[blogblogginaway]

It should also be noted that when Valerie Plame offered up her husband to make the trip she said "THERE'S THIS CRAZY REPORT" about a purported deal for Niger to sell uranium to Iraq. It should also be noted the Senate Intelligence Committee found Wilson had made an earlier trip to Niger in 1999 for the CIA, also at his wife's suggestion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39834-2004Jul9.html

[popdonnelly]

It's evident that some people at the CIA did not take this Niger story seriously. There's no other explanation for such an ludicrous effort as sending Wilson to a hotel to talk to various Niger officials. Even the tone of Wilson's Times article suggests the whole thing wasn't serious. Now, as between this goofy effort and other intelligence agencies, I wouldn't put my money on Wilson being correct.