Wilson said his primary policy difference with President Bush wasn’t over Saddam’s WMDs, but rather on the question of “how to construct a policy that gets to the national security issue of disarming Saddam Hussein and does so at minimum risk to other legitimate U.S. interests both in Iraq and in the region.”
But aside from that, Wilson said he cheered President Bush’s decision to topple the Iraqi dictator, telling Simone: “When the president went up to the U.N. and got the [war] resolution unanimously passed at the U.N., nobody applauded louder than I did.”
OK, I found what I was looking for. After reading it, my recollection is clear. I found the article, after clicking through so many of your links, on Wilson's own website (!). Here's the meat of the matter that I wasn't clear on:
Wilson wrote this article in the Los Angeles Times on Feb 6, 2003, nine days after the State of the Union address that got the left (and, ultimately, Wilson) in such a tizzy because the President used "those 16 words" about the British intel/Africa/yellowcake thing. I couldn't remember what it was about the Wilson piece that was sticking in my mind, but here it is: he disputes nothing in the SOTU, only has a problem with the war option. His complaint about the war option is that Wilson believes that Saddam will use his WMD against the US! It is not until later in the year that he changes his tune on WMD.
Here's the link:
http://www.politicsoftruth.com/editorials/big_cat.html
I can tell you after a few hours of researching this, Joe Wilson should be the most irrelevant man in the world. Virtually everything he ever said is contradicted by Joe Wilson. He was the perfect advisor for Kerry.
'nuff said.
Thank you for your help everyone.
I still think that whatever Rockefeller discovered that sent him to Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia in January 2002, just a few short months after 9/11 is what caused the Joe Wilson mission in February 2002.
I think the Vice President's questions stirred up a hornet nest and there was a need to do something.
I find it difficult to call the trip Joe Wilson took as investigative and definitive. He submitted nothing in writing, but had a whole lot to write about a year later.