The African Connection: Rep. Jefferson and Joe Wilson

The documents seized in the FBI raid on the offices of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) remain unread by Justice Department investigators, pending a federal Appeals Court ruling scheduled for August 27. Jefferson is anxious to overturn the ruling of federal Judge Hogan of the Washington, DC federal District Court, who allowed the raid. One can only surmise that the seized documents contain material even more embarrassing than the discovery of $90,000 in cash in Jefferson’s freezer.

But we already know a bit about the charges and some of the alleged partners of Congressman Jefferson. Two people have pleaded guilty to bribing him. One of them is Vernon L. Jackson, owner of a technology company called iGate. The Washington Post reported:

The Post also reports that investigators are examining a number of other companies linked to Jefferson, his wife, and various other relatives. While no details have leaked, and the seized documents have not yet yielded their secrets, it is quite probable that the bribery iGate’s owner has acknowledged is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the dubious business associations of Representative Jefferson.

Many other figures, some of them quite prominent, are likely to turn up as players in the temporarily suspended probe. Independent citizen-investigators, posting at such websites as Just One Minute, Macsmind, and Free Republic, have been poring over publicly-available documents and reports, in search of clues as to the identities of those as yet unnamed in the Jefferson investigation.

Few people outside these internet circles realize that one of those names may be Joseph C. Wilson IV.

Macsmind first mentioned this in May. I have been thinking about this possibility and reviewing the detailed and well-documented research published at Free Republic by a poster known as "Fedora," who has examined public domain information and connected some very interesting dots. Joe Wilson, it turns out, left the State Department and became a business promoter with some rather intriguing connections before he went on his infamous mission to Niger.

Recall the trip to Africa conducted by Bill Clinton in the wake of the embarrassing Monica Lewinski affair, playing to his most reliable voting base, and bringing with him a very large number of African-American business figures, politicians, and other influential individuals.

What is less well known is that the man who orchestrated this trip was Joseph C. Wilson IV co-star of the long-running Plame comedy hour.

The emphasis of this trip was to promote African development, US investment in Africa and US-African trade.

According to the SSCI Wilson made at least one other trip to Africa That was made at his wife’s suggestion for the CIA in 1999. He made the second trip there that year as part of a trade delegation. As Just One Minute poster Rocco found these tidbits:

As for the Alamoudis, a substantial amount of information about the family and their links can be found here (see comment 7)

Following the Wilson-managed Clinton trip, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) was signed into law on May 18, 2000 as Title 1 of The Trade and Development Act of 2000. The Act offers tangible incentives for African countries to continue their efforts to open their economies and build free markets.

Corruption , however, has been a continuing problem in Africa and those monitoring the impact of the Act have urged more transparency and monitoring of those countries deemed eligible to participate.

Joe Wilson’s new incarnation as a wheeler-dealer in corruption-rife countries in Africa was a perfect fit for his role as impresario of the massive Clinton delegation to Africa, which brought together corruption-stained individuals on the lookout for future business opportunities.

The investigation of William Jefferson may well shed some unwanted light on him, many others in Congress, the Clintons, Wilson and who exactly the AGOA benefited and how. August 27th is coming soon. Clarice Feldman is an attorney in Washington, DC and a frequent contributor.

"....Was Wilson in Niger around the time of the coup d’etat?

Well in the old days when he would blather on and on, Wilson talked a bit too much in October, 2003 at UVA event when discussing his pertinent experience for the 2002 trip:

I was asked to go because I have a unique set of experiences to bring to the table on this issue. I had served there in the mid 1970’s. I had retained many ties and friendships including with the Niger Ambassador to the United States for the subsequent twenty-five years.

When I was senior director for Africa at the National Security Council in the mid 1990’s, the government that was in place at the time of these purported documents covering the memorandum of agreement for the sale of Uranium from Niger to Iraq, that was the government that was in place when I was in the White House. I had worked very closely with them to try and move what was at the time a military’s dictatorship back to the Democratic side of the ledger.

This is all well and good and makes sense. But it also covers his time in the government, not when he went into private practice. That description followed next [emphasis mine]:

So, I knew these guys intimately. They were in Washington all of the time. I was out there both in government and in African government helping them.

There’s the transition point. He was using his contacts from his government job to launch his business. Moreover, his clients were the African governments he used to be a US representative to, including Niger. It is clear from the ‘in African Government’ wording that Joe was hired by Niger to help with trade (and they only had one thing to trade). Then he spills some info on the timing of his trip:

In fact after the President, the military dictator had been assassinated, I went to see his successor and at the request of some of my friends there and some of the colleagues with whom I had been working, I went to see the new military dictator and I told him in no uncertain terms, that the only way he was going to get out of this mess, not just alive, but perhaps with a chance to restore his own personal honor, and the honor of his organization, the Presidential guard that had been responsible for the assassination of his predecessor.

Well, that jives 100% with the May 1oth, BBC article referenced above. Was “the request of some of my friends there and some of the colleagues with whom I had been working” a request from the CIA? Did he accidentally let slip more on how he viewed these ‘requestors’?

Niger did go on to have elections in October and November of 1999. ‘Ol Ego-Joe took a lot of credit for the results when reminiscing at the UVA event:

The only chance he had was to get out and effect a change back to democratic rule as quickly as possible. I told him, I said, that you need to understand from my experience in Africa that your successor president probably will not be very comfortable with you standing watching his back after you have effected the transition.

After all, your organization was responsible for the assassination of your predecessor shooting him in the back. Therefore, I said to him, I think that you probably ought to leave the country for a while. Those are pretty strong words to walk into a military barracks and tell a guy who has assassinated his predecessor and has assumed responsibility for his country.

I came back a year later during the course of the transition and the president met me at the airport.

OK. While Joe pat’s himself on the back, like he often does, he has given us a window in 1999 for his visit for the CIA. It had to be between the coup and the elections: April and October 1999. But we can whittle this window down a lot. Here is that time period in Niger history from Wikepedia: In votes that international observers found to be generally free and fair, the Nigerien electorate approved the new constitution in July 1999 and held legislative and presidential elections in October and November 1999. Heading a coalition of the National Movement for a Developing Society (MNSD) and the Democratic and Social Convention (CDS), Mamadou Tandja won the presidency."

Again, back to Ego-Joe for some clarification:

The only chance he had was to get out and effect a change back to democratic rule as quickly as possible.

The new democratic rule did not come into existence until July with the constitution. It is clear from Niger’s history and Joe’s own words that Wilson was more than likely in Niger, meeting with Mayaki and Wanke, when the Iraq delegation attempted to make contact for trade in June. Joe was there for trade as well. What are the chances he first learned of the Iraqi meeting in 1999 and not 2002 as he claims?

Was Joe working a CIA front? Or were some of the folks at the CIA working a rogue effort in Niger?

How is it the wife of a CIA WMD expert, charged with monitoring trade in uranium yellowcake, is married to someone who works for Niger establishing trade with that one-product country?

Were the forged documents and the 2002 trip meant to cover tracks that could be discovered if Niger was investigated too deeply? Was there reason to be concerned about missing uranium in 1999 from Niger (there had been a coup d’etat)?

Too much coincidence for me. I wonder if anyone with real resources will investigate this angle."

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.