Posted on 07/13/2006 11:00:34 PM PDT by smoothsailing
In TV-land the moment is infamous.
One of the stars of the longtime hit TV series Happy Days, Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzerelli, played by Henry Winkler, is made to do something by the show's writers that was clearly designed to save the fading series from sinking ratings.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
At the time the former ambassador traveled to Niger, the Intelligence Community did not have in its possession any actual documents on the alleged Niger-Iraq uranium deal, only second hand reporting of the deal.
The former ambassador’s comments to reporters that the Niger-Iraq uranium documents “may have been forged because ‘the dates were wrong and the names were wrong,’” could not have been based on the former ambassador’s actual experiences because the Intelligence Community did not have the documents at the time of the ambassador’s trip.
In addition, nothing in the report from the former ambassador’s trip said anything about documents having been forged or the names or dates in the reports having been incorrect. The former ambassador told Committee staff that he, in fact, did not have access to any of the names and dates in the CIA’s reports and said he may have become confused about his own recollection after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported in March 2003 that the names and dates on the documents were not correct. Of note, the names and dates in the documents that the IAEA found to be incorrect were not names or dates included in the CIA reports.
Following the Vice President’s review of an intelligence report regarding a possible uranium deal, he asked his briefer for the CIA’s analysis of the issue. It was this request which generated Mr. Wilson’s trip to Niger. The former ambassador’s public comments suggesting that the Vice President had been briefed on the information gathered during his trip is not correct, however.
While the CIA responded to the Vice President’s request for the Agency’s analysis, they never provided the information gathered by the former Ambassador. The former ambassador, in an NBC Meet the Press interview on July 6, 2003, said, “The office of the Vice President, I am absolutely convinced, received a very specific response to the question it asked and that response was based upon my trip out there.”
The former ambassador was speaking on the basis of what he believed should have happened based on his former government experience, but he had no knowledge that this did happen.
These and other public comments from the former ambassador, such as comments that his report “debunked” the Niger-Iraq uranium story, were incorrect and have led to a distortion in the press and in the public’s understanding of the facts surrounding the Niger-Iraq uranium story.
The Committee found that, for most analysts, the former ambassador’s report lent more credibility, not less, to the reported Niger-Iraq uranium deal.
During Mr. Wilson’s media blitz, he appeared on more than thirty television shows including entertainment venues. Time and again, Joe Wilson told anyone who would listen that the President had lied to the American people, that the Vice President had lied, and that he had “debunked” the claim that Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa.
As discussed in the Niger section of the report, not only did he NOT “debunk” the claim, he actually gave some intelligence analysts even more reason to believe that it may be true. I believed very strongly that it was important for the Committee to conclude publicly that many of the statements made by Ambassador Wilson were not only incorrect, but had no basis in fact.
In an interview with Committee staff, Mr. Wilson was asked how he knew some of the things he was stating publicly with such confidence.
On at least two occasions he admitted that he had no direct knowledge to support some of his claims and that he was drawing on either unrelated past experiences or no information at all.
For example, when asked how he “knew” that the Intelligence Community had rejected the possibility of a Niger-Iraq uranium deal, as he wrote in his book, he told Committee staff that his assertion may have involved “a little literary flair.”
The former Ambassador, either by design or through ignorance, gave the American people and, for that matter, the world a version of events that was inaccurate, unsubstantiated, and misleading.
Surely, the Senate Intelligence Committee, which has unique access to all of the facts, should have been able to agree on a conclusion that would correct the public record. Unfortunately, we were unable to do so.
You're right - it's just attorney answering questions. Well, he's talking but he's not answering questions.
Well, I wanted to hear from VAL! How come she never talks?
Norah O'Donnell describes this as a *nightmare* for the Whitehouse....lmao again
Yes, please. I was going to ask yesterday, but didn't get a round tuit before it was time to leave work for the day.
I think ... and it's been a while ... that the attack on Walker was discovered after Oswald was arrested for JFK.
Mainly this is a bump for after dog walk.
Barbar was right, apparently ... Armitage.
Those who comment on TV should first know the facts before they speak.
Wolfe Blitzed was there as well as assorted other Klintonistas. It's the place to be, I guess.
Yes, Powell was there too.
How come she never talks?
...she's a secret agent....
A nightmare for the WH? Does O'Donnell not understand that even leftist attorneys are smirking and admitting this is a laughable lawsuit?
bwahahaaaa!
Only they ones they like
IMO ... the Wilson want to do their OWN investigation with this law suit
She did!
It was David Corn who first published her name.
Freepers know more about this case than all the reporters in Washington put together. They're a disgrace.
My bet is that she has one of those high squeaky voices and sounds like a valley girl.
He may have jumped the shark, but his public displays of idiocy will not stop as these clowns can never leave the stage and each effort to regain credibility will bring them one step closer to the "public lewdness" stage of their demise.
OMG, I thought for a second I'd changed the channel from FoxNews to some teleevangelist asking for money....
"Out foul demon of GW Bush!!! Send your donations to 1-800-liberal"
It was David Corn who first published her name.
The lawyer speaking for them is from Duke University....or so I read.
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