Replies

"It doesn't matter who sent him so much as it matters that Cheney did not see the report afterward, as alleged by Wilson,"

You're one of the few who gets to the real issue here. A lot of time is wasted on the point of whether Cheney did or didn't send Wilson to Niger, and whether Wilson ever claimed that. (On some occasions Wilson specifically DENIED that Cheney sent him; it is a false issue, a diversion.) The crucial point, as you say, is that Wilson and the media were falsely claiming that Cheney saw the report debunking the Niger uranium story, tried to suppress or ignore it, and then tried to punish Wilson for going public with the truth. That whole scenario, which forms the basis of the whole "outing" myth, is false in every respect.

I've spent a lot of time searching for a quote that shows Wilson said Cheney sent him. I can't find it.

I won't rule out the possibility that Wilson was running his mouth with reporters early in the game and made that allegation off-the-record, though. Andrea Mitchell indicated that he was making that claim, but it's possible she doesn't actually remember the original allegation and is a victim of the media incorrectly repeating this over and over again.

I think it's a waste to use who sent Wilson in the "Wilson lied" argument because he did say publicly that the CIA sent him, not Cheney. The CIA is the one agency where nepotism is okay--better someone you've already cleared than someone you don't know. There was nothing inherently wrong with Plame recommending him--the only reason he seems to keep denying it is because he lied about it in the first place. He should have said, "Yeah, so?" and it wouldn't be an issue.

It needs to be hammered home that the whole reason Wilson was speaking out was that he claimed Cheney knew about his trip and his supposed findings. THAT's the big lie and the lie that needs to be debunked because it's the most damaging.

"The crucial point, as you say, is that Wilson and the media were falsely claiming that Cheney saw the report debunking the Niger uranium story, tried to suppress or ignore it, and then tried to punish Wilson for going public with the truth. That whole scenario, which forms the basis of the whole "outing" myth, is false in every respect."

Yes, that is the most crucial point. Wilson continues to assert, as recently as his fraudulent LA Times op-ed over the past weekend, that he 'knows' Cheney knew that Wilson debunked the Niger uranium claim, when in fact Wilson knows nothing about what Cheney did or didn't learn about his trip and George Tenet made it clear that no negative report from Wilson's trip ever reached the WH. And, of course, the Senate Intel Committee documented that CIA analysts NEVER viewed Wilson's trip as having debunked the Niger uranium claim, in fact some analysts viewed Wilson's new report of an Iraqi 'trade' approach to Niger as giving some added (modest)support to the idea that Iraq might be seeking new uranium supplies.