Posted on 04/30/2004 1:38:13 PM PDT by smonk
Funny how you were able to respond to Posts #7, #9, #10, #13, and #14, (#6, #11 and #12 being your own posts), but could not or would not respond to Post #8 from Dr Snide, which explains concisely and clearly why your characterization of this story that it "requires taking Baghdad Bob seriously" is completely and totally bogus, and why your apparent position (that the source for this report is unreliable) would nullify the entire pseudo controversy to begin with, since the primary source for this report is Joe Wilson himself.
What an oversight on your part. Must have slipped your mind to respond to the post which demolishes your position entirely. Oopsy!
LOL.
I didn't say that B-Bob was the source of the revelation. But, to give you some slight benefit of the doubt, perhaps you don't think it requires taking him seriously to believe he is out scouring the market for illegal nuclear materials?
Look, I don't take Joe Wilson seriously either, but that doesn't mean the CIA didn't send him on a pretend spy mission.
Again, if you doubt the story on its face (and be my guest), that means you think one of these two people are lying:
1. Joe Wilson
2. Joe Wilson's Niger contact
But if you think either of those two are unreliable then there is no reason whatsoever for there to be a controversy over Bush's "16 words" in the first place.
Get it now?
Okay, if you want to get technical, Joe Wilson stated it in his book...I am just pointing out that he is still lying and that you are still a jerk.
Okay, if you want to get technical, Joe Wilson stated it in his book...I am just pointing out that he is still lying and that you are still a jerk.
Second, it is not necessary to "doubt the story" to find the circumstances ridiculous. First, no one is claiming that B-Bob was going around asking for u-235. The only claim I see from the Nigerian is that he "interpreted the overture" as one looking for uranium. Perhaps he is an idiot. Perhaps he wanted to curry favor with US officials by pumping up information. Whatever.
The only thing I find at all of interest here, and the only think I commented upon, is the idea that B-Bob could be involved in anything more serious than parroting the idiotic information being fed to him by his masters. If you want to pick at that and defend Bob, have at it.
Get it now?
You're saying that you doubt that Baghdad Bob was on that mission, for that purpose, because of how Baghdad Bob is such a funny figure and so on. That's all I meant. I don't know what you think I meant but that's all I meant: you doubt the story because it doesn't jibe with what you know, or think you know, about "Baghdad Bob".
Second, it is not necessary to "doubt the story" to find the circumstances ridiculous.
So are you saying that you don't doubt the story? In that case, what the heck are we talking about?
First, no one is claiming that B-Bob was going around asking for u-235. The only claim I see from the Nigerian is that he "interpreted the overture" as one looking for uranium. Perhaps he is an idiot. Perhaps he wanted to curry favor with US officials by pumping up information. Whatever.
Ah. So Wilson's source is either an idiot or self-serving and unreliable.
In which case there's no reason for the "16 words" controversy, like I said.
the only think I commented upon, is the idea that B-Bob could be involved in anything more serious than parroting the idiotic information being fed to him by his masters
I see. So you don't think "B-Bob" was involved in what Wilson says his source says B-Bob was involved in. That's FINE. That means one of two things:
-Wilson is unreliable
-Wilson's source is unreliable.
Bye bye "16 words" controversy.
If you want to pick at that and defend Bob, have at it.
For crying out loud who the hell is "defending Bob"? You misread me entirely.
Now, assuming my view that it is not realistic, it could have several possible meanings. It could mean what you suggest - that this particular Nigerian is, in fact, an idiot for whatever he read into the "overture." Was this the only Nigerian that provided Wilson with any information? I don't know. It seems that your post assumes this. I don't really know that much about the details of his claims, so I don't know how you can say that his source for this claim being an idiot dispenses with anything else he may have heard or found.
The bottom line is that I was commenting on one aspect of the article - the involvement of a laughable character in international intrigue. I don't pretend for a second - on this issue or any other - that the entire universe of available positions or information is addressed in this article or in the entire printed record on the incident. Frankly, there is a lot missing - like the key part: why did the Nigerian "interpret the overture as an effort to purchase uranium." I mean, did B-Bob say he wanted to talk about trade while drawing the international symbol for radioactivity on a bar napkin? I don't know. But anyone who thinks they can blow open a whole story or assert "case closed" on an issue by pointing to some comment in a newspaper article gives far more weight to the accuracy and thoroughness of the media than I'm sure they would admit here.
Text of CIA Director George Tenet's statement
Excerpt:
There was fragmentary intelligence gathered in late 2001 and early 2002 on the allegations of Saddam's efforts to obtain additional raw uranium from Africa, beyond the 550 metric tons already in Iraq. In an effort to inquire about certain reports involving Niger, CIA's counter-proliferation experts, on their own initiative, asked an individual with ties to the region to make a visit to see what he could learn. He reported back to us that one of the former Nigerien (sic) officials he met stated that he was unaware of any contract being signed between Niger and rogue states for the sale of uranium during his tenure in office. The same former official also said that in June 1999 a businessman approached him and insisted that the former official meet with an Iraqi delegation to discuss "expanding commercial relations" between Iraq and Niger. The former official interpreted the overture as an attempt to discuss uranium sales.
~snip~
Of course, the "former official" here is Joe Wilson.
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