Posted on 04/11/2007 1:11:08 PM PDT by CutePuppy
Far From CIA Scandal, Wilsons Settle In
By DEBORAH BAKER
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - In this liberal-leaning tourist town known for its handmade turquoise- and-silver jewelry, Joseph Wilson has just bought his wife something special in a downtown shop: a red-and-blue pin that reads, "I'm not anti-Bush. I'm pro-intelligence." Wilson and his wife, outed CIA spy Valerie Plame, are finally getting a chance to unwind. Three weeks ago, they arrived at their new 4,600- square-foot hilltop adobe home and have traded in their Jaguar for a pickup truck. Their 7-year-old twins already have found new friends and spotted three snakes.
There's a book deal in the works, a movie on the horizon, and a pending federal lawsuit that names Vice President Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and others.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Wilson said it will take a couple of years to sort through the remains of this recent period, in which the couple was "dropped into the political maelstrom."
In July 2003, Wilson, a former ambassador, accused the Bush administration of twisting prewar intelligence on Iraq, and Plame's covert CIA identity was leaked to reporters. Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was convicted last month of lying to a grand jury and to FBI agents investigating the disclosure.
Perched on the window sill of his downtown office, having offered the only chair in the otherwise empty room to a reporter, Wilson said: "What has changed is, as we look at all this, we look at it from Santa Fe, rather than downtown Washington. And that in and of itself is positive."
In Santa Fe, the weather's better. The traffic's better. It's not as hectic and all-consuming. Being a step removed provides a healthier perspective, he observed.
"How nice to be able to think about things other than the daily grind of what people increasingly call 'the swamp' in Washington," he said, sporting jeans and wearing a close-cropped beard.
"I still have my BlackBerry. ... Valerie's trying to wean me from that," the business consultant admitted.
Wilson, 57, said he and Plame, 43—who declined to be interviewed for this story—always planned to leave Washington when she retired from the CIA; the events of the past few years just speeded up the move.
"We were not Washingtonians," said Wilson, who noted that much of Plame's career, and nearly all of his, was spent overseas. "We always thought about moving someplace where we could raise our kids. And we're not enchanted with the political game. We don't suffer—and never suffered—from what they call 'Potomac fever.'"
They were familiar with Santa Fe—Plame, whose specialty was weapons of mass destruction, had visited during work trips to nearby Los Alamos National Laboratory—and they decided the city offered ethnic and economic diversity, privacy, an intellectual and cultural life and "a community that was extraordinarily welcoming," he said.
"There are always enough people around who want to talk about the fate of the nation, so I don't worry too much about that," Wilson added.
That could well include New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who is running for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. Wilson, a career diplomat and self-described policy wonk, said he is fond of Richardson both personally and professionally—they both worked in the Clinton administration when Richardson was U.N. ambassador—but has no plans to campaign for him.
Plame's book, with a working title of "Fair Game," should be out this fall from Simon & Schuster, according to Wilson.
The couple is consulting with screenwriters as Warner Bros. develops a film based on their lives.
Arguments in their civil lawsuit against Cheney and others are scheduled for May 17, and one of them likely will attend.
But mostly, the Wilson family is just settling in.
High on his to-do list is to meet the mayor, the city manager, the police chief and the fire chief, Wilson said. "I'm a big fan of first responders, and I want to go introduce myself and introduce my kids," he said.
Neither he nor Plame see the events of the past four years as being a final chapter, but rather look forward to giving it "its proper place in our lives."
Wilson, who was acting ambassador to Iraq when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, likes to tell audiences there was a time when the first line of his obituary would have read, "the last American diplomat to confront Saddam Hussein before the first Gulf War." Now, he said, it would read, "the husband of the first American spy to have her identity betrayed by her own government." But he hopes to live long enough to see that line rewritten a third or fourth time.
"Be nice to have it read... 'good father, good husband,'" he said.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.
1. Will David Zucker (brother of Jerry Zucker, who is filming Wilsons' story) do a movie about real Plamegate and Fitzgate? It could be a documentary style and DVDs will fly off the websites. Fedora, STARWISE, the Real Fifi and others FReepers could help, consult and create a factual document for the history's sake if not just countering propaganda that will be coming before elections in 2008.
2. When will we see something similar to today's NC AG press-conference about Nifong case, only for Patrick J. Fitzgerald's mishandling and abuse of prosecutorial power?
Like Hitchins said, “Bush is stupid” is the joke that stupid people laugh at.
Wilson & Plame are frauds of the 1st degree.
"Be nice to have it read... 'good father, good husband…'"
…cheap charlatan, pompous douchebag.”
Repulsive creatures.
I wonder if the third snake was related to the parents?????
Their 7-year-old twins already have found new friends and spotted three snakes.
Mommy, Daddy and who’s the other snake?
Hmmm. Talking about Santa Fe makes me hungry.
And I thought the snakes were born spotted. Those kids sure have been busy. Maybe their parents would like to try spotting some leopards?
Even for the MSM, this is an extra fluffy puff piece.
I live near there. I look forward to giving them the double middle fingers if I see them....
Joe Wilson has an “office” in downtown Santa Fe?
LOL! An empty suit in an empty office.
“Their 7-year-old twins already have found new friends and spotted three snakes.”
They live with two of the snakes.
This lying POS never stops. He shopped his story around before running with the NY Times, and makes up the absurd lie that he was just some innocent, minding his own business, that got "dropped into the political maelstrom."
“I’m not anti-Bush. I’m pro-intelligence.”
Just how Pro-intel were they while enabling Saddam?
Just checking the timing but....
If their kids are 7... how could she have been as covert as the left claimed while carrying twins?
The Three Snakes: Begala, Carville and McAuliffe.
That was one of the earlier points of debunking the “covert” story, she married a long-serving State Dept “diplomat” in 1998, which automatically takes her out of any “covert” role as spouses of any high tier civil servants are suspected of either explicitly working for or disclosing information to CIA.
To all three of them? Hmmm, that's about the number of snakes the twins found...
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