[SmithL]

So, she's not a spy. Still.

[syriacus]

Valerie E. Wilson, has kept her silence,

She's smart to avoid making public comments, since, if she spoke, she surely would be forced to contradict one or more of her husband's statements.

He's all ready contradicted himself a number of times. If she agrees with one statement of his, she will automatically be disagreeing with another statement.

[okie01]

And Joseph C. Wilson IV is a lying jerk. Still.

[The Radical Capitalist]

Is posing for a two-page spread in Vanity Faire discreet?

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Since when have the MSM even actually had the anonymous source they quote? As someone noted on another thread the important thing is to get a "credible" story out there if the MSM employee feeeeeeeeeeeeeeels a Republican has done something wrong.

Like Tom Foley former House Speaker said about the October Surprise, there's no evidence that's why we have to hold hearings.

[montag813]

But the woman at the center of it all, Valerie E. Wilson, has kept her silence, showing the discipline and discretion that colleagues say made her a good spy

That is total hogwash. Everyone in Washington's social set knew what she did and who she was. She was very cavalier about her covert status--that is, until it became possible to hurt Bush with this non-story, and then suddenly she is James Bond. This whole story is absolutely meaningless. Bush never should have appointed a special investigation of this crap.

[piasa]

Get a load of this...

[kcvl]

Friday, June 17, 2005

NYT: "Antiwar Group Says Leaked British Memo Shows Bush Misled Public on His War Plans" (Scott Shane)

Every now and then, we get a nasty little e-mail about how we play favorites here with regards to the Times reporters. (And some of those nasty little e-mails are from Times' reporters.) We're accused of gushing over Raymond Bonner, Amy Waldman or Scott Shane.


******


Shane opens today's story: "Opponents of the war in Iraq held an unofficial hearing on Capitol Hill on Thursday to draw attention to a leaked British government document that they say proves their case that President Bush misled the public about his war plans in 2002 and distorted intelligence to support his policy. In a jammed room in the basement of the Capitol, Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, presided as witnesses asserted that the 'Downing Street memo' -- minutes of a July 23, 2002, meeting of Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top security officials -- vindicated their view that Mr. Bush made the decision to topple Saddam Hussein long before he has admitted. 'Thanks to the Downing Street minutes, we now know the truth,' said Ray McGovern, a C.I.A. analyst for 27 years who helped organize a group of other retired intelligence officers to oppose the war."

Shane ignored some of McGovern's outlandish comments as a member of that group, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. In April 2003, McGovern suggested to Agence France Presse that the United States would plant WMD if they failed to find it: "Some of my colleagues are virtually certain that there will be some weapons of mass destruction found, even though they might have to be planted."

snip


There was another noteworthy omission by the Times. Reporter Scott Shane didn't even mention the inconvenient presence on the four-person panel of discredited anti-war voice Joe Wilson, whose wife, Valerie Plame, suggested he be sent to Niger to investigate possible uranium purchases by Saddam Hussein. Wilson had said she had not played a role. In addition, the Senate found Wilson's report from Niger actually bolstered the case that Hussein had sought uranium from Niger, though Wilson claimed his trip should have buried that idea and accused Bush of ignoring his findings in a rush to war.

For the full Shane report, click here:


http://tinyurl.com/a67ba