Or that in Jan-Feb 2003, Wilson was making the lecture rounds on college campuses asserting that the US should not invade Iraq because Saddam did indeed possess WMD...and he would use them.
It was not until Wilson attended a meeting with the Kerry campaign staff in March, 2003 that he changed his story.
Joe Wilson = LIAR
"Though Wilson was carrying out what was, in effect, a confidential mission for the CIA, he was not even required to sign a confidentiality agreement, an odd oversight for an agency usually obsessed with operational security. This preoccupation with security was especially prescient in the context of the Iraq-Niger connection, an area of interest that was protected by the highest levels of official secrecy available within the intelligence community. Perhaps, as has been suggested, some in the Agency hoped Wilson would act exactly how he eventually did: divulging his knowledge in such a biased and outrageous fashion that it would seriously damage the President, a goal that many CIA officials were obviously working towards in the lead-up to the war in Iraq.
"An additional mystery surrounding Wilson’s mission was the impetus behind it. In an interview with Wolf Blitzer, Wilson identified an infamous set of forged documents -- provided to the British and the CIA by a dubious “stringer” -- as the sole basis for his trip:[snip]the forged documents would not be in the hands of the intelligence community until seven months after he had been sent to Niger, a fact which directly contradicts his public assertions. When interviewed on the matter by staffers of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in 2004, Wilson admitted to being the source of a front-page June 12, 2003 Washington Post story, written by Walter Pincus, in which Wilson -- referred to as a “retired American diplomat” -- stated that he knew the documents were false because “the dates were wrong and the names were wrong.” Senate investigators reminded Wilson it was simply impossible for him to have seen the documents, considering he had never been allowed access to them. Wilson later admitted that he may have “misspoken.”
"Wilson could only suggest that Agency “sources” -- which he was unable to identify -- had given him his information."
"Wilson’s brief -- which he never saw fit to write down -- actually confirmed the Niger-Iraq connection in the eyes of the CIA officers who heard it."
The Lies continue:
"Wilson’s resume reveals that he possesses no background whatsoever in weapons of mass destruction. Why then, observers wondered, did the Counter-Proliferation Division (CPD) of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations see fit to send him to Niger in the first place?"
"Finally, a full year after the controversy first erupted, the Senate Select Committee report provided some answers. Its findings indicated that Wilson had lied to reporters and interviewers, as his wife was shown to have played an instrumental role in procuring the assignment for her husband."
"The Senate report, which stated, “it was unfortunate, considering the significant resources available to the CIA,” that Wilson “was the only option available.”
" She told Wilson in early February that there was a “crazy report” that connected Iraq to the Niger’s uranium mine. This sort of prefacing of intelligence by a high-ranking analyst, similar to the disbelief voiced by U.S. Ambassador Owens-Kirkpatrick, represents direct violation of the basic analytical skill-set..."
New York Times columnist Nicolas Kristof, who used Wilson’s leaks as the basis for his May 6, 2003 column which quoted an unnamed source as telling him, “In February 2002, according to someone present at the meetings, that envoy reported to the CIA and State Department that the information was unequivocally wrong and that the documents had been forged.”
"The New Republic, which on June 19 published a piece quoting “a former ambassador” -- Wilson -- as suggesting that the Bush administration “knew the Niger story was a flat-out lie.” As would be borne out in later investigations, Wilson’s comments to Kristof and The New Republic were blatant falsehoods."
"Wilson finally put a name to his op-ed for the New York Times on July 7, 2003. Entitled “What I Didn’t Find in Africa,...
”July 2004, the British government released a report on the accuracy of pre-war intelligence. Chaired by Lord Butler, formerly the Cabinet Secretary in Great Britain, the committee’s report was largely critical of British and American intelligence concerning Iraq’s supposed WMD arsenals. On the Niger episode, however, the Butler committee stated categorically:
“The British government had intelligence from several different sources indicating that this visit [a reference to the 1999 visit of Iraqi officials that even Wilson had reported] was for the purpose of acquiring uranium. Since uranium constitutes almost three-quarters of Niger's exports, the intelligence was credible.”...issued within days of the Butler report -- found that President Bush had been fully justified in including the intelligence in his speech.
"Wilson claimed in his 2004 book -- The Politics of Truth: Inside the Lies that Led to War and Betrayed My Wife's CIA Identity: A Diplomat's Memoir -- to have won an award for truth-telling. He neglected to mention that the honor came (in October 2003) from the hard-left journal The Nation."
"Later that same month, Wilson publicly suggested that “neo-conservatives and religious conservatives have hijacked this [Bush] administration and I consider myself on a personal mission to destroy both.” He took to calling the Bush administration “a radical regime".
"he lamented that he was “ashamed” to see that his country had turned into “just another imperial power who has unleashed the dogs of war.”
"Wilson soon became a fixture of the leftist media circuit, giving interviews to such outlets as AlterNet and delivering speeches at MoveOn.org gatherings. In addition, Wilson cooperated with faux documentarian Robert Greenwald in the latter’s Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War."
"Wilson’s “27 months of hell” also proved to be quite profitable, as his autobiography reaped a seven-figure sum. Moreover, he earned thousands of dollars on the speaking circuit and through media appearances">
December 3, 2005, Wilson stunned political observers with a series of statements that entirely contradicted his previous anti-war proclamations. "There was a lot of reason to be concerned about weapons of mass destruction in the hands of Saddam Hussein," he said in an interview with WABC Radio's Mark Simone. "I always thought that he probably had chemical and biological weapons and biological precursors as well."
July 5, 2005 New York Times piece, "after his tangle with the current administration, [Wilson] admits 'it will be a cold day in hell before I vote for a Republican, even for dog catcher.'" On July 16, 2007, Wilson endorsed Hillary Clinton for U.S. President.
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2064
Puts the Plame-Wilson story to bed. Wilson lied, the Brits exposed him for what he was just like they now continue to uncover those who wish to attack the United States. Without Scotland Yard and related intel resources across the pond--I don't want to think what could have been..