Posted on 10/27/2005 9:25:26 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
On Wednesday night's NBC Nightly News, correspondent Andrea Mitchell filed a story in which she turned to Bush administration critic and former National Security Council member Clint Leverett, "who quit in protest before the war," to contribute a soundbite charging that the Bush administration "had decided to fight back" against Joseph Wilson in response to his criticism of the Iraq invasion. Mitchell also, without challenge, relayed Wilson's contention that his trip to Niger discredited the possibility that Iraq had tried to acquire uranium from Niger, as she merely passed on that he concluded "it wasn't true." Absent was the argument that Wilson's original report, which mentioned Iraq's attempt to expand trade with Niger, may have actually added credibility to President Bush's State of the Union assertion that "the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa," since Bush's statement said nothing of whether the efforts were successful. Additionally, the British government has continued to stand by its claims.
These arguments were outlined by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, as quoted in an article at CNN.com on July 13, 2003. While defending the British government's assertions that Iraq tried to obtain uranium from Niger, Straw "insisted [its dossier] was based on what British officials regarded as 'reliable intelligence' which had not been shared with the United States." Straw explained that "as CNN [has] reported, Ambassador Wilson's report also noted that in 1999 an Iraqi delegation sought the expansion of trade links with Niger -- and that former Niger government officials believed that this was in connection with the procurement of yellowcake." Straw concluded that "uranium is Niger's main export. In other words, this element of Ambassador Wilson's report supports the statement in the government's dossier." For the complete text: www.cnn.com
[This item, by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth, was posted late Wednesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org. To post your comments, go to: newsbusters.org ]
NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams introduced the October 26 story: "And while everyone waits for word on possible indictments here, a reminder tonight of what is at the root of this case: The Bush administration's prewar intelligence assessments. Iraq had weapons, they said, and they posed a threat to the U.S. NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell has more."
Andrea Mitchell: "In the beginning, it was a fight over weapons of mass destruction. Did Saddam Hussein have them? Were they an imminent threat? Administration hardliners voiced no doubt."
Dick Cheney, from Meet the Press, dated September 2002: "He is, in fact, actively and aggressively seeking to acquire nuclear weapons."
Mitchell: "If so, should America go to war? The President sounded convinced."
George W. Bush, dated October 2002: "Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud."
Mitchell: "He deployed his top diplomat to make the case to the U.N.-"
Colin Powell at UN in February 2003: "Let me now turn to those deadly weapons programs and describe why they are real and present dangers to the region."
Mitchell: "-and, in the State of the Union speech, accused Iraq of trying to buy uranium from Africa for weapons fuel."
Bush, January 2003: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
Mitchell: "But the CIA had checked that out a year earlier by sending a secret envoy. His name, Joseph Wilson. His conclusion, it wasn't true. So Wilson began challenging the crucial evidence the White House was using to justify the invasion. Clint Leveritt was working in the National Security Council until he quit in protest just before the war. He says the Bush team had decided to fight back."
Clint Leveritt: Mitchell: "Then Wilson went public in the New York Times and on Meet the Press."
Joseph Wilson, former Ambassador: "They were using the selective use of facts and intelligence to bolster a decision in a case that had already been made, a decision that had been made to go to war."
Mitchell: "Officials point out that Wilson was sometimes inflating his role, and at times mis-stating his findings. Sources say to undermine Wilson, Bush aides told reporters he had been sent to Africa through the influence of his wife, who worked at the CIA. That led to an investigation into whether they broke the law, either through leaks or in their testimony. So the debate over Saddam's weapons has turned into a legal case and the biggest political crisis of the Bush presidency. Andrea Mitchell, NBC News, New York."
April 22, 1999 – Valerie Wilson lists “Brewster-Jennings & Assoc." - later revealed to be a CIA front company—as her employer when making a donation to the Gore campaign. (Gore FEC filing).
1999 – Joseph Wilson takes a trip to Niger .
September 30, 2003 – Wilson endorses Senator John Kerry for president. (“Man With an Independent Streak,” Washington Post, October 1, 2003).
The Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial page, defended the administration saying: "Mr. Wilson became an antiwar celebrity who joined the Kerry for president campaign." Discussing his trip to Niger, the Journal judged: "Mr. Wilson's original claims about what he found on a CIA trip to Africa, what he told the CIA about it, and even why he was sent on the mission have since been discredited."
CUT
June 1997 – Joseph Wilson returns to Washington DC as Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council. At about the same time, Plame also moves back to the United States (Wilson, Politics 240), in part because the CIA suspects her name was leaked to the Russians in 1994. (Vanity Fair, Jan. ‘04).
April 3, 1998 – Wilson and Plame marry. (Wilson, Politics 276).
July 1998 – Joseph Wilson leaves government service to open a consulting firm specializing in assisting international investment in Africa. (Wilson, Politics 275).
1999 – Joseph Wilson takes a trip to Niger at the behest of the CIA to investigate “uranium-related matters” separate from Iraq (Wilson, Politics lv-lvi). According to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report on pre-war intelligence, Wilson “was selected for the 1999 trip after his wife mentioned to her supervisors that her husband was planning a business trip to Niger in the near future and might be willing to use his contacts in the region.” (Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Report on Prewar Assessment of Iraq Intelligence, 39, July 2004).
June 1999 – Niger’s former prime minister Ibrahim Mayaki meets with an Iraqi delegation wanting to discuss “expanding commercial relations.” Mayaki interprets this as an interest in uranium, Niger’s main export, and later tells Wilson that he did not discuss it because Iraq remained under UN trade sanctions. (Senate Intelligence Cmte., Iraq 43-44, July 2004).
February 12, 2002 – The Defense Intelligence Agency writes a report concluding “Iraq is probably searching abroad for natural uranium to assist in its nuclear weapons program.” Vice President Cheney reads this report and asks for the CIA’s analysis. (Senate Intelligence Cmte., Iraq 38-39, July ‘04).
Responding to inquiries from Cheney’s office, the State Department, and the Defense Department, the CIA’s Directorate of Operations’ Counterproliferation Division (CPD) look for more information. They consider having Wilson return to Niger to investigate. In the process, Valerie Wilson writes a memo to a superior saying, “My husband has good relations with both the PM [prime minister] and the former Minister of Mines (not to mention lots of French contacts), both of whom could possibly shed light on this sort of activity.” One of Valerie Wilson’s colleagues later tells Senate investigators she “offered up his name” for the trip. Wilson says that her agency made the decision and she only later approached her husband on the CIA’s behalf. (Senate Intelligence Cmte., Iraq 39, July 2004).
February 19, 2002 – Joseph Wilson meets with officials from CIA and the State Department. According to a State Department intelligence analyst’s notes, the meeting was convened by Valerie Wilson. She later testifies that she left the meeting after introducing her husband. (Senate Intelligence Cmte., Iraq 40, July ‘04).
February 26, 2002 – Wilson arrives in Niger. He concludes, after a few days of interviews, that “it was highly unlikely that anything was going on.” (Senate Intelligence Cmte., Iraq 42, July 2004).
March 5, 2002 – Wilson reports back to two CIA officers at his home. Valerie Wilson is present but does not participate. (Senate Intelligence Cmte., Iraq 43, July 2004).
March 8-9, 2002 – An intelligence report of Wilson’s trip is sent through routine channels, identifying Wilson only as “a contact with excellent access who does not have an established reporting record.” (Senate Intelligence Cmte., Iraq 43-44, July ‘04). The CIA grades Wilson’s information as “good,” the middle of five possible grades. Cheney is not directly briefed about the report. (Senate Intelligence Cmte., Iraq 46).
MORE:http://ifk-johnkerry.blogspot.com/2005_07_01_ifk-johnkerry_archive.html
Joe Wilson's Top Ten Worst Inaccuracies and Misstatements
And note, Ms. Mitchell, that each point has been documented and sourced.
bump
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