So we all know Joe Wilson is a former Ambassador. We all, at least here at Free Republic, know he is a left wing war opponent with ties to a number of high ranking Democrats.
Some people in reference to the public revelation of his wife's name have pointed out that she is mentioned in his biography for the Middle East Institute.
http://www.mideasti.org/html/bio-wilson.html
I think a far more important point is being missed here in reference to the MEI, however. They are, at least in part, a Saudi Arabian funded front group;
http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cache:IRKdQ1Ptv7sJ:www.iht.com/articles/56717.htm+%22Middle+East+Institute%22+saudi+arabia+espionage&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
The institute also receives funds from Saudi Arabia, which opposes the INC specifically and Bush's approach to regime change in Iraq in general.
The Saudis, for their part, have even admitted to trying to keep former diplomats on their payroll to keep said officials' "friendship"
http://www.la.utexas.edu/chenry/oil/press02/Oil%20for%20Security%20Fueled%20Close%20Ties%20(washingtonpost_com).htm
Walker, the former assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, is president of the Middle East Institute in Washington, which promotes understanding with the Arab world. Its board chairman is former senator Wyche Fowler, ambassador to Riyadh in the second Clinton administration. Saudi contributions covered $200,000 of the institute's $1.5 million budget last year, Walker said.
[Saudia Arabian Prince] Bandar has told associates that he makes a point of staying close to officials who have worked with Saudi Arabia after they leave government service. "If the reputation then builds that the Saudis take care of friends when they leave office," Bandar once observed, according to a knowledgeable source, "you'd be surprised how much better friends you have who are just coming into office."
I think with this information it is high time to see what role the Saudis have played in this whole affair. And it is time for the media to consider the far bigger scandal here.
There have been numerous demands outside of beltway and the mainstream media for just how the seemingly unqualified diplomat was chosen for an important investigative mission. Some have windered what role his wife played exactly in choosing Wilson.
The far more important question now before us, though, is what if any role a foreign government may have played in choosing Wilson, or in coloring Wilson flawed investigation. Certainly, the choice and results of this trip could not have worked out better for the government of Saudi Arabia.
You wouldn't be suggesting that a prominent advisor to the Kerry campaign, and key political operative in his behalf, might be a "Saudi mole"?
Would you?