Bush Nuke Basher Admitted Saddam Sought the Bomb

NewsMax.com ^ | 7/14/03 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

The diplomat who set off a political firestorm last week when he told the New York Times that President Bush may have "exaggerated" when he told the nation that Iraq sought nuclear fuel in Africa admitted last October that he believed Saddam Hussein had "an aggressive program to try and get" nuclear weapons.

Though former acting U.S. ambassador to Iraq Joseph C. Wilson's op-ed in the Times warned that Bush might have led the U.S. to war "under false pretenses" by ginning up a bogus nuclear threat, he was singing a different tune during an appearance on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" nine months ago.

Under close questioning by Sean Hannity, Wilson insisted that Saddam "doesn't have nuclear weapons, to the best of anybody's knowledge."

But then, in an admission that contradicts the central point of his Times op-ed, Wilson added, "though he has an aggressive program to try and get them."

Last week, Wilson cited his inability to confirm an Iraq-Niger nuke connection to conclude in the Times: "Some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the nuclear threat."

But if, as Wilson told "Hannity & Colmes" in October, he believed Saddam indeed had an "aggressive" nuclear program at the time, his claim that Bush distorted the nuclear threat seems disingenuous at best.

The full exchange between Hannity and Wilson went like this:

HANNITY: Wait a minute. If he's still – if he's going after – if he's going after weapons of mass destruction, with his willingness to use them, and your belief, have – they having told you they'd use them, isn't it important we get him before he got these other weapons? Wouldn't that be ...

WILSON: Well ...

HANNITY: Wouldn't that make good sense in your mind?

WILSON: Well, first of all, Sean – just a second. Just let me be very clear. He has chemical weapons.

HANNITY: Right.

WILSON: He has biological weapon capability ...

HANNITY: Right.

WILSON: ... and may have biological weapons. He doesn't have nuclear weapons, to the best of anybody's knowledge, even though he has an aggressive program to try and get them.

HANNITY: He's working hard to get them, but – but, I mean, if we don't ...

WILSON; That's right. [End of Excerpt]

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Bush Administration
Saddam Hussein/Iraq

[MEG33]

There's the Tenet/Crawford thread and the Doug Thompson apology thread.

[Grampa Dave]

Here is another look at the professional liar of the Rats:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/941353/posts

[Search4Truth]

Rats off a sinking ship BUMP!

[BOBTHENAILER]

Well, as many of us have noted this past week, Wilson appears to be nothing but a lying wh$re for the rats.

These RAT tactics are getting to be a HUGE yawn. LIE one day, thinking we're too stupid to look up there incriminating past comments. Great post kattracks.

[stubernx98]

You have to understand:

Wilson 'may' beat his wife.
Wilson 'may' abuse his kids
Wilson 'may' steal SUV's

And so on. any time you see the word "may" in an accusatory piece, stop reading,it's BS by definition.

[cyncooper]

red, can you find your post of Wilson's NY Time's op-ed and link us up? I never saw it as its own thread--just your valuable post.

Dog is asking in #10 about it.

I must give credit to NewsMax for this revelation. I wonder if Carl spoke with Sean Hannity.

[cyncooper]

I see William McKinley did link us up to a copy of the Wilson op-ed text at #18.

Thank you for alerting me to this.

[mhking]

"Someone set us up the bomb..."

[RedBloodedAmerican]

dane;cathryn crawford;valenb4

FYI

[ValenB4]

That doesn't mean anything. An aggressive program to get nuclear weapons doesn't indicate how far along Iraq was to building them. Nothing indicates he was anywhere close to achieving that goal. But what do we do if a democratic Iraq votes to develop nuclear weapons?

[gaspar]

Check Wilson's career and you will find that in a sabattical from State he worked for Al Gore for a time.

[MEG33]

If

[ValenB4]

You can make the case for anything if you're going to use "if" and "might". Is it a morally right act to shoot someone released from prison just because he might commit a crime against you? Anything can be justified with that attitude.

[Justin714]

I find it funny that the DimoCraps rarely, if ever, remember their own words. They keep contradicting themselves over and over again.
I guess being DimoCraps allow them to get free pass from these kinds of things.

[Ann Archy]

Why did you mention Wilson.s wife?? Who is she?

[Sofa King]

A democratic Iraq is infinitely less dangerous with Nuclear weapons than an Iraq run by Saddam.

[Ann Archy]

Wilson's wife is an operative in the CIA?????? Where can I find out more info on the missus???

[ValenB4]

What makes you say that? Does the history of the 20th century lead you to believe that democracy is inherently safer? Communism and fascism are derivatives of democracy. If you want democracy to work, you must have liberty, a stable and consistent system of law, and property rights. Democracy doesn't guarantee these things. Democracy in the Middle East is more likely to result in violent nationalistic or Islamist movements. Democracy is not the same as liberty.

[Sofa King]

>Communism and fascism are derivatives of democracy.

That's amazingly ignorant. Communism and fascism were invented by people who thought that democracy was a failure.

>Democracy in the Middle East is more likely to result in violent nationalistic or Islamist movements.

It's nice to see that you've written off an entire ethnic group as irredeemably violent. Perhaps we should disallow any Muslims in the US the vote, if that is the case.

[Mo1]

I wish someone would let Chrissy Matthews in on the news .. he seems to have a denial in what actually is going on

He just ripped into John Fund from the Wall Street Journal

Chissy seems to be stating that HIS opinion is a fact