Posted on 07/18/2004 7:11:25 AM PDT by TennTuxedo
The `Plame' truth: That Joe Wilson lied
By Boston Herald Editorial Staff
Sunday, July 18, 2004
It's a good thing former Ambassador Joseph Wilson took advantage of his 15 minutes of fame and already published his book bashing President Bush [related, bio], ironically entitled the ``Politics of Truth.''
It's not the best marketing strategy to have two governments essentially call the author a liar.
The Senate Intelligence Committee report released last week about intelligence missteps leading up to the war in Iraq were crystal clear about Wilson's falsehoods.
Wilson's insistence that his wife, CIA operative Valerie Plame, had nothing to do with his selection to lead a pre-Iraq war mission to Niger is a flat-out lie. She's the one who suggested Wilson in the first place, according to documents unearthed by the congressional committee.
Aside from revealing Wilson as the partisan phony he is, this new revelation puts in context why someone in the White House might have identified Plame to columnist Robert Novak in the first place. Wilson charged it was an act of political revenge because he was critical of President Bush's use of the pre-war intelligence. In fact, it is relevant to Wilson's credibility to understand why and how he was selected for the mission.
More importantly, both the British and Senate investigations found the raison d'etre for Wilson's presence on the national stage is false, too.
Remember those much-debated 16 lines in last year's State of the Union address? In a New York Times column, Wilson claimed Bush ``twisted intelligence'' by arguing Iraq was trying to purchase uranium from Niger. Wilson's investigation, he insisted, found no basis for it.
cw2We know now that truth is a relative thing to this former ambassador. And it turns out, according to both countries' reports on pre-war intelligence failures, Bush's assertion was absolutely correct.
Wilson's report provided ``some confirmation of foreign government service reporting'' about Iraq's interest in getting uranimum from Niger, according to the Senate. British investigators found Wilson's assertion that the report was based solely on forged documents also untrue. The substantiation for the British intelligence report on Niger came from ``several different sources.''
The political damage to Bush caused by Wilson's lies can't be undone. But at least now he has been undone by them, too.
There's more to the DNC strategy: Imagine 160,000 troops returning to the US with out invading. Can you hear the talking points.
Another 30-45 day delay and the invasion would have been impossible until the fall of 2003. Once June hits the Gulf becomes the hottest region on earth. Humid too. Our troops would not be able to carry enough water to ensure human survival wearing chem suits in 130 degree temperatures.
We needed to be in Baghdad with bases set up before the Iraqi summer.
Wilson has been proven a totally partisan liar, but don't look for the RAT lapdog media to ever acknowledge this simple fact. One of the worst things about our country is that this sort of treason is never punished.
Was Wilson put under oath?
A look into Joseph Wilson's background shows that he has some rather provocative connections.
Joseph Wilson is listed as an Adjunct Scholar with the Middle East Institute which advocates for Saudi interests and which has as officers such stalwart friends of Saudi Arabia as former Ambassadors Richard Murphy, Wyche Fowler (the chairman of the Institute), David L. Mack (the senior vice-president of the Institute), and Edward S. Walker (the president of the Institute). The March 1, 2002 issue of the Saudi government-weekly Ain-Al Yaqeen lists the MEI as an "Islamic research institute supported by the Kingdom."
Joel Mowbray in his book "Dangerous Diplomacy" has characterized the Middle East Institute as feeding "from the Saudi trough..." it is "filled with former State Department officials who were cozy with the House of Saud while at Foggy Bottom."
Joseph Wilson also is listed as a Strategic Advisor for Rock Creek Corporation. Rock Creek Corporation is listed on the Saudi.net page (www.the-saudi.net/business-center/links-usa.htm) as a firm doing business with Saudi Arabia.
Kerry will be busy trying to get that shoe out of his mouth very soon. LOL
Not if we wait for the press to pick up on it.
You are so right. AP has already figured out a spin that puts the blame on President Bush. The following is from the KEN GUGGENHEIM AP article you get when you log onto AOL. The bold face is mine. I am waiting to see how many times I see repudiation used in articles tomorrow. It is not a word generally used (a la gravitas?) Nowhere in the article does it say that Wilson lied or that the White House had been under relentless attack about using "the 16 words" before they finally came out with some backtracking. Now AP is attacking the White House for repudiating the 16 words when their assertion was correct after all.
"It was one of the first signs that the intelligence used to go to war in Iraq was wrong: White House repudiation of 16 words in last year's State of the Union speech that had suggested Saddam Hussein tried to buy uranium in Africa.".................
"The White House's repudiation came after The New York Times published an op-ed column by former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who was sent by the CIA to Niger to determine if Iraq had been acquiring uranium. Wilson said it was unlikely any uranium transaction had taken place and the administration appeared to have been manipulating the intelligence."
That is the most inane claim possible. When you decide and lead, you go in one direction rather than another. The guys who don't like wha t you do will be pissed and in some cases will try to continue their opposition by other means. Kerry wailing about the international community does not respect us is gibberish. What he really is saying is that they dont love us. They respect the hell out of us, but of course, wont admit that. Some things are so obvious that they still have to be said.
"There is obviously a plan behind this pattern."
Joe Wilson does have an interesting history and contacts.
Does JFKerry and Ramsey Clark still maintain contact?
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