Matthew Continetti completely busts Wilson.
Has anyone been able to find the June 12, 2003 WaPo Pincus piece? I haven't been able to find it.
bttt
I had it bookmarked once but lost the file when my husband did some computer work. I'll try to find it.
A Google of Niger + Pincus did the trick:
CIA Did Not Share Doubt on Iraq Data
June 12, 2003
A key component of President Bush's claim in his State of the Union address last January that Iraq had an active nuclear weapons program -- its alleged attempt to buy uranium in Niger -- was disputed by a CIA-directed mission to the central African nation in early 2002, according to senior administration officials and a former government official. But the CIA did not pass on the detailed results of its investigation to the White House or other government agencies, the officials said.
~snip~
We now know by his own admission the "former government official" cited above was none other than Wilson himself.
During his trip, the CIA's envoy spoke with the president of Niger and other Niger officials mentioned as being involved in the Iraqi effort, some of whose signatures purportedly appeared on the documents.
Here is Wilson purveying the notion he was sent based on the forged documents. However, he went in February 2002 and the forged documents were given to our Embassy in Rome in October 2002.
However, a senior CIA analyst said the case "is indicative of larger problems" involving the handling of intelligence about Iraq's alleged chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs and its links to al Qaeda, which the administration cited as justification for war. "Information not consistent with the administration agenda was discarded and information that was [consistent] was not seriously scrutinized," the analyst said.
How much you wanna bet this "CIA analyst" is none over than Plame?