Joesph Wilson changes story, Baghdad Bob tried to buy uranium from Niger?

Best of the Web ^ | 04/30/04 | JAMES TARANTO

[Pikamax]

BY JAMES TARANTO Friday, April 30, 2004 4:11 p.m. EDT

Joe Says It Was So Remember Joe Wilson, the loudmouthed former ambassador who stirred up a kerfuffle last year by claiming that BUSH LIED!!!! when he purportedly said Saddam Hussein's Iraq had sought to buy uranium in Niger? Now Wilson has a book out, and it seems he's changing his story. The Washington Post reports:

It was Saddam Hussein's information minister, Mohammed Saeed Sahhaf, often referred to in the Western press as "Baghdad Bob," who approached an official of the African nation of Niger in 1999 to discuss trade--an overture the official saw as a possible effort to buy uranium. . . .

In his book, Wilson recounts his encounter with the unnamed Niger official in 2002, saying, he "hesitated and looked up to the sky as if plumbing the depths of his memory, then offered that perhaps the Iraqi might have wanted to talk about uranium." Wilson did not get the Iraqi's name in 2002, but he writes that he talked to his source again four months ago, and that the former official said he saw Sahhaf on television before the start of the war and recognized him as the person he talked to in 1999.

Weird. Wilson was a cause célèbre on the Angry Left for awhile there (there was also something about his wife, if we remember right), but apparently for no reason.

[Izzy Dunne]

apparently for no reason.

reason?

REASON?

We don't need no steenkin' reason!

[woofie]

I was out of the country when this clown had his 15 minutes, I never have gotten it straight.

[Dr Snide]

apparently neither has he.

[coloradan]

On this subject, can anyone point me to evidence that Plame was outed before the Novak column? I know her name was listed on his bio at the Middle East Institute website, but is that really an outing?

[The South Texan]

We need some Baghdad Bob pics! They just are too funny to look at.

[Dr Snide]

If I remember right she identified herself as working as a CIA agent the first time she met Uncle Joe Wilson at a D.C. party (by his own description of them meeting) which would seem to indicate she was not exactly protective of her "cover"

[Dr. Frank fan]

This would explain something that had been bothering me. When I first heard about his book, the news said that the book would be titled What I Didn't Find In Niger, after his initial op-ed on his little trip. But more recently I heard that the title would be The Politics Of Truth for some reason. I heard that and wondered why the change.

I guess now we know the reason, he knows how stupid "what I didn't find" would make him sound if it was really there.

[coloradan]

That was the "third or fourth date" during a "heavy make-out session" according to the Vanity Fair interview. But that, too, doesn't amount to general disclosure.

[Shermy]

Wilson did not get the Iraqi's name in 2002, but he writes that he talked to his source again four months ago,

Interesting, why would he talk to this Niger official again? Perhaps Wilson is still pursuing approval for a gold mining venture with the Niger govt.???

From the VF article:

"..After only one year in the job Wilson decided to retire and go into the private sector because "we wanted to have kids, and felt that it had become very difficult to live off two government salaries." He set up a consultancy, J. C. Wilson International Ventures, with an office in downtown Washington at the headquarters of the Rock Creek Corporation, an investment firm of which little is known. Wilson's right-wing critics have been quick to condemn the affiliation as "murky," though Wilson does not work for Rock Creek and merely rents space and facilities there.

"I have a number of clients, and basically we help them with their sort of investments in countries like Niger," explains Wilson. "Niger was of some interest because it has some gold deposits coming onstream. We had some clients who were interested in gold.... We were looking to set up a gold-mine company out of London."

BTW, does anyone know if Wilson discusses his work with the Kerry campaign???

Joseph Wilson, Niger, Uranium and Bush’s Famous Sixteen Words: Evolution of a Confused Story

[okie01]

Ping-a-ling.

[Shermy]

From George Tenet:

"...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. The former officials also offered details regarding Niger's processes for monitoring and transporting uranium that suggested it would be very unlikely that material could be illicitly diverted. There was no mention in the report of forged documents -- or any suggestion of the existence of documents at all.

So it appears the the one who heard the 1999 story was Wilson himself - which he reported - but declined to mention in "What I Found in Africa" and such.

[Shermy]

when he purportedly said Saddam Hussein's Iraq had sought to buy uranium in Niger?

Wilson never uses Bush's word "sought". He carefully uses the word "bought".

[VisualizeSmallerGovernment]

I was out of the country when this clown had his 15 minutes, I never have gotten it straight.

You didn't miss much. Even to the Bush Haters, Joe Wilson is the equivalent of watching Police Academy IV at 3:00 AM because you lost the remote and don't want to get up to switch channels.

Except that Police Academy IV probably made sense at times.

[mass55th]

Makes you wonder if he didn't use the government trip he was supposed to be looking for "yellow cake" on, to pursue his own personal interests in the gold mining venture. Rather easy to do if your wife sets the whole thing up and makes it look like you're pursuing legitimate government info.

[Salvation]

**It was Saddam Hussein's information minister, Mohammed Saeed Sahhaf, often referred to in the Western press as "Baghdad Bob," who approached an official of the African nation of Niger in 1999 to discuss trade--an overture the official saw as a possible effort to buy uranium. . . . **

And the way Bagdad Bob lied, who would believe this?

[Shermy]

IN this interview, Question 3, Baghdad Bob mentions he was in the Foreign Ministry before he was in the Information Ministry.

Al-Sahaf Talks about the US-UK War on Iraq (Baghdad Bob speaks!)

[Dr Snide]

I thought he was hired as a consultant for the Kerry campaign

[AngryJawa]

Isn't Baghdad Bob walking around as a free man today, flapping his lying pie hole on al Arabia or some such?

[Shermy]

#15

If he had said "Yes, Niger contemplated breaking UN sanctions to export uranium to Iraq" how do you think that would effect his future business prospects there???