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I'll have to re-read some of the material on Tenet. The story of the Iraqi "businessman" trying to meet with Niger officials somes from Wilson by way of Tenet. It was left out of his op-ed piece. Also left out was the trade mission.

This is what bothers me. The trade mission was not a secret, it was effectively public knowledge. That trade mission seals the deal on Bush's remark that Iraq "sought" uranium. There was no need to reference British intel, or anyone else's intel.

So the reference to the Brit's unwillingness to discuss certain intel issues with us regarding Niger is curious. This may have been a reference to supposed French unwillingness to confirm to the US stuff that they had already confirmed to the Brits, according to some things I have read.

The whole thing smells. To confirm "seeking uranium" doesn't require a trip to Niger, as we said, the trade mission is not a secret. To confirm actual transactions, though, would require a real surveillance, some penetration of mining company staff, the tapping of communications. It would require an actual effort. Wilson's trip was not an investigation, it was tourism. And it was tourism he himself exposed with his op-ed. He probably thought he was outing the president, but he was outing the CIA's nakedness in that part of the world.

This is some weird stuff.

I always get a "through the looking glass" sensation with this kind of thing. What is so obvious to us here gets no attention at all in the press. They have all the dots but studiously refuse to connect any of them. When you yourself have finally connected them yourself, you can see in the way stories are written that they are stepping around truths they do not want to address. If they are stepping around them, they know them. Its maddening.

Not only maddening, but infuriating. On top of that, it is fairly easy to explain what the real scandal is to anyone with an IQ above that of a turnip, so they can't use the excuse that it's "too complicated for the avearage person" like they do on so often.

I had zero trouble explaining this to two gals who work in the nail salon. They were properly curious and outraged about the thing.

I will tell you what else I think. I bet you Wilson and his wife were under internal investigation by the CIA and he went public to keep himself out of jail. I think he figured if he made enough noise, no one would touch him because of looking like it was politically motivated. It is rather like why I think Janet Reno ran for governor of Florida. She had to know that she had zero chance, but as long as she was a candidate no one was going to indict her.

"They have all the dots but studiously refuse to connect any of them."

Talking about "connecting the dots", let's not forget the Saudi connection to Wilson.

As Mark Stein pointed out, there are a LOT of people in our government (Wilson, for instance) on the Saudi payroll (See excerpt of his article below). It isn't much of a stretch to figure that people like Sheldon Drobny, co-founder of anshellmedia.com , the new "liberal" radio network, and his like-minded friends running this web site, "makethemaccountable.com", are being pay-rolled by them, too.

Mark Steyn: With friends like the Saudis . . .
Chicago Sun-Times ^ | October 19 2003 | Mark Steyn
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1003888/posts

Excerpt:

....That would also include the pro-Saudi Middle East Institute, whose "adjunct scholar" is one Joseph C. Wilson IV.

Remember him? He's the fellow at the center of the Bob-Novak-published-the-name-of-my-CIA-wife scandal.

The agency sent him to look into the European intelligence stories about Saddam Hussein trying to buy uranium in Africa. He went to Niger, drank mint tea with government flacks, and then wrote a big whiny piece in the New York Times after the White House declined to accept his assurances there was nothing going on.

He was never an intelligence specialist, he's no longer a "career diplomat," but he is, like so many other retired ambassadors, on the House of Saud's payroll.

And the Saudis were vehemently opposed to war with Saddam.

Think about that. To investigate Saddam's attempted acquisition of uranium, the United States government sent a man in the pay of the Saudi government.

The Saudis set up schools that turn out terrorists.

They set up Islamic lobby groups that put spies in our military bases and terror recruiters in our prisons.

They set up think tanks that buy up and neuter the U.S. diplomatic corps.

And their ambassador's wife funnels charitable donations to the 9/11 hijackers.