Reminds of an item in a little novelty book of Famous Insults I once possessed in physical form.
A minister, soliciting praise, asked a famous parishioner how he liked the sermon. "Well, it was short," came the reply.
"Then at least I wasn't tedious."
"Oh, but you were!"
Thanks!
I'm stumped. I thought the forged documents came to light only in late 2002. Perhaps it wasn't the forged documents themselves, but an Italian report addressing them, passed to CIA in early 2002?
And Wilson said to Talking Points Memo:
“...TPM: And, just to be clear, at this time (--when he traveled to Niger in 2002--), you hadn't seen these documents that turned out to be forgeries?
WILSON: No, I hadn't. I had just been briefed on a memorandum of agreement covering the sale....
Was there another "memorandum of agreement?" Or maybe the Italian report was received, and related to Wilson in part?
Italy blames France for Niger uranium claim
Particularly active are the Washington Monthly (Joshua Marshall and Laura Rozen) and the Talking Points Memo group. They announced being on the trail of "shocking documents" which would prove a meeting in Rome in the winter of 2002 between Ledeen - one of the most known neoconservatives close to Bush - Ghorbanifar and Iranian dissidents. They were allegidlly joined by the Italian Defence Minister, Antonio Martino, and the head of the Italian Military Secret Services, Niccolò Pollari (indicated trough rank but not named), as well as members of the American governemnt. Basically on that occassion all was organised. Its a pity then that the American Congress made public the fact that it was Sismi who informed both the Italian and American governments in regards to these meetings (information that obviously did not include the two Italians) of which not even the american embassy know of. The meetings resulted quite innocent, emphasized only in order to bla[c]ken Bush and his team. In reality the French did everything possibile to promote the idea of commerce between Niger and Iraq. Niger belongs to them.
"The Story That Didn’t Run", my Post 40
For reference I'll post what the article says on Marshall's role:
“This is like living in a Kafka novel,” said Joshua Micah Marshall, a Washington Monthly contributing writer and a Web blogger who had been collaborating with “60 Minutes” producers on the uranium story. “Here we had a very important, well-reported story about forged documents that helped lead the country to war. And then it gets bumped by another story that relied on forged documents.”
A quick review of what I have on Marshall turns up the following:
--Joe Wilson's book The Politics of Truth quotes Marshall favorably on p. 368, calling Marshall "the author of one of the most compulsivlely reading weblogs ("blogs") on the Internet, Talkingpointsmemo.com" and enlisting some posts from Marshall's blog to support the contention that "not only did the administration blur the distinction between imminent threat and grave and gathering danger, it actually equated the two, dangerously lowering the bar for future action."
--A couple items mentioning Marshall and Wilson are linked here: Democrats.com:
Talking Points Memo by Joshua Micah Marshall September 21st, 2003
As of about six this evening in Washington, DC we got the first of what I'd call serious gusts. But so far not too much more than that. In any case, neither wind nor rain nor any of that other stuff stops TPM. So here, as promised, is part one of our interview with Ambassador Joseph Wilson.
Mark A. R. Kleiman
Josh Marshall reports (*), without saying more, that the CIA appears to be investigating the revelation of Valerie Plame Wilson's identity. No more than one should have expected, but good news nonetheless.
[Note: Kleiman's site has lots more Marshall stuff from August 2003 if you click on the link.]
"Court Declines Case of Reporters in Leak Case (Plame Case)", Shermy's Post 144
He gave the glasses story to Talking Points Memo and Talon News. He even restated it in his Letter responding to the Senate Intel report. His wife as a source of info is as much uncommented upon as Pincus' (supposedly) is.