Posted on 07/17/2005 12:53:21 PM PDT by doug from upland
It was partisan propaganda from the beginning as far as Wilson was concerned.
It really is beginning to look like Plame wanted Wilson to go there and create doubt for the war. She wanted to hurt the President politically. Wilson certainly did, so I presume they both shared the same philosophy.
As an investigator myself, I think it's a little moronic to go to Niger and ask the corrupt government officials there if the Iraqis had been trying to buy yellowcake from them. Of course this is the age of recreational drugs so things are being done a lot differently. It's kind of like going to a prison and asking the cons if they are really guilty of committing the crimes they have been convicted of committing.
Posted on 07/14/2004 10:44:48 AM PDT by doug from upland
JOE WILSON'S secret diary; entries Feb. 17 - 25, 2003
Monday, Feb. 17
my biggest worry - when was I last immunized for yellow fever?...hectic cab ride to the airport...grabbed a latte on the way at the Starbucks where Caity Mahoney was murdered...awwww, she didn't get her chance to talk to Ken Starr...damn Republicans...caught United flight to Paris.....caught Al Algerie and landed in Niamey...20 hours and a lot of smelly people....man, I better find a way to get a book deal out of this
Tues, Feb. 18
fourth floor suite at the Gawaeye is okay...jet lag hitting hard...sat by the pool sipping sweet mint tea most of the day...asked a bellhop if he knew anything about Iraq buying yellow cake...he didn't
Wed., Feb. 19
spent about three hours sipping sweet mint tea...watched some CNN...I don't know whether to thank or blame Valerie for getting me this gig...if she ever finds out about the student who came in on my flight from Paris, she will hang me by my nads...asked Bridgette if she knew anything about Iraq buying yellow cake...she didn't
Thurs, Feb. 20
had a traditional Niger breakfast and stomach felt queasy most of the day...met with a few government officials...we sipped sweet mint tea...can't remember their names...asked if they knew about Iraq buying yellow cake...they didn't
Fri, Feb. 21
went to the Niamey Grand Market to do some shopping...asked the cabbie on the way if he knew anything about Iraq and yellow cake...he didn't...had a leisurely lunch and sipped sweet mint tea for about an hour and a half...asked 10 shop keepers if they knew about Iraq buying yellow cake...nine of them knew nothing...one guy heard some kind of a rumor from his brother-in-law in Chad but didn't trust him, particulary after his honor killing of their niece ...bought Valerie an authentic Djenne-Djeno copper alloy bead necklace...got one for Bridgette, along with a copy of Leaves of Grass in French...put it all on expense account...thank you, taxpaying suckers...watched a little CNN and a porno tape I brought with me
Saturday, Feb. 22
it was a tough week, so I thought I deserved some R&R...went to see camel races...asked three camel jockeys if they knew whether Iraq had bought yellow cake...they didn't...the races were fun, but the sweet mint tea had me jumping up to go to the bathroom too often...ha, ha, kind of like Al Gore was not in the room because he drank too much iced tea and had to go pee...took Bridgette out for some dinner and entertainment...we had a fairly decent meal of rice and sauce, couscous, kebabs, grilled fish and chicken...then went to the Jet-7 and drank a few too many beers
Sunday, Feb. 23
slept in late...this stinking place has no decent Sunday brunch in the whole damned country...had a continental breakfast -- orange juice, coconut milk, stale pastry of some kind...sat by the pool most of the day drinking sweet mint tea...in the evening, I went by a mosque and asked some kids outside if they knew anything about yellow cake...they ran away...I think they were scared and thought I might have been out gay cruising...maybe I'm lucky I didn't get beaten up like Kevin Spacey when he was out cruising in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park in London
Monday, Feb. 24
last day here...in good faith, I really wanted to do my job and find out about this yellow cake stuff...a police officer knew nothing, a librarian knew nothing, three tribal leaders knew nothing, a high-ranking military officer knew nothing, a peddler knew nothing, a guy I met in a public restroom knew nothing...spent another few hours by the pool to get in my last several cups of sweet mint tea
Tuesday, Feb. 25
another 20 stinking hours from Niamey to Paris to D.C....if this religious warrior and cowboy thinks he is going to get away with claiming Iraq was a threat, I have all the info I need to nail him...hell, he was never elected in the first place...I wonder if it will be Howard Dean or Hillary who gets the nomination...if I were Howard, I would worry that Hillary might whack me...whoever gets the nod, if they win, I had better get a good job...but I'm not going back to Niger...give me Paris
Maybe Wilson was in the bathroom with Gore - both having ingested too much tea....
He went there with an agenda and did superficial work. Do we know the author of the forged report for Italy? That was set up, knowing it would be found, in an attempt to hurt the President.
I think now that we've learned that we can send partisan political hacks to places like Niger to learn what's going on in the world, I have to ask, why do we need a CIA?
I am in disbelief that someone was responsible for letting this guy go over there. We needed someone without an anti-Bush and anti-war agenda. This was a massive failure on someone's part. Or, it wasn't a failure. It was on purpose by a leftist hack. Does anyone know who made the final decision to approve and send Wilson? Was it a committee or a person? That is part of this story.
Since this is from last year, you might already have this in your files--but here's a ping in case you don't.
So far, no one is taking credit for sending this dork Wilson over to Niger. That's the real story here. I suspect it was the DNC, the NYT or his publisher. Just another example of government waste of taxpayers' dollars I guess.
The following is from a Oct 29, 2003 Transcript of Chat with Ambassador Joe Wilson as it appeared on the old "Restore Honesty" web site:
Chatmaster2 (Oct 29, 2003 10:56:59 AM)
Ambassador Wilson, my sister and I are ardent fans of yours and wish you’d throw your hat into the ring. My questions, all related, are: how do we get a special prosecutor involved in the case involving your wife? Obviously, Ashcroft can’t be allowed to investigate—talk about the fox guarding the henhouse!! Is bush’s statement that he doesn’t know whether the “leaker” will ever be found the end of the issue? Does anyone here believe that if he really wanted to find who leaked your wife’s name, he couldn’t? A crime has been committed—in the name of revenge and intimidation! Is nothing going to happen? HELP!!!!
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 10:57:41 AM)
Thanks very much. For right now, I am most interested in seeing that we get John Kerry elected as the next President so we can get our destiny back on track.
manyrivers (Oct 29, 2003 10:57:50 AM)
I want to personally thank you for your integrity Ambassador Wilson
Chatmaster3 (Oct 29, 2003 10:58:01 AM)
John from Florida asks: Why do you think it took the mainstream media so long to pick up on the uranium story?
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 10:58:54 AM)
I don't know but it generally takes awhile for the press to get on to a story. There is also the fact that until now the press has been cowed by the White House on a lot of this stuff
Chatmaster2 (Oct 29, 2003 10:59:12 AM)
Manyrivers writes: admire your honest stand and your service for our nation. It is refreshing to even hear the word "honesty" in today's political circus. Please then, answer honestly one question. In your opinion, is this war in Iraq about the oil and gas reserves?
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:00:04 AM)
Initially, I think the war was about redrawing the political map of the Middle East. That said, with each passing day it becomes about vested interests, of which oil is a big one
~ snip ~
RonH (Oct 29, 2003 11:03:22 AM)
Ambassador, what was it about Kerry that made you decide to support his candidacy over let's say some of the other 'antiwar' candidates?
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:04:20 AM)
Kerry faced down the Senate over the Vietnam war in a key statement when he said who is going to send the last man to die for a mistake. What I did was easy by comparison.
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:05:06 AM)
Let me add that I was and am not anti war per se. I am and John is anti stupid war. Invasion-conquest-occupation unilaterally is a classic example of stupid war
Chatmaster2 (Oct 29, 2003 11:05:21 AM)
Joseph writes: Ambassador: First, let me express my gratitude for your courageous actions in exposing the lies of the Bush administration as to the Niger incident. My question is, how great a threat is this incident to national security? How possible is it that by revealing your wife's identity as a CIA operative will result in yet another deadly terrorist attack during the Bush administration's watch? Thank you again. Sincerely, Joseph V.
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:07:28 AM)
This was a crime against the national security of my country, the security of which to which both my wife and I many years ago dedicated ourselves. Somebody, to protect their political agenda took a national security asset off the table. That somebody is still in the Administration and might leak again. Do you sleep better at night knowing that? I don't. And it impacts directly on WMD and terrorism
Guest (Oct 29, 2003 11:07:37 AM)
At what point did you lose faith in the Bush Administration and why exactly do you fell that John Kerry is the best candidate?
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:09:25 AM)
When Bush the candidate went to South Carolina and ran a subrosa campaign against McCain accusing his wife of being a drug addict and his kids of not being white (as if that mattered). That is not the change of tone I was looking for. When the neoconservatives got control of our national security policy, I knew we needed to mobilize to fight
Fe (Oct 29, 2003 11:09:37 AM)
Ambassador, do you think Senator Kerry's plan for Iraq peace is viable for the situation and the region? Fe
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:10:56 AM)
It sure is. Take a look at it and you will see that slowly the administration is seeing the wisdom of his ideas. Internationalize, turn over sovereignty, make it a reconstruction rather than an occupation. All that is key to success
Chatmaster2 (Oct 29, 2003 11:11:10 AM)
Dear Ambassador Wilson, On 'Meet The Press' Vicepresident Cheney says that he never met you, and didn't know who you were until you 'outed' the fact that you had been sent by CIA to investigate the supposed sale of yellow cake to Saddam by Niger. Is this true? Do you believe he didn't know who you were? Eugenio
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:12:21 AM)
Cheney was secretary of defense when I was in charge of the embassy in Baghdad. He was an addressee on cables I sent from there. I am sorry his memory is so bad but, frankly, I am not too sorry never to have shaken his hand. I take it as a badge of honor that I don't know him.
~ snip ~
riverrat (Oct 29, 2003 11:17:37 AM)
The leak about your wife was a clear violation of a specific law about exposing the identity of CIA agents. But most leaks don't violate this particular law, although they often involve the release of other kinds of classified information that is illegal under other statutes. Can we really expect to have a government that doesn't leak? Don't people in the executive branch often use classification to hide policies from the public they think would be unpopular?
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:17:50 AM)
That does indeed occur.
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:17:57 AM)
But there are legitimate reasons to classify information.
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:18:16 AM)
The problem in my case was that what was leaked was the name of a national security asset, my wife, which is unprecedented
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:18:40 AM)
not for the purpose of protecting a policy, but for the purpose of protecting a person with a specific political agenda at the expense of the national security of our country
Knight_of_the_Star (Oct 29, 2003 11:18:57 AM)
Ambassador Wilson, what was your initial reaction when you found out that your wife's identity as a CIA operative was leaked to the press?
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:19:07 AM)
My initial reaction was unprintable
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:19:11 AM)
but it starts with an F
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:19:18 AM)
But then I asked myself 2 questions:
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:19:26 AM)
-what did my wife's name add to the article
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:19:29 AM)
nothing
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:19:48 AM)
-and what part of no didn't Bob Novak understand when the CIA told him not to use it
~ snip ~
Guest (Oct 29, 2003 11:25:36 AM)
Mr. Ambassador--if the policy is Iraq is such a failure, and the administration is so nefarious in its handling of the truth, why then is the US public not in a frenzy against Bush et al. What is your take on that?
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:25:57 AM)
It takes time, and effort to educate Americans as to the consequences of some of the actions being taken on their behalf
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:26:15 AM)
remember that during the Vietnam era, it was only 6 or 7 years after Americans were dying there that we realized
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:26:22 AM)
the consequences.
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:26:43 AM)
It was John Kerry, who took that message most directly to the seat of power when he appeared before the Senate. That, by the way
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:27:06 AM)
is the act as distinguished from mere words, that for me makes him the candidate I enthusiastically support
florida (Oct 29, 2003 11:27:12 AM)
can we expose the leaker and nail this administration for once. they have gotten away with so much thus far.
~ snip ~
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:34:12 AM)
John Kerry's personal courage in Vietnam and in front of Congress at a young age
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:34:21 AM) as well as his professional experience have convinced me
*** Joe Wilson (Oct 29, 2003 11:34:29 AM)
that he is best suited to be President of the United States
Great stuff. It goes all the way back to Vietnam for this POS.
Did you get that lemon juice trick from NATIONAL TREASURE?
More and more, this smells of Plame and Wilson trying to help Kerry and hurt America.
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