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When And Why Joseph C Wilson IV Outed Valerie Plame
Sweetness & Light ^ | March 17, 2007 | Steve Gilbert

Posted on 03/17/2007 3:37:58 AM PDT by Sam Hill

Before we put Plame "leak" story to bed once and for all, I want to reiterate out what I first posited almost two years ago, which now seems to be more true than ever.

It was almost certainly Mr. Joseph C. Wilson IV who "outed" his wife as a CIA officer.

And he probably did this in early May 2003 at after meeting with top level Democrats and around the time he began to work for the John Kerry for President campaign.

Let's run through the chronology.

January 28, 2003: President George W. Bush gave his State of the Union speech.

February 6, 2003: Joe Wilson wrote an editorial for the Los Angeles Times, A 'Big Cat' With Nothing to Lose, in which he claimed we should not attack Saddam Hussein because he will use his weapons of mass destruction on our troops and give them to terrorists.

There is now no incentive for Hussein to comply with the inspectors or to refrain from using weapons of mass destruction to defend himself if the United States comes after him.

And he will use them; we should be under no illusion about that.

February 28, 2003: Joe Wilson is interviewed by Bill Moyers. Wilson agrees with Bush's SOTU remarks, and reiterates his belief that Saddam has WMD.
MOYERS: President Bush's recent speech to the American Enterprise Institute, he said, let me quote it to you. "The danger posed by Saddam Hussein and his weapons cannot be ignored or wished away." You agree with that?
 
WILSON: I agree with that. Sure.
 
MOYERS: "The danger must be confronted." You agree with that? "We would hope that the Iraqi regime will meet the demands of the United Nations and disarm fully and peacefully. If it does not, we are prepared to disarm Iraq by force. Either way, this danger will be removed. The safety of the American people depends on ending this direct and growing threat." You agree with that?
 
WILSON: I agree with that. Sure. The President goes on to say in that speech as he did in the State of the Union Address is we will liberate Iraq from a brutal dictator. All of which is true. But the only thing Saddam Hussein hears in this speech or the State of the Union Address is, "He's coming to kill me. He doesn't care if I have weapons of mass destruction or not. His objective is to come and overthrow my regime and to kill me." And that then does not provide any incentive whatsoever to disarm.

March 3, 2003: Joe Wilson wrote a piece for the Nation, Republic Or Empire. In it Wilson blasts the "neo-conservatives" in the Bush administration for their imperial over-reach. But he makes no mention of uranium or any other suggestion that Bush misled the country or lied about Iraq's WMD.

Then what's the point of this new American imperialism? The neoconservatives with a stranglehold on the foreign policy of the Republican Party, a party that traditionally eschewed foreign military adventures, want to go beyond expanding US global influence to force revolutionary change on the region. American pre-eminence in the Gulf is necessary but not sufficient for the hawks. Nothing short of conquest, occupation and imposition of handpicked leaders on a vanquished population will suffice. Iraq is the linchpin for this broader assault on the region. The new imperialists will not rest until governments that ape our worldview are implanted throughout the region, a breathtakingly ambitious undertaking, smacking of hubris in the extreme.

March 8, 2003: CNN’s Renay San Miguel interviewed Joe Wilson about the so-called Niger forgeries.

SAN MIGUEL: So how do you play this, then? I mean, what, do you admit it, do you just move on? Do you try to get these things verified if you do believe, indeed, that Iraq was trying to buy this material from Niger? I mean, how do you handle this? What’s the damage control on this?

WILSON: I have no idea. I’m not in the government. I would not want to be doing damage control on this. I think you probably just fess up and try to move on and say there’s sufficient other evidence to convict Saddam of being involved in the nuclear arms trade.

So up until at least March 8, 2003 Joe Wilson still contended that Saddam had WMD and that he was involved in the nuclear arms trade. Then what happened?

May 2003: Joe Wilson began to "advise" the Kerry for President campaign.

Wilson ... said he has long been a Kerry supporter and has contributed $2,000 to the campaign this year. He said he has been advising Kerry on foreign policy for about five months and will campaign for Kerry, including a trip to New Hampshire... -- David Tirrell-Wysocki, "Former Ambassador Wilson Endorses Kerry In Presidential Race,'' The Associated Press, 10/23/03

Five months prior to October 2, 2003 would be May 2, 2003. What happened on that date?

May 2, 2003: Joe Wilson and Valerie attended a conference sponsored by the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, at which Wilson spoke about Iraq. One of the other panelists was the New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof

Here, unlike his remarks to CNN on March 8, 2003, Wilson claimed State Department officials should have known better than to have been duped by the forged documents that allegedly had proved a deal for uranium had been in the works between Iraq and Niger.

May 3, 2003: Over breakfast the next morning with Kristof and his wife Valerie Plame, Wilson told Kristof about his trip to Niger...

(Excerpt) Read more at Sweetness & Light ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: 2003; 200301; 20030106; 200304; cia; cialeak; libby; mcgovern; plame; plameleak; plametimeline; scooterlibby; urgentcall; vips; wiilsontimeline; wilson; wilsontimeline
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1 posted on 03/17/2007 3:37:59 AM PDT by Sam Hill
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To: Deb; kcvl; Mo1; Enchante; veronica; stocksthatgoup; mewzilla; backhoe; BushisTheMan; Grampa Dave; ..

Ping.


2 posted on 03/17/2007 3:38:56 AM PDT by Sam Hill
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To: Sam Hill

3 posted on 03/17/2007 3:44:00 AM PDT by philman_36
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To: Sam Hill

Thanks for posting. BTTT!


4 posted on 03/17/2007 3:49:35 AM PDT by PGalt
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To: Sam Hill
Awesome resource.

Thanks for the research.

Bookmarked.

And BTTT!

5 posted on 03/17/2007 3:50:52 AM PDT by andyandval
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To: Sam Hill; ravingnutter; Fedora; Howlin
Adding to the chronology:

JANUARY 2003 late or early FEBRUARY : (WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - PREPARING THE ROUGH DRAFTS FOR POWELL'S UN SPEECH) Vice President Cheney's office played a major role in the secret debates and pressed for the toughest critique of Saddam's regime, administration officials say. The first draft of Powell's speech was written by Cheney's staff and the National Security Council. Days before the team first gathered at the CIA, a group of officials assembled in the White House Situation Room to hear Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, lay out an indictment of the Iraqi regime--"a Chinese menu" of charges, one participant recalls, that Powell might use in his U.N. speech. Not everyone in the administration was impressed, however. "It was over the top and ran the gamut from al Qaeda to human rights to weapons of mass destruction," says a senior official. [* Who's this? ] "They were unsubstantiated assertions, in my view." Powell, apparently, agreed. So one week before he was to address the U.N. Security Council, he created a team, which set up shop at the CIA, and directed it to provide him with an intelligence report based on more solid information. "Powell was acutely aware of the need to be completely accurate," says the senior official, "and that our national reputation was on the line." ----- "Truth and consequences : New questions about U.S. intelligence regarding Iraq's weapons of mass terror ," By Bruce B. Auster, Mark Mazzetti and Edward T. Pound, USNEWS ^

[* My note: So, did Powell choose Valerie to be on this team he created which set up shop at the CIA? And is this one of the articles derived from the Capitol Hill Blue's bogus source "T J Wilkerson?]

6 posted on 03/17/2007 3:55:19 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: piasa

2003 after SOTU speech : (CIA FINALLY GETS NIGER DOCS--- EVEN THOUGH THE CIA HAD HAD THEM SINCE LAST FALL) The State Department got the forged documents last fall [2002], but intelligence officials say the CIA didn't receive them - and thus couldn't analyze them - until after Bush's speech [on Jan 28, 2003]. The reason for the delay in getting them to the CIA remains unclear. - "CIA UNVEILS MORE NUKE-PLAN PROOF," by DEBORAH ORIN, New York Post, 7/19/03

(* My note: Why the delay in sending them to the CIA?)

2003 early : (MELANIE SLOAN LEAVES JOB AS ASSISTANT US ATTORNEY IN DC -- See CREW, DELAY, CHENEY, 2006FOLEYGATE) Ms. Sloan served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia, where, from 1998- early 2003, she successfully tried cases before dozens of judges and juries. 11 posted on 01/28/2004 10:54:52 AM PST by jimbo123

[* Did she resign or get fired?]

FEBRUARY 2003 : (SPECIAL INTEREST NONPROFIT GROUP 'CREW' aka CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS BECOMES ACTIVE - IT IS FILLED WITH FORMER CLINTON ADMINISTRATION PEOPLE, INCLUDING MELANIE SLOAN, FORMER ASSISTANT US ATTORNEY IN DC -- See 2006FOLEYGATE) ... CREW aims to counterbalance the conservative legal watchdog groups that made such a strong impact over the past decade. These groups focused their attention on their left-wing adversaries, leaving the right relatively free from scrutiny. CREW focuses equal attention on misconduct by all, including the right. - CREW website *
(* Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a non-profit legal watchdog group, ....Melanie Sloan serves as CREW's Executive Director. - CREW website)

FEBRUARY 2003 : (C.R.E.W. GOES ACTIVE - See JOE WILSON, MELANIE SLOAN, DICK CHENEY, TOM DELAY, 2006FOLEYGATE) CREW has been active only since February [2003], so its profile is still relatively low. Yet Republicans detect a strong Democratic orientation. Sloan, most recently an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, is a former aide to Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del.; then-Rep. (now Sen.) Charles Schumer, D- N.Y.; and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. In addition, CREW's three board members are Mark Penn, President Clinton's former pollster; Daniel Berger, a trial lawyer from Philadelphia and a Clinton fundraiser; and Louis Mayberg, the president of a mutual fund company. ---- http://www.citizensforethics.org/news/20030719_natljrnl.php
10 posted on 01/28/2004 10:52:10 AM PST by jimbo123 | To 1

[This Melanie Sloan would later be named as one of Joe and Valerie Wilson's lawyers]


7 posted on 03/17/2007 4:04:16 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: Sam Hill
February 6, 2003: Joe Wilson wrote an editorial for the Los Angeles Times, A 'Big Cat' With Nothing to Lose, in which he claimed we should not attack Saddam Hussein because he will use his weapons of mass destruction on our troops and give them to terrorists.

JANUARY 2003 : (WAS WILSON JULY 6, 2003 NY TIMES OP-ED ON NIGER & URANIUM SUPPOSED TO BE RELEASED MUCH EARLIER, IN EARLY JAN 2003 OR IS THIS JUST A SLIP OF THE TONGUE BY RAY MCGOVERN? --see VIPS)
RAY MCGOVERN : "Now why did the White House do that? Well, the conventional wisdom is they really hated Joe Wilson. Why did they hate Joe Wilson? Well, because in reporting in The New York Times in his famous op-ed in early January of 2003, he reported that there was no legitimate report about Iraq seeking uranium in Niger for lots of reasons" -------- The BRAD SHOW On the Air! TRANSCRIPT: Ray McGovern Interview 6/11/05, http://bradblog.com/BradShow/Transcripts/RayMcGovern_061105.htm

8 posted on 03/17/2007 4:11:42 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: piasa

I suspect that was a slip of the tongue or a misprint.

Indeed, before the war, both McGovern and Wilson had no doubts in their minds that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction:

Rumsfeld Heckler Believed Saddam Had WMDs | Sweetness & Light
http://www.sweetness-light.com/archive/rumsfeld-heckler-believed-saddam-had-wmds


9 posted on 03/17/2007 4:17:00 AM PDT by Sam Hill
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To: piasa

FEBRUARY 14, 2003 : (SOUTH AFRICA WILL SEND ITS EXPERTS TO IRAQ; IRAQ ACCEPTS) South Africa will send experts in dismantling weapons of mass destruction to Iraq as part of Pretoria's bid to avert war, President Thabo Mbeki said in his state of the nation address today. The intervention follows a visit to Baghdad by Aziz Pahad, the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, and comes ahead of today's crucial report-back by United Nations weapons inspectors to the Security Council in New York. Addressing a special joint sitting of Parliament, Mbeki said it was hoped the UN report-back "will not serve as a signal to some that the time has come to unleash the fury of war".
"As we speak, a number of our citizens are preparing to travel to Iraq. These are the experts who led our country's programme to destroy our nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction, as well as the missiles for the delivery of these weapons in conditions of combat." The work they had done had resulted in South Africa becoming an international example of best practice in disarmament, he said. South Africa voluntarily disarmed its weapons of mass destruction in the 1990s. Pretoria had proposed to Iraq and to Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General that these experts share South Africa's experience with Baghdad, Mbeki said.
"I am pleased to inform the Honourable Members that Iraq has accepted our offer, which we have already discussed with the leadership of the weapons inspectors. "We trust that this intervention will help to ensure the necessary proper co-operation between the United Nations' inspectors and Iraq, so that the issue of weapons of mass destruction is addressed satisfactorily, without resort to war."
Mbeki thanked the Iraqi government for its positive response, as well as its recent decisions to allow U2 and other aerial surveillance flights, to encourage its citizens to co-operate with inspectors without the presence of officials, and to adopt legislation prohibiting the production of weapons of mass destruction. - "SA to send its nuclear experts to Iraq: Mbeki," http://www.sabcnews.com/politics/government/0,1009,52970,00.html., February 14, 2003, 11:15

FEBRUARY 13, 2003 : (WILSON PUBLISHES "REPUBLIC OR EMPIRE?" IN THE MARCH 3, 2003 ISSUE OF "THE NATION"- IT WAS POSTED TO THE WEB EARLIER - See DAVID CORN) .... I would add this anti-war column written by one Joseph Wilson in The Nation: Republic or Empire? , Issue date of The Nation is March 3, but note, web posted on February 13, 2003.
This dovetails with your post-SOTU/pre-NY Times no mention of any concern regarding the representations made by President Bush in his speech in reference to uranium and Africa. Also, I'm sure you see that Wilson writing in The Nation means it is no surprise that it is David Corn that starts the drumbeat about the "outing" of Plame.------114 posted on 10/02/2003 2:34 PM PDT by cyncooper

FEBRUARY 13, 2003? is this the Feb 13 article?: (PREWAR : WILSON WRITES IN AN ARTICLE IN 'THE NATION' BASHES PRESIDENT BUSH) Joseph C. Wilson IV, the man accusing the White House of a vendetta against him and his wife, is an ex-diplomat turned Democratic partisan. President Bush, he wrote in an article in the far-left Nation magazine that was published before the Iraq war began, is not interested in democracy in the Middle East but "this new American imperialism."
"The new imperialists will not rest until governments that ape our world view are implanted throughout the region, a breathtakingly ambitious undertaking, smacking of hubris in the extreme." - "Wilson, wife have tight ties to Democrats. " By Rowan Scarborough, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 2 Oct 03


FEBRUARY 2003 : (FATHER JEAN-MARIE BENJAMIN HELPS ORGANIZE THE VISIT OF IRAQI DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER TARIQ AZIZ TO THE VATICAN FOR TALKS WITH POPE JOHN PAUL II & SENIOR VATICAN OFFFICIALS) Meanwhile, the Iraqi Foreign Minister Tareq Aziz, a Catholic, was in Rome to meet with the Pope, and he went to Assisi, where he prayed at the tomb of St Francis, and left a message in the visitors’ book in the form of a prayer for peace. His visit to Italy was organised by Father Jean-Marie Benjamin who, as well as being a songwriter, has had a long involvement with the Iraqi people. Over the past ten years he’s been a frequent visitor to Baghdad, in fact he was among the first to break the UN embargo by smuggling medicine into the country. And he’s written several books on the impact of the UN sanctions. - "A priest for peace," Wednesday 19/2/2003 , The Religion Report, Radio National, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/relrpt/stories/s787908.htm.

FEBRUARY 19, 2003 : (INTERVIEW OF FATHER JEAN-MARIE BENJAMIN INCLUDES BENJAMIN'S PROTEST SONG "MR. PRESIDENT") Well that protest song, “Mr President”, is getting lots of airplay on Italian radio at the moment. It was written by a very busy French priest living in Italy, Father Jean-Marie Benjamin. And it includes lines like “Hey Mr President, we’ve understood it all, that we’re all slaves of Wall Street”.

(* My note: The irony is that Father Benjamin's name turns up later as a recipient of Itaqi oil voucher bribes. )

FEBRUARY 22, 2003 Saturday : (VATICAN :) On Saturday, Feb. 22, British Prime Minister Tony Blair will arrive for a private tet-a-tet with John Paul II.  --- "And tonight’s guest is … Vatican plays host to an uneasy world," Vatican Correspondent, John Allen, http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word0221.htm as retrieved on Jun 28, 2004

FEBRUARY 22, 2003 : (NIGER DELTA : REPORT : HAZARDOUS RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS MISSING IN NIGER DELTA) - "Hazardous Radioactive Matterials Missing in Niger Delta," AllAfrica.com, Feb 22, 2003

FEBRUARY 22, 2003 : (RICHARD PERLE INTERVIEW; PERLE SLAMS THE FRENCH) A leading adviser to President Bush last night [February 22, 2003] launched a savage attack on President Chirac's diplomatic campaign to block war with Iraq, saying that it was merely the product of French commercial interests masquerading as a moral case for peace. In an exclusive interview with The Observer, Richard Perle, chairman of the Pentagon's Defence Policy Board and a central figure in the circle of hawks around Bush, went well beyond US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's recent criticism of 'old Europe', warning that war without the further approval of the UN Security Council was now imminent. 'I'm rather pessimistic that we will get French support for a second resolution authorising war,' Perle said. 'I think they will exercise their veto, and in other ways obstruct unified action by the Security Council: they're lobbying furiously now.'
Perle agreed that support for war in Britain and America would rise if there were a second resolution, and that the UN was 'a symbol of international legitimacy'. But in words that will serve only to deepen the transatlantic rift over Iraq, he added: 'These five countries, the permanent members of the Security Council, are not a judicial body. They're not expected to make moral or legal judgments, but to advance the respective interests of their countries. 'So if the French ambassador gets up and expresses the position of the government of France, what you are hearing is the moral authority of Jacques Chirac, whatever that may mean. 'What you're hearing is what the French President perceives to be in the interests of France. And the French President has found his own way of dealing with Saddam Hussein. It would be counter to French interests to destroy that cosy relationship, and replace it with a hostile one. 'So how much legitimacy attaches to a French veto? At some point, people are going to have to start asking themselves that question.'
In Perle's view, the French position against regime change in Iraq is fatally undermined by its multi-billion-dollar oil interests negotiated since the last Gulf war: 'There's certainly a large French commercial interest in Iraq, and there are contracts that a new government in Iraq may not choose to uphold, partly because they're so unfavourable to the people of Iraq. Saddam has been prepared to do deals to keep himself in power at the expense of the people. 'My understanding of the largest of these deals, which is the French Total-Fina-Elf contract to develop certain oil properties in Iraq, is that it is both very large and very unfavourable to the Iraqis.' Perle added that he found the claim that America wished to topple Saddam for the sake of its own oil interests bizarre.
'The US interest is to buy oil cheaply on the world market. And the best way to increase the supply of Iraqi oil, and so cut prices, would have been to abandon sanctions in 1991 and urge the expansion of Iraqi exploration and development. 'When you consider that there is now a prospect that the oilfields may be destroyed by Saddam, if what we really wanted was more oil, not only should we not be supporting Saddam's removal, we should be working with him.'
Perle denied claims widely reported on both sides of the Atlantic that the Bush administration intends to rule Iraq directly through a military governor for an extended period, and that it envisages no role for the Iraqi opposition. He was scathing about the 'conventional wisdom' among the foreign policy and intelligence establishment, which holds that the Iraqi opposition groups are hopelessly divided and the country far too fractious for meaningful democracy. 'This is a trivial observation and a misleading one, both by CIA officials and MI6,' Perle said. 'They're simply wrong about this. They don't understand the opposition. They say they're divided. Are they more divided than the Labour Party? I rather doubt it. Are they more divided than the Tories? I certainly doubt that.'
His own long-term dealings with Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress, and key figures in the main Kurdish groups, had convinced him and other leading US policymakers that 'Iraq is a very good candidate for democratic reform'.
'It won't be Westminster overnight, but the great democracies of the world didn't achieve the full, rich structure of democratic governance overnight. The Iraqis have a decent chance of succeeding under the leadership that has developed in the diaspora caused by Saddam's seizure of power.'
Reports claiming that a US military governor would keep most of Saddam's Baath Party officials in place and run the country on existing administrative structures were inaccurate and absurd, Perle said. 'The idea that the US would simply issue orders to the same mob that served under Saddam is ridiculous. This is not simply about switching one mafia family for another. American policy after Saddam's removal will be to assist the Iraqis to move as quickly as physically and practically possible into positions of power.'
As Assistant Defence Secretary under President Ronald Reagan, Perle was one of the key architects of the 1980s aggressive policy towards the Soviet Union, which Reagan dubbed an 'evil empire' and did much to undermine. He said he found it dismaying that many in Europe now found it 'politically incorrect' to describe regimes such as Iraq and North Korea as evil now:
'What we discovered from the victims of the Soviet empire, once they were free to speak, was that they agreed with us: evil was exactly the word they chose. I suspect that's the word that would be chosen by most of those forced to live in North Korea under Kim Jong Il, under the Iranian mullahs and Saddam Hussein.'


Top Bush aide savages 'selfish' Chirac ; White House adviser Richard Perle tells David Rose that France's 'cosy relationship' with Saddam means it will veto a second UN resolution, " by David Rose, The Observer (U.K.), 02/23/03

FEBRUARY 24, 2003 : (MEDIA BIAS, NEWSWEEK WRONG ON CLAIM THAT IRAQI LEADER'S SON IN LAW KAMEL TOLD THE CIA IRAQ HAD DESTROYED ALL OF ITS CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS) The CIA on Monday denied a Newsweek magazine report that Saddam Hussein's son-in-law told the U.S. intelligence agency in 1995 that Iraq after the Gulf War destroyed all its chemical and biological weapons and missiles to deliver them. "It is incorrect, bogus, wrong, untrue," CIA spokesman Bill Harlow said of the Newsweek report's allegations that Hussein Kamel told the CIA that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had destroyed all of his weapons of mass destruction. Newsweek said Kamel, who headed Iraq's nuclear, chemical, biological and missile programs for 10 years, told CIA and British intelligence officers and U.N. inspectors in the summer of 1995 that Iraq had destroyed all its chemical and biological weapons stockpiles after the 1991 Gulf War. "We've checked back and he didn't say this," a British government source told Reuters. "He said just the opposite, that the WMD program was alive and kicking." Harlow of the CIA said: "Newsweek failed to ask us this question." Newsweek said Kamel had hoped his revelations would trigger Saddam's overthrow, but when he realized the United States would not support his dream of becoming Iraq's ruler, he chose to return to Iraq where he was promptly killed. The issue of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction is extremely sensitive at the moment because the United States is building troops in the Gulf poised to invade Iraq on the premise that Saddam has not been forthcoming about his alleged biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programs. ((Reporting by Tabassum Zakaria - "U.S., U.K. deny Newsweek defector report," by Tabassum Zakaria, Reuters, 2/24/03

FEBRUARY 24 +/- , 2003 : (SOUTH AFRICAN "DISARMAMENT EXPERTS" ARRIVE IN IRAQ) A group of South African disarmament experts has arrived in Baghdad to help Iraq destroy any weapons of mass destruction it may have. The team of seven includes nuclear and chemical-biological weapons specialists who helped destroy South African weapons during the 1990s. Both President Thabo Mbeki and his predecessor Nelson Mandela have criticised United States-led plans to attack Iraq. Correspondents say that South Africa is the only country to voluntarily dismantle its programme of weapons of mass destruction. The United Nations chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, was involved in South Africa's disarmament. He has praised it as a model of co-operation, and has urged Iraq to adopt it. Iraq's General Hosam Mohamad Amin, head of the National Monitoring Directorate which liaises with the UN inspectors, said he would start his meetings with the South African experts on Monday. "We will exchange technical viewpoints... and they will share with us their expertise in their declarations about their programmes of weapons of mass destruction," he said.
The South Africans are led by Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad. South Africa's nuclear, chemical and biological arsenal was established during the apartheid regime. South Africa's nuclear programme began in the 1970s as a deterrent against neighbouring states opposed to apartheid and against the Cold War instability that was fuelling the war in nearby Angola. Mr Mbeki announced that the team would leave for Iraq in his state of the nation address earlier this month. "Hopefully, what they will do, freely to share their invaluable knowledge and experience, to facilitate the work both of the UN weapons inspectors and the government of Iraq, will bring us back from the brink of war, while helping to ensure that Iraq is truly free of weapons of mass destruction," he said. Mr Mandela's former wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has offered to go to Iraq as a human shield. - "SA experts start work in Iraq," BBC News, Monday, February 24, 2003

FEBRUARY 25, 2003 : (NIGERIA : REPORTS OF MISSING RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL) "We have ... informed the International Atomic Energy Agency in case somebody stole it and wants to take it outside Nigeria," Shams Elegba, head of Nigeria's nuclear regulatory body, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Elegba gave no further details of the missing material or the circumstances behind its loss. But he said his agency was working hard to recover it, and had asked the global energy agency for assistance. Nigeria alerted the public in a broadcast statement last week that an unidentified oil company had reported the loss of the radioactive material used in its operations in the southern Niger Delta oil region. - "Nigeria reports unexplained loss of nuclear material," AP via The Jerusalem Post, Feb. 25, 2003

FEBRUARY 27, 2003 : (US DIPLOMAT JOHN BRADY KIESLING RESIGNS- GOOD RIDDANCE?) - "U.S. Diplomat's Letter of Resignation (Over Iraq) ," John Brady Kiesling, NY Times, 02-27-03

FEBRUARY 28, 2003 : (WASHINGTON DC : AT LEAST 4 CONGRESSMEN RECEIVE SUSPICIOUS MAIL POSTMARKED IN SEATTLE AND CONTAINING WHITE POWDER - CONGRESSMEN ARE REPUBLICANS) At least four U.S. Senate and House of Representatives offices received envelopes yesterday postmarked from Seattle that contained suspicious white powder, U.S. Capitol police said. The powder was tested and police determined it was not anthrax, said Kimberly Ballinger, Capitol Police spokeswoman.
All postage to the Capitol is taken to an outside location by the Postal Service and irradiated. Even if the white powder had contained Anthrax, it would have been harmless by the time the letters were opened, said Ballinger. The letters had a Seattle postmark, but no return address, Ballinger said. A congressional source said the addresses were typed.
"It happens every day here," she said. "We don't consider it an issue unless it (the tests) turn out positive."
The letters were addressed to Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas; the House majority leader; Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn.; Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.
A ranking homeland-security official said the FBI would investigate the letters, but it was too early to tell what the four elected officials had in common that would make someone send them, and not others, the letters. -- "Gunfire kills 2 at U.S. consulate, Terrorism notebook," The Seattle Times, March 1, 2003, Saturday Fourth Edition

FEBRUARY 28, 2003 : (UN : 12TH QUARTERLY REPORT OF UNMOVIC TO THE UN NOTES THAT IRAQ'S REPORT IS INADEQUATE) In assessing the degree of Iraq's cooperation with the inspection process, the report [ the twelfth quarterly report of the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) in accordance with paragraph 12 of Security Council resolution 1284 (1999), covering UNMOVIC's activities from 1 December 2002 to 28 February 2003.] makes a distinction between cooperation on "process" and cooperation on "substance" In general, Iraq has been helpful on "process" and has, from the outset, satisfied the demand for prompt access to any site. Regarding cooperation on "substance"; the report notes that the declaration of 7 December has not been found to provide new evidence or data that may help to resolve outstanding disarmament issues. - "Statements to the UN Security Council by two Inspectors and Members of the SC, 7 Mar 2003 ," UN Press Release SC/7682, 07/03/2003, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/859554/posts (* My note : a long overdue decree that conveniently leaves the government exempt)

FEBRUARY 28, 2003 : (NIGERIA : IAEA REPORTS MISSING RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL ------ DIRTY BOMB PLOT?) The International Atomic Energy Agency has declared a "nuclear emergency" over the radioactive material reported missing from Nigeria this week. The agency says that they are viewing it as a "stretegic theft," which is to say that the material was taken with nefarious purposes in mind. Baer reports that this very likely means dirty bombs.- "IAEA declares "nuclear emergency" in Nigeria," (Bret Baer), Fox News Channel, 02/28/03- Posted on 02/28/2003 12:07 PM PST by dep

FEBRUARY 28, 2003 : (BILL MOYERS INTERVIEWS JOSEPH WILSON : WILSON MAKES NO MENTION OF THE IRAQ-AFRICA COMMENT IN BUSH'S SPEECH) Just one month to the day after the SOUA, on Feb. 28, Bill Moyers conducts a lengthy interview of Joseph Wilson for PBS. (Click for full transcript.) This is a golden opportunity (and contemporaneous to the SOUA), yet at no time does Wilson—who claims to have been immediately concerned about the Iraq-Africa reference in the SOUA—raise his concerns with Moyers. In fact, there is exactly one reference to the SOUA and then only in passing as Wilson and Moyers speculate as to what might be Hussein's reaction to the threats of war. - "Set up? Anatomy of the contrived Wilson "scandal", " FreeRepublic thread by Wolfstar, Multiple Sources & links in article , 10/2/03

FEBRUARY 28, 2003 : (BILL MOYERS INTERVIEW OF WILSON)
Please read what Joseph Wilson was saying to Bill Moyers in February 2003. Again, after the SOTU speech, before the war. Wilson agrees there are WMD in this interview, as he does in his column he writes in "The Nation". His only disagreement in February 2003 is going to war when he is urging "containment".
In Depth — Transcript, February 28, 2003, Bill Moyers talks with Joseph C. Wilson, IV
EXCERPT:
MOYERS: President Bush's recent speech to the American Enterprise Institute, he said, let me quote it to you. "The danger posed by Saddam Hussein and his weapons cannot be ignored or wished away." You agree with that?
WILSON: I agree with that. Sure. I...
MOYERS: "The danger must be confronted." You agree with that? "We would hope that the Iraqi regime will meet the demands of the United Nations and disarm fully and peacefully. If it does not, we are prepared to disarm Iraq by force. Either way, this danger will be removed. The safety of the American people depends on ending this direct and growing threat." You agree with that?
WILSON: I agree with that. Sure. The President goes on to say in that speech as he did in the State of the Union Address is we will liberate Iraq from a brutal dictator. All of which is true.

FEBRUARY 2003 : (KELLY MEETS WITH THE BBC'S GILLIGAN AGAIN -- See KELLY LEAK, PORTON DOWN, UNSCOM)
Excerpt:
Q32 Andrew Mackinlay: Okay. You met Gilligan, I think, for the first time about two and a half years ago?
Dr Kelly: Not to my recollection. The first time that I remember meeting him was at a meeting in September of last year.
Q33 Andrew Mackinlay: September 2002?
Dr Kelly: Correct.
Q34 Andrew Mackinlay: How many times have you seen him since?
Dr Kelly: Twice.
Q35 Andrew Mackinlay: On what occasions?
Dr Kelly: A day in February, a date I cannot remember, I am having difficulty locating it, and the now infamous May 22 [2002] meeting.
Q36 Andrew Mackinlay: Of this year? [2002]
Dr Kelly: Of this year.
END EXCERPT - Kelly Hearing


10 posted on 03/17/2007 4:22:40 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: Sam Hill

bookmark


11 posted on 03/17/2007 4:24:46 AM PDT by GiovannaNicoletta
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To: Sam Hill
Most likely it is a slip of the tongue. Interestingly, about the time of Wilson's March 3 , 2003 article Wilson's Australian equivalent Andrew Wilkie pops out of the woodwork to attack Howard:

MARCH 2003 : (AUSTRALIA : ANDREW WILKIE RESIGNS FROM THE OFFICE OF NATIONAL ASSESSMENTS) [Andrew] Wilkie resigned from Australia's elite Office of National Assessments (ONA) in March in protest against the government's alleged misuse of information provided by the agency. The ONA is an elite agency which evaluates intelligence from all Australian and allied agencies and passes on that advice to Prime Minister John Howard's office. The Howard government has been a staunch supporter of the Bush administration position on Iraq and contributed troops and military hardware to the U.S.-led "coalition of the willing". - "Australia sexed-up Iraq dossier, former spy claims... WMD: Australia accused of hype," Drudge/CNN , Friday, August 22, 2003

12 posted on 03/17/2007 4:31:06 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: piasa

Other things going on:

MARCH 2003 first week : (CUBA : CASTRO TELLS IRAQ TO DESTROY ITS WMD & COMMENTS ON IRAN ) President Fidel Castro has urged Baghdad to destroy "the last cubic centimetre of chemical or biological weapons" to remove any pretext Washington might have to attack it. At the close of the new Cuban parliamentary legislature, in which Castro's re-election as head of the government and the state came as no surprise, the Cuban leader praised Iraq's decision to destroy its Al-Samoud 2 missiles. "The American Government will no longer have the least legal or moral pretext to attack Iraq," Castro said. He slammed Washington for closing its eyes to atomic weapons held by Israel having provided the means for their transportation. "Only the complete truth ... would give the Iraqi people enough moral strength and international support to defend their homeland and integrity right up to the last drop of blood," he said. Castro acknowledged that Iraq had "committed two grave and unjustifiable actions" in invading Iran and occupying Kuwait, but had also had to endure "very hard action" itself. Iraq "is not in a position, militarily speaking, to constitute the least risk to US security or of their allies in the region", Castro said.- "Castro tells Iraq: destroy weapons," Agence France-Presse , March 7, 2003

MARCH 2003 : ('THE NATION' : WILSON WRITES 'REPUBLIC OR EMPIRE' FOR THE NATION AT THE INVITATION OF DAVID CORN) Wilson's antiwar stance won him new friends. Among them was David Corn, the Nation's Washington correspondent. Wilson met Corn in an unlikely lefty hangout: the greenroom of the Fox News Channel's Washington studios. In March 2003, Wilson, at Corn's invitation, penned an article for the Nation entitled "Republic or Empire?" It was a rhetorical question. Wilson wrote that "the underlying objective of this war is the imposition of a Pax Americana on the region and the installation of vassal regimes that will control restive populations." President Bush's talk about bringing democracy to the Middle East? Hogwash. "The new imperialists will not rest until governments that ape our worldview are implanted throughout the region." The Nation article was a big success. It "led to a further series of appearances," Wilson writes, on "more substantive news programs," like--and he's serious--"NOW with Bill Moyers." -- "The Rise and Decline of Joe Wilson," by Matthew Continetti, Weekly Standard, 05/17/2004

MARCH 2, 2003 : ('THE NATION' : WILSON OP-ED NO MENTION OF URANIUM/NIGER/BUSH SOTU) Wilson has Op-ed in the Nation here----3/3,2003 NOTHING ABOUT URANIUM/NIGER/SOTU....
70 posted on 07/17/2003 10:30 AM PDT by hobbes1

MARCH 2003 : () The man [Joe Wilson] who helped set off a media firestorm over President Bush's State of the Union reference to Iraq seeking uranium in Niger is actually a confirmed Bush-hater who opposed the war in Iraq and complained in March [2003] that Bush had led America into a period of "historical madness." ---- "Report: CIA Source on Niger Nuke Flap is a Bush-Hater (Wilson)," Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff , NewsMax.com, 7/13/03, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/945331/posts

MARCH 2003 : (THIS IS THE TIME IRAQ MOVED 'UNSPECIFIED MATERIALS' TO SYRIA,' INCLUDING SOME COMPONENTS OF IRAQ'S WMD PROGRAMS, ACCORDING TO LATER REPORT BY DR. DAVID KAY) - "Kay says some Iraq weapons in Syria: report,"AFP, Sunday, January 25, 2004. 1:00pm (AEDT) via http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1031270.htm

MARCH 4, 2003 : (IAEA INVESTIGATION OF ALLEGATIONS THAT IRAQ TRIED TO OBTAIN URANIUM IN AFRICA FOCUSES ON NIGER) INTRO: "The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed it is actively investigating allegations that Iraq, in recent years, attempted to import uranium from Niger. More from V-O-A Correspondent Alex Belida." TEXT: "An I-A-E-A spokesman describes the investigation as ongoing and confirms the probe of Iraq's efforts to obtain uranium in Africa does focus on Niger. But the spokesman will not provide any details and will not tell V-O-A, for example, whether the government of Niger is cooperating or whether the U-N nuclear agency has sent any investigators to the African country. However Iraq's Foreign Ministry has said I-A-E-A officials in Baghdad have questioned Iraqi officials about the Niger connection. - VOA News Report, 3/4/03 , byline pentagon, via http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2003/03/mil-030304-2a189293.htm.

MARCH 5, 2003 : (AXIS OF WEASELS RELEASE JOINT DECLARATION TO RESIST US & UK AT UN) The foreign ministers of France, Russia and Germany release a joint declaration stating that they will 'not allow' a resolution authorising military action to pass the UN security council. The hardening stance from the anti-war bloc increases the pressure on the US and Britain to compromise on their draft UN resolution.France, Russia and Germany harden stance - http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/page/0,12438,793802,00.html


13 posted on 03/17/2007 4:37:59 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: Sam Hill

Another bookmark. Thanks.


14 posted on 03/17/2007 4:43:48 AM PDT by mtbopfuyn (I think the border is kind of an artificial barrier - San Antonio councilwoman Patti Radle)
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To: piasa

By the way -- when Castro said that to iraq he was in Vancouver.


15 posted on 03/17/2007 4:44:58 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: Sam Hill

Bump


16 posted on 03/17/2007 4:45:25 AM PDT by sport
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To: Sam Hill

" May 2, 2003: Joe Wilson and Valerie attended a conference sponsored by the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, at which Wilson spoke about Iraq. "

Democrats, start calling these witnesses.


17 posted on 03/17/2007 4:49:57 AM PDT by Son House ( The Presidents enemies, are my enemies.)
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To: piasa

Your research is amazing.


18 posted on 03/17/2007 4:50:21 AM PDT by SkyPilot
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To: Son House

" May 2, 2003: Joe Wilson and Valerie attended a conference sponsored by the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, at which Wilson spoke about Iraq. "

Democrats, start calling these witnesses.

+++

The Senate Democratic Policy Committee has a web site:

Senate Democratic Policy Committee Web Site
http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/

Coincidentally, every one of their conferences are listed -- except this one.


19 posted on 03/17/2007 4:53:39 AM PDT by Sam Hill
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To: Sam Hill

Must be just another filing error,
Democrats will get the meeting posted now that they're caught,
like Reid and his Realestate,
Clinton and her privately run charity,
and that one with money in his freezer,
can't remember his name, but they seem to think it
normal because he keeps serving dishonorably.


20 posted on 03/17/2007 5:04:10 AM PDT by Son House ( The Presidents enemies, are my enemies.)
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