contact the French uranium company and look at their production and transport records to determine if there was a spike in activity at the mine. He didn't think this was necessary, since there "was just nothing to this story."Shucks, with that attitude Enron's good-looking books are clean.
"...Wilson deliberately avoided writing a report in Niger because he didn't want it to inadvertently fall into the wrong hands. His concern about the sensitivity of this information extended to his note taking, which was indecipherable to anyone but himself.
I notice the Wilson faction is not scrupulous with their use of language. It seems to be clear they deliberately mix up terms in order to confuse and present a false charge that it is the Bush administration that is obfuscating.
Even Gilliam kicks off, in your excerpt, by stating:
His goal was to understand the process and determine whether such a sale could have occurred.
He does not say "His goal was to....determine whether such a sale DID occur".
Intentional misdirection.
Is this information on the notes commonly known? I was wondering where this Jim Gilliam guy came up with this?
Anyway, it's very interesting and I don't believe for a second that Wilson was afraid that his report would get into the wrong hands. After all, he originally portrayed his trip as coming as almost a direct request from Cheney. Why wouldn't he want the Vice President to have the benefit of his benevolent trip (expense only)? Isn't this almost an admission that the Bush administration was the "wrong hands?"