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Is this the "French Connection" we were looking for?
Self | 30 October, 2005 | Paperjam

Posted on 10/30/2005 8:38:05 AM PST by paperjam

Okay, Freepers, I need your help here.

I think I may know what happened to get Wilson’s wife outed. For the most part I think I can prove it. I just need a little more information. The kind of stuff I can’t get to. But, I now know it all was a last ditch effort to stop the war before Saddam was captured in Iraq on 14 December, 2003

Please don’t go thinking I’m off my rocker, I don’t normally attempt investigative sourcing, but I do think there are legs under this story and they might begin here.


TOPICS: Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: cia; cialeak; d; espionage; josephwilson; niger; plame; plamegate
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To: hummingbird
I have never been asked to supply an entry for Who's Who in any of its versions, but I assume they have a list of questions or categories and depend on the person listed to give correct information.

Yesterday I looked up Samuel Alito in the latest Who's Who to find out his date of birth (April 1, 1950). While I was at it, I looked at the entries for Beelzebubba and the Hildabeast. Hillary's is about four times as long as Bill's. Bill mentions Chelsea by name; Hillary just notes "1 child."

161 posted on 11/02/2005 8:52:14 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: Verginius Rufus
Bill mentions Chelsea by name; Hillary just notes "1 child."

That's cold...she must have written it herself!

VR, I can't figure out why only the second wife's name would be removed and not both the first and second wives' names.

I'm sure there can be all manner of reasons why wife #2 is not listed, but it makes one all the more curious to want to know why; it calls more attention that #2 is gone but #1 and #3 are listed than if #1 and #2 had both been removed.
162 posted on 11/02/2005 10:31:30 PM PST by hummingbird (Think I'll google for a while.....on FRED THOMPSON for a seat on the SUPREME COURT!)
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To: JustDoItAlways
Obviously the docs could not have predated this date :

Another [letter from the documents referred to as Niger forgeries], dated October 10, 2000, is signed “Alle Elhadj Habibou” —Niger's foreign minister who had not been in office since 1989. [Reuters, 3/26/03; New Yorker, 3/31/03 Sources: Unnamed senior official from the IAEA] ------ "Profile: Wissam al-Zahawie," http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/entity.jsp%3Fentity%3Dwissam_al-zahawie++%22wissam+al+zahawie%22&hl=en

All that aside, I believe the effort to date them to 2000 is nothing more than an effort to put them into the same timeframe as the humint [not docs] sent by Italy to the US and UK and other intel used in the UK dossier - so that the press can continue to try to persuade us that ALL the intel relating to Niger is derived from the forged docs.

That's bogus since there was even humint turned into the US Navy of smuggling through Benin that the CIA never followed up on, but I suspect that's the purpose of pushing the dates back on the forgeries.

As for French intel, they already suspected some fishiness going on in Niger well before the forgeries. Giacomo had, after all, obtained real information prior to this for France, which already suspected there were efforts, not neccessarily Iraqi, to obtain uranium there. Just remember that the French intel agency is not Jacques Chirac. Some of them really are more interested in defending their country than in making a mint off of oil deals.

163 posted on 11/02/2005 11:00:25 PM PST by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: paperjam
Two things(in an effort to help);

1. Where did Wilson meet his current wife - was it in Belgium or France and could this have any bearing?

2. I know you probably have use Google but if you arrange searches differently you may be able to get some info you need.
164 posted on 11/02/2005 11:15:03 PM PST by Herakles
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To: ravingnutter
FEBRUARY 1999 early : (AN ALGERIAN BUSINESSMAN CALLED 'BARAKA' ARRANGED A TRIP FOR IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO THE VATICAN WISSAM AL-ZAHAWIE TO VISIT NIGER AT THIS TIME) From the Senate Report:
Several analysts interviewed by Committee staff also pointed out that information in the second intelligence report matched [Several words blacked out] reporting from 1999 which showed that an Algerian businessman, Baraka, was arranging a trip for the Iraqi Ambassador to the Vatican, Wissam al-Zahawi, to visit Niger and other African countries in early February 1999. The former ambassador [Joseph Wilson] was selected for the 1999 trip after his wife [Valerie Plame Wilson] mentioned to her supervisors that her husband was planning a business trip to Niger in the near future and might be willing to use his contacts in the region [a few words blacked out]. Because the former ambassador did not uncover any information about [word blacked out] during this visit to Niger, CPD did not distribute an intelligence report on the visit. I have not been able to find anything on Baraka...although to Islam it means "a supernatural gift that has been defined variously as blessing or mystical power". So...it may have not been his real name. Dang. ------------- Posted by ravingnutter to piasa
On News/Activism 07/28/2005 6:58:56 AM PDT · 223 of 226

As a note of trivia, there is a "Baraka building" mentioned in al Fadl's testimony in the Africa embassies bombing trials- perhaps it was in Sudan.

165 posted on 11/03/2005 12:07:17 AM PST by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: Fedora

I heard Wilson was doing the translating in that meeting between Glaspie and the Iraqis.


166 posted on 11/03/2005 12:12:26 AM PST by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: KC Burke
My thoughts exactly.

J.Wilson at my first glance was a French spook who handled Joe nicely. Were they really married? Is there a certificate? Just a minor spitball there. I haven't been following this story, but this thread is seriously creeping me out. The implications are enormous. The idea of the French going through this trouble for money, and Clintonista elements of the CIA getting in bed with them because of their mutual hatred/fear of Pres. Bush, is gonna make it difficult for a good night's sleep tonite.

167 posted on 11/03/2005 12:17:49 AM PST by thescourged1
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To: hummingbird

Wilson's elusive wife number 2, the cheated-upon French Jaqueline, has kept his name.

Here is a photo of her at a recent summit in Baltimore. It lists her current occupation as "Advisor to the President of Gabon". Gabon was where Wilson served as an ambassador some years ago. Gabon is also a uranium provider.

http://www.theafricachannel.com/corporate/news_062305_bs.html

One really does wonder about the scope and activities of "Joe Wilson International Ventures" (reportedly headquartered in a decrepit warehouse in DC) and how Joe Wilson's business provides enough income for a retired Foreign Service Officer (whose wife is a mundane, probably GS-paid federal employee) to sustain 4 children, at least one ex-wife, a mansion in a tony neighborhood of DC, a Jaguar, and to flash a $14,000 Rolex watch. Not to mention extensive travel.


168 posted on 11/03/2005 6:11:23 AM PST by silverleaf (Fasten your seat belts- it's going to be a BUMPY ride.)
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To: hummingbird

The only thing that occurs to me about wife #1 is that she is the mother of two of his children, so may have been left in the entry for that reason. Plus the divorce was long before Joe Wilson met Valerie, so she wouldn't have been a rival to Valerie the way Jacqueline might have been. Perhaps Jacqueline was removed from the entry to make Valerie happy.


169 posted on 11/03/2005 6:37:01 AM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: piasa

So Joe Wilson had made an earlier trip to Niger in 1999? I wonder why we haven't heard more about that. He should have been known to the CIA as a self-styled expert on Niger before the infamous 2002 trip...and probably already knew of Iraqi interest in Nigerien uranium before the 2002 sham investigatory trip to Niger.


170 posted on 11/03/2005 6:43:31 AM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: Verginius Rufus; piasa

Check out the dates of this trip. I just ran across it about the same time I looked in on the thread so I haven't tracked down the full page yet.

http://www.ttc.org/cgi-binloc/searchTTC.cgi?displayZop+1664

I have not been posting for the past day or so as I've been following the money. You are not going to believe what I'm finding...okay, maybe you will but the rabbit hole is very, very deep.


171 posted on 11/03/2005 10:04:16 AM PST by paperjam
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To: Verginius Rufus

actually I believe Jacqueline's divorce from Joe occurred in 1998, the same year as his marriage to Valerie. Joe was still "married" to Jacqueline while he was diddling a CIA undercover agent/sarc


172 posted on 11/03/2005 10:17:17 AM PST by silverleaf (Fasten your seat belts- it's going to be a BUMPY ride.)
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To: silverleaf
Presumably the divorce from Jacqueline Giorgi was no later than April 3, 1998, the date of his marriage to Valerine Plame, unless he behaved like William Jefferson Blythe III (Bill Clinton's putative biological father) who was still married to a previous wife when he "married" Bill Clinton's mother. The divorce would therefore have been in early 1998 or perhaps late 1997 (anytime after he submitted the information to Who's Who for the 1998 edition).
173 posted on 11/03/2005 11:31:19 AM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: piasa; kabar

I hadn't heard that, but if confirmed it would certainly explain why he sounds so defensive of Glaspie. Do we know if Wilson speaks Arabic? (I'm assuming the Iraqis were speaking in Arabic.)


174 posted on 11/03/2005 1:30:50 PM PST by Fedora
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To: McGavin999
I've thought for a long time Wilson is a spy for France. Since we know his first wife was a French intelligence agent it would only make sense. What if he married Valarie to get inside info from the CIA? When he married her he already knew she was no longer "covert" and would be working inside the puzzle palace. As you said, the whole trip to Niger could have been part of the plan to discredit the Bush administration.

All of what you say is verrry innnteresting. hmmmm........

175 posted on 11/03/2005 1:35:12 PM PST by mafree
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To: piasa; kabar
Lorenzo Cremonesi, "Lost in Translation", Ha'aretz, Autumn 2005

Sa'adoon Al-Zubaydi was Saddam Hussein's presidential translator. In a special interview, he provides previously unknown details on the overthrown dictator.

SNIP

On July 25th I was called to join the last meeting between Glaspie and Saddam. I was a close friend of her No. 2 at the embassy, Joseph Wilson, who in turn met with Saddam on August 7th, before leaving Iraq permanently. I remember this because it was my birthday. Joseph was an excellent Arabist, and spoke our language correctly. He, like Glaspie, was well aware of the situation.

"In any event, Glaspie arrived breathless at the meeting. She was offended because security wanted to take her handbag. `What happened to diplomatic immunity?' she snapped at me. Then she got upset because she was told that she could not expose the soles of her shoes to the president or cross her legs in his presence.

"But she had good news for us. It was a message for Saddam from President Bush [senior]. `It is not U.S. policy to interfere in inter-Arab affairs,' she said to us in English.

"I must admit, however, that one thing has puzzled me ever since: If we had been given a green light for the attack, how is it that Glaspie, who was not married and lived in Baghdad with her sick, elderly mother, did not change her plans to go on vacation on July 26th? I am convinced that that day she understood our plans to send armored divisions toward Kuwait City. So how come 24 hours later she went on vacation?"

SNIP

176 posted on 11/03/2005 1:44:35 PM PST by Fedora
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To: Fedora
I hadn't heard that, but if confirmed it would certainly explain why he sounds so defensive of Glaspie. Do we know if Wilson speaks Arabic? (I'm assuming the Iraqis were speaking in Arabic.)

Wilson was niether an Arabist nor did he speak Arabic.

177 posted on 11/03/2005 2:30:43 PM PST by kabar
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To: Fedora

Interesting article. Wilson certainly did not speak Arabic fluently. He may have learned some phrases while studying Arabic for an hour a day or less at the Embassy language program. Officers learning arabic spend six to nine months at NFATC (four to six hours a day) and then a year at FSI Tunis to learn arabic beyond the 3/3 level. Wilson's bio indicates clearly that he did not receive that training and Baghdad was his first and only assigment to the Middle East. He was not an arabist.


178 posted on 11/03/2005 2:41:44 PM PST by kabar
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To: kabar
Interesting. It certainly takes more than a "Teach Yourself Arabic" crash course to qualify as an authentic Arabist, and Wilson mentions on p. 76 of Politics of Truth that he had "no experience" in the Middle East when he went to Baghdad, in contrast to Glaspie whom he describes in these terms: "by contrast, she was one of our most experienced and knowledgeable Arabists. She had served in most of the Arab capitals and in key jobs at the State Department. Widely acclaimed as one of the best of her generation, April Glaspie understood all the issues and knew all the players very, very well." Hmmm--perhaps if Wilson was the translator and he didn't speak Arabic that would explain why Glaspie and Saddam's communications broke down, LOL. In that case I wonder what led Sa'adoon Al-Zubaydi to praise Wilson's Arabic? Another thing I notice is that according to Al-Zubaydi's account Glaspie didn't know enough not to expose the soles of her feet to someone in an Arab country. I'm not an Arabist and even I know that's considered rude. Either Glaspie wasn't such a great Arabist after all, or Al-Zubaydi is trying to make her look bad for some reason--but curiously, in the same breath he speaks well of Wilson.

On a related note, in Wilson's book and lectures (e.g. Politics of Truth, 100), when speaking on the subject of Glaspie he also often describes a conversation he allegedly had with Tariq Aziz's former assistant Nizar Hamdun (now deceased) wherein Hamdun reportedly exonerated Glaspie's performance during the Gulf Crisis. It seems like several former members of Saddam's regime had opinions to venture on the subject of Glaspie and Wilson.

179 posted on 11/03/2005 4:01:53 PM PST by Fedora
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To: Fedora
In that case I wonder what led Sa'adoon Al-Zubaydi to praise Wilson's Arabic?

I wonder as well. Just a sop to someone who tried to learn a few pharases? Or did he wish to praise Wilson publicly for some other reason to ingratiate himself? In any event, most of these meetings with a head of state like Saddam include an American notetaker who usually speaks the language. Glaspie wouldn't have needed a translator per se, but she would have been wise to have one whom she could trust.

Another thing I notice is that according to Al-Zubaydi's account Glaspie didn't know enough not to expose the soles of her feet to someone in an Arab country. I'm not an Arabist and even I know that's considered rude. Either Glaspie wasn't such a great Arabist after all, or Al-Zubaydi is trying to make her look bad for some reason--but curiously, in the same breath he speaks well of Wilson.

The feet business is overdone. I can remember going to a meeting with a Saudi official for the first time, and he proceeded to show me the soles of his feet. Many of these officials are Westernized and not offended or concerned by these so-called no-nos.

On a related note, in Wilson's book and lectures (e.g. Politics of Truth, 100), when speaking on the subject of Glaspie he also often describes a conversation he allegedly had with Tariq Aziz's former assistant Nizar Hamdun (now deceased) wherein Hamdun reportedly exonerated Glaspie's performance during the Gulf Crisis.

Glaspie took the fall, but it wouldn't surprise me that Wilson was involved. Glaspie did not respond strong enough to Saddam's contention that Kuwait was part of Iraq. The massing of Iraqi troops on the border was an indication of something happening. It is interesting to note that the Saudi Embassy in Kuwait closed down the day before the invasion.

April Glaspie

180 posted on 11/03/2005 4:47:35 PM PST by kabar
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