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Subject: Joseph Wilson - Iraq buy of uranium from Niger - Bush's claim in his State of the Union Speech.

One of you wrote:
"If I am not mistaken, Cap(Casper Weinberger), said that the guy who ran the editorial in the NYT was not asked by the VP to look into the uranium story."

Guys,I think the importance of the Niger-uranium story is political, and how the Democrats will use, are already using it, against Bush,starting with the Senate hearings. They are laying the groundwork for a full frontal attack on President Bush's honesty, integrity, legacy. (I'm not over stating. VP Cheney will be their conduit.)

Last night on Hardball: Jay Rockefeller is convinced Vice President Cheney is the one who sent Joseph Wilson to Niger to investigate the uranium sale. Rockefeller's point was that Cheney sent Wilson, hence Cheney knew the story was bogus, hence Cheney was responsible for the bogus intelligence being included in Bush's State of the Union speech.

Chris Mathews seemed to agree. But David Gergen said: 'No, It wasn't the Vice President. It was the CIA who sent Wilson to Africa to investigate whether or not Iraq had bought uranium from Niger. Mathews and Rockefeller continued to argue their point, so Gergen picked up a copy of the NYT, and read a partwhich should have won the argument, but Rockefeller and Mathews would not bend. Gergen even reminded them that Wilson had worked for the CIA before, that it was logical the CIA would have asked for his help in verification.

Wilson will figure prominently in the Democrat efforts to discredit President Bush. Rush.com is keeping tabs, and here's excellent Wilson background.

http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/wilson.html

Here's more interesting information to add to the mix, from MSNBC: http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters07-09-083034.asp?reg=MIDEAST

...."...U.S. government sources said Italy's intelligence service had circulated reports about the Niger documents -- not the documents themselves -- to other Western intelligence services in early 2002, and that was apparently how the British and U.S. intelligence services learned of them. ..."

And from that same article, the following, which I think addresses what will become one of the Democrats' biggest question: Who sent Wilson to Niger, and isn't that person responsible for the bogus Niger-uranium claim in President Bush's State of the Union?

" From referenced MSNBC article: "....Former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson disclosed he had travelled to Africa in 2002 to investigate the report. He said on Sunday he had reported back to the CIA that it was highly doubtful any such transaction had ever taken place.

Last night on Hardball, the guests couldn't agree on who sponsored Wilson's Niger trip. I want us to remember Caspar Weinberger is already on the front lines for Bush/Cheney. I want us to remember that David Gergen politely, but resolutely argued it was the CIA that sent Wilson to Niger. I want us to remember how this position dovetails with the above MSNBC column.

I mean, why would Joseph Wilson had reported back to the CIA, if Cheney were the one who sent him on the mission?? And really, why in the hell would Dick Cheney have sent Clinton operative Joseph Wilson on a cloak and dagger mission? That doesn't even pass the make sense test.

I don't often use replies as a notepad for myself but this subject, (thanks to the media hyperventilating to prove Bush lied in his SofUspeech), is going to be the Democrats weapon of choice to use against Bush in 2004 election. It's all they got, and they are already running with it.

Chris Mathews is salivating. He's chosen his line of attack to use against Bush, no doubt in consultation with Democrats. It will be that Democrat senators, and the American people weren't convinced we should attack Iraq until Bush claimed Saddam had bought uranium from Niger to build nukes. In other words, this Bush lie in the State of the Union speech is what caused us to go to war with Iraq.