Report: CIA Source on Niger Nuke Flap is a Bush-Hater (Wilson)

NewsMax.com ^ | 7/13/03 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

The man who helped set off a media firestorm over President Bush's State of the Union reference to Iraq seeking uranium in Niger is actually a confirmed Bush-hater who opposed the war in Iraq and complained in March that Bush had led America into a period of "historical madness."

In his New York Times op-ed piece last Sunday, so-called career diplomat Joseph Wilson said he was tapped by the CIA to investigate whether there was any truth to the Niger uranium story. After traveling to the country and interviewing government and industry officials, Wilson said he couldn't find anyone who would confirm that Niger sold uranium to Iraq.

In fact, President Bush never claimed that the transaction had been completed, telling Congress instead, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

Still, Wilson's inability to confirm something Bush hadn't claimed prompted him to write:

"I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat."

Writing in the National Review Online, GOP consultant Cliff May reveals that media portrayals of Wilson as a disinterested career diplomat may be quite an exaggeration in and of themselves.

"He's a vehement opponent of the Bush administration," says May, noting that two weeks before the war Wilson was slamming Bush in the notoriously left-wing "Nation" magazine.

Arguing that the White House had "imperial ambitions," Wilson claimed that under Bush, "America has entered one of it periods of historical madness"

Adding to Wilson's partisan pedigree, May noted that the supposedly objective analyst "was an outspoken opponent of U.S. military intervention in Iraq" with a resume that includes a stint as an "adjunct scholar" at the pro-Saudi Middle East Institute.

Sounding like a disciple of Jane Fonda, Wilson complained in other writings that Bush's "new imperialists will not rest until governments that ape our world view are implanted throughout the region, a breathtakingly ambitious undertaking, smacking of hubris in the extreme."

According to Wilson, "neoconservatives" have "a stranglehold on the foreign policy of the Republican Party."

And there's more.

According to May, career diplomat Wilson was recently the keynote speaker for the Education for Peace in Iraq Center, a far-left group that opposed not only the U.S. military intervention in Iraq, but also the sanctions — and even the no-fly zones established after the first Gulf War.

"In other words," concluded May, "Wilson is no disinterested career diplomat — he's a pro-Saudi, leftist partisan with an ax to grind. And too many in the media are helping him and allies grind it."

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Bush Administration
Media Bias
Saddam Hussein/Iraq

[kattracks]

ping

[DannyTN]

If this is true, can't Bush fire this guy or at least send him somewhere he can't do much harm.

[Miss Marple]

I believe he is retired.

[Peach]

Ping

[Cathryn Crawford]

A bit expected, huh? :-)

[Iowa Granny]

Perhaps they could send him to the Arctic Circle to monitor the growth of Palm Trees and orchids.

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[Howlin]

Since I was gone last week, how is it that the CIA "tapped" this guy to investigate something they could do themselves?

[Miss Marple]

Well, my theory is that there is a Clintonista in the CIA who wanted a "friendly" type to go to Niger. He obviously did nothing but talk to a few officials, came home, and didn't say a word about the statement in the SOU until much, much later.

[Miss Marple]

You really need to read the results of William McKinley's work on this last week. There are several threads which are important. If William doesn't have the links and post them shortly, I will get them for you later.

[NeoCaveman]

Since I was gone last week, how is it that the CIA "tapped" this guy to investigate something they could do themselves?

I don't know how. I also want to know who "tapped" this kook. He needs to be reassigned if he can't be fired.

[Howlin]

I will click on his posts right now!

[Howlin]

This certainly puts a damper on your "Bush is either incompetent or a liar" theory, doesn't it?

[Howlin]

I wasn't aware that the CIA went outside to find people to check up on them -- especially ONE GUY.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

If this is true, can't Bush fire this guy or at least send him somewhere he can't do much harm.

Isn't there a Mars mission coming up soon?

[NeoCaveman]

I wasn't aware that the CIA went outside to find people to check up on them -- especially ONE GUY.

I wasn't either. The CIA has some 'splaining to do.

[No Truce With Kings]

Howlin: "Since I was gone last week, how is it that the CIA "tapped" this guy to investigate something they could do themselves?"

dubyaismypresident: "I don't know how. I also want to know who "tapped" this kook. He needs to be reassigned if he can't be fired."

Dick Cheney "tapped" this kook. He chose him on the reasonable grounds that he wanted an independent eye looking this situation over. (Cheney had doubts about the report.) So Cheney sent a skeptic.

However, Wilson sat on his butt drinking sweet tea in his hotel room rather than investigating, so Cheney equally reasonably disregarded Wilson's report.

Proof that no good deed goes unavenged.

[hflynn]

Two things: Bush never said Niger and since Congress voted to approve Bush's action against Iraq months before the Bush State of the Union Address any suggestion by Congressional Democrats there was a cause and effect between the two is absolutely Orwellian because we have to believe the DNC has a Time Machine to accept the basis of the argument.

[Dick Vomer]

State department is used as intro to foreign country. He was probably picked to manage the on sight acquisition and interpretation of info and then forward it to CIA for further review. Unfortunatly this little weasel was already stuck in an out of the way place but was able to stir up trouble. Africa is the empty cul-de-sac of the State Department except for some high profile areas. Niger isn't one of them..

Career diplomats are basically bootlickers with tongues the size of elephants firmly planted on the rear end of the next guy up the food chain.