Hard as it is to believe, let alone to reconcile with his general position, Joseph C. Wilson, IV, in a speech he delivered three months after the invasion at the Education for Peace in Iraq Center, offhandedly made the following remark: “I remain of the view that we will find biological and chemical weapons and we may well find something that indicates that Saddam’s regime maintained an interest in nuclear weapons.”
Yeah...Wilson also appeared on PBS just shortly after Bush's SOTU Address...and not only did he not mention one thing about the "16 Words," he went on to agree that Saddam was indeed a threat that needed to be dealt with. At this time, he was in almost complete agreement with the President's speech.
Well, curl my hair.
It looks like you can download an MP3 recording of Wilson's lecture here.
Joseph Wilson caught again?
Surprise, surprise.
Moreover, in January, 2003, shortly before Bush's SOTU address, Joe Wilson was giving an address at his alma mater -- UC Santa Barbara.
He used the opportunity to argue against the upcoming Iraq war on the basis of:
1. Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction.
2. And he will use them -- against our troops.
Understand that he gave this address eleven months after he returned from looking for "what he didn't find in Africa".
In other words, on the subject of Iraq and WMDs, Joe Wilson made a 180 degree turn in the four months between the SOTU and his first recorded leak (to Nicholas Kristof in early May).
Could this sudden change-of-mind have anything to do with going to work for the Kerry campaign in April...???
Will anybody in the media ever ask Joe Wilson to explain his about face on the subject? (rhetorical question)
Ping for reading