Posted on 03/26/2007 2:17:41 AM PDT by Laverne
When Valerie Plame Wilson testified recently before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, just two Republicans — out of 17 on the committee — bothered to show up. Ranking Republican Rep. Tom Davis asked few questions and seemed largely uninterested in the matter. The only other Republican to appear, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia, showed more interest but appeared not to have mastered the details of the case.
Now, however, Westmoreland wants to know more. In a letter to committee chairman Rep. Henry Waxman Friday, he submitted more questions for Mrs. Wilson and requested that Waxman ask the Senate Intelligence Committee for information that could shed light on issues left unresolved after her testimony.
As part of its investigation into pre-war intelligence, the Senate committee interviewed Mrs. Wilson, as well as some of her colleagues at the CIA. The committee also reviewed CIA documents about the Niger uranium affair. In his letter, Westmoreland asked Waxman to ask the Senate committee for the full text of Mrs. Wilson’s interview with Senate investigators. Westmoreland also asked for the “full text of Ms. Plame’s February 12, 2002 email/memo to her boss regarding sending her husband, Joseph Wilson, to Niger.”
Westmoreland is attempting to learn more about the origin of Joseph Wilson’s trip — a question that was perhaps less clear after Valerie Plame Wilson’s testimony than before. Testifying before the House, Mrs. Wilson said the story began on February 12, 2002, when “a young junior officer who worked for me came to me very concerned, very upset. She had just received a telephone call on her desk from someone, I don’t know who, in the Office of the Vice President, asking about this report of this alleged sale of yellowcake uranium from Niger to Iraq.”
As the young officer told her story, Mrs. Wilson continued, “someone passed by, another officer heard this. He knew that Joe had already — my husband — had already gone on some CIA missions previously to deal with other nuclear matters. And he suggested, ‘Well, why don’t we send Joe?’“
As for questions about her own actions, Mrs. Wilson flatly denied that she had played a role in sending her husband to Africa. “I did not recommend him,” she testified. “I did not suggest him.” She testified that what she called a “quick e-mail” in which she described her husband’s qualifications for the trip had been “taken out of context” by the Senate Intelligence Committee to “make it seem as though I had suggested or recommended him.”
Her testimony seemed to offer new insight into the beginnings of the Niger mission. But soon after Mrs. Wilson’s appearance, Missouri Republican Sen. Christopher Bond, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told National Review Online that Mrs. Wilson, in her interview with Senate investigators, never mentioned the young junior officer, the call from the vice president’s office, or the passing CIA official who suggested Joseph Wilson’s name.
“Friday [March 16] was the first time we have ever heard that story,” Sen. Bond said in a statement. “Obviously if we had, we would have included it in the report. If Ms. Wilson’s memory of events has improved and she would now like to change her testimony, I’m sure the committee staff would be happy to re-interview her.”
Sen. Bond also took issue with Mrs. Wilson’s description of her “quick e-mail” touting her husband’s qualifications. “We have…checked the memorandum written by Ms. Wilson suggesting her husband to look into the Niger reporting,” Bond told NRO. “I…stand by the Committee’s finding that this memorandum indicates Ms. Wilson did suggest her husband for a Niger inquiry. Because the quote [the portion of the memo quoted in the Senate report] obviously does not represent the entirety of the memorandum, I suggest that the House Government Reform Committee request and examine this memorandum themselves. I am confident that they will come to the same conclusion as our bipartisan membership did.”
Now, Rep. Westmoreland is trying to do just that. In addition to asking for the transcript of Mrs. Wilson’s interview with Senate investigators, and the full text of her February 12, 2002, memo, Westmoreland submitted a question to Mrs. Wilson that could tell us more about that chance, why-don’t-we-send-Joe meeting with unnamed CIA colleagues. “List all the parties participating in the conversation you described in detail during the March 16, 2007 hearing,” Westmoreland asked Mrs. Wilson, “including, but not limited to, who told you there was a query from the Vice President’s office and who suggested your husband for the trip to Niger because of his expertise in Africa?”
The question now is whether chairman Waxman will be inclined to do anything about Westmoreland’s request. Other than place it into the official record of the hearing, he doesn’t have to do anything. But Westmoreland is hoping otherwise. “It is our understanding that no one is under any obligation to pass on our questions, and Mrs. Wilson is not obligated to answer them,” says Brian Robinson, Westmoreland’s deputy chief of staff. “That said, it is our hope and intent in doing this that she will be made aware of them, and that she will want to answer them.”
Better to stand up for what's right.
"Looks to me like the Republicans simply want to stay away from W."
A dubious "friend" of conservatives. But what choice did we have in 2000, McCain? After all, they both had the magic "name-recognition", bestowed by the media. What choice did we have in the general election? We went from slim to none.
None of this matters today. Today is the day we find out what killed Anna Nicole Smith. That will receive coverage for the next three days, at least.
It's stuff like this that makes it so easy for the masters to lead the sheeple over the cliff. The sheeple are dumb as rocks.
Or a good poker player, opening weak.
Great FReeper comments. BTTT.
What else is new? DC is almost 100% liberal. Not many Republicans reside there, and those that do are probably members of Congress.
Why doesn't Gonzales appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the authorization of the Wilson trip?
Why are Republicans so stupid when it comes to matters like these, and why were on 2 Republicans out of 17 at this hearing?
Let me clue you as to what will happen with your request. Waxman will do nothing, Plame will not respond, and the press will stay silent. Not prophesy, just understanding what is clear to all but Republicans in government - the Democrats and press are out to screw you - that is their only motivation and concerns - truth be damned if it might clear Republicans of wrong-doing. What does it take for you stupid people to get this fact?
"The sheeple are dumb as rocks."
Boy do you have that right!! Disgusting!!
I've been following this case a great deal and have come to a conclusion.
The prosecutor was asked to find out if a crime was committed in regards to her "outing:".
The only way there was a crime is if she was protected under the 1982 Intelligence Identity Protection Act.
When she was asked this last week she fumbled and stumbled and finally said that nobody had yet said she was covered.
Are they trying to make us believe that after three years they haven't determined that yet?
Hardly believable. They just keep using words like classified or covert. NEVER has anybody from the CIA or Fitzpatrick said she was covered. This investigation was over before it started but the media and Fitz have been able to keep it going for three years.
When will somebody shout this from the rooftops? She was not covered therefore there is no underlying crime.
2 out of 17 bother to show up for a hearing on one of the most controversial fights of the Administration and these two aren't prepared.
I watched the performance and it was dismal. I can only assume that someone made the decision that not showing up would dampen the proceedings and show them up as partisan.
Is anyone happy with that strategy???? Was this the time that the Dem lies could have been exposed by some good sharp questions?
Where is another Lee Atwater when you need him?
I did a search, but the article didn't show up as having already been posted. So it goes...
Thanks for the ping!
This is so frustrating; thanks for the additional info.
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