HOW MUCH DID THE CIA PAY WILSON TO GO TO NIGER?

10/01/03 | Prognostigaator

[prognostigaator]

Was Ambassador Wilson's motivation to go to Niger a magnaminous offer to -

"I spent the next eight days drinking sweet mint tea and meeting with dozens of people: current government officials, former government officials, people associated with the country's uranium business."

Or was his patriotism prompted by the all expenses paid trip and the hefty 'fee' from the CIA slush fund?

Did Valerie Thane use any 'vigorish' to get her husband that plush assignment?

[prognostigaator]

Inquiring minds want to know.....

[lainde]

I think I heard him say yesterday (On Fox and Friends)that he just got his "expenses" paid.

[mrtysmm]

Define "expenses"!

[prognostigaator]

From the latest Novak column.

"This story began July 6 when Wilson went public and identified himself as the retired diplomat who had reported negatively to the CIA in 2002 on alleged Iraq efforts to buy uranium yellowcake from Niger.

I was curious why a high-ranking official in President Bill Clinton's National Security Council (NSC) was given this assignment. Wilson had become a vocal opponent of President Bush's policies in Iraq after contributing to Al Gore in the last election cycle and John Kerry in this one.

During a long conversation with a senior administration official, I asked why Wilson was assigned the mission to Niger. He said Wilson had been sent by the CIA's counterproliferation section at the suggestion of one of its employees, his wife.

It was an offhand revelation from this official, who is no partisan gunslinger. When I called another official for confirmation, he said: "Oh, you know about it." The published report that somebody in the White House failed to plant this story with six reporters and finally found me as a willing pawn is simply untrue."

Someone went to the trouble to notify 6 reporters.......
Is this why she was 'outed'?

[.cnI redruM]

It wouldn't shock me if Charles Schumer notified the 6 newspapers.

[gaspar]

One really should go back to the beginning. It has been written that the stimulus for the Wilson trip came from VP Cheney. Now why should that be?

It is also reported that Ambassador Barbro Owens-Kirkpatrick, a Clinton appointee, sent a report to Washington in mid-2002 that debunked the story that Iraq was attempting to purchase yellowcake in Niger. She left her post in Niamey on July 12, 2002.

O-K was replaced by Dennise Gail Mathieu, a Foreign Service officer of no particular distinction, on October 3, 2002. (Her Deputy is W. Stuart Symington) The appointment was seen as a response to Secy of State Powell's effort to name more blacks to Ambassadorial posts. In sum, one can assume that Wilson (a poor choice if there ever was one) was selected by the CIA because there was reason not to trust the reporting out of Niamey.

Now, for the important point. Why, if Niger is one of the world's most important sources of yellowcake, was there no major CIA presence in Niamey. Did the CIA depend for its information on the French intlligence services? Reliably corrupt and undependable? Why did Tenet claim that such an important task requested by the Vice President did not require his overview?

This nasty business demonstrates once again, if demonstration is needed, the incompetence of both Powell and Tenet. Bush will never fire Powell, but he could at least dump Tenet. He will be doing the USA a favor.

[lainde]

Agreed! And my point is, WHY would the CIA be confirming the status of an undercover agent to a journalist and asking him to keep it a secret??? I don't think the "leak" issue is as important as the CIA running off at the mouth to a journalist. I wonder if Al Jazeera could lust call up and politely ask around about our agents!

[dennisw]

10 thou

[eno_]

Indeed, the real scandal here is that the quality of "inteligence" rested on a tea-drinking retired ambassador with an axe to grind.

Whoever thought THAT was a good idea needs to lose their job.

[prognostigaator]

More background...

from Bogdan Kipling , a Canadian journalist in Washington.

...."I worked around yellowcake - briefly. It was in Elliott Lake, the world's biggest uranium mining camp of its time. It was a summer job at Rio Algom's Milliken mine in northern Ontario and I remember it vividly.

Douglas Van Treeck is a retired American diplomat and an old friend. He was posted in Niger.

"A hundred bucks," he told me, "will get you any driver to loose drums of yellowcake off the truck.

"France owns the joint," he added, "and President Chirac can answer all questions about Saddam's shopping in Niger."

But nobody asks in Paris.

Far simpler for White House correspondents to trust Saddam Hussein and Jacques Chirac more than George W. Bush.

On May 8, Tokyo's Asahi Shimbun reported that Iraqi peasants looted yellowcake from Zafaraniya nuclear facility.

They wanted the drums - for water tanks. "

[mewzilla]

You want to get to the bottom of this? Find out who sent Wilson and why...

[CMAC51]

>> Why did Tenet claim that such an important task requested by the Vice President did not require his overview? <<

The Vice President's office has already indicated that there was no such request for a Niger mission. They did inquire on a routine regular basis on the situation in Niger, but did not indicate in any manner that they required a specific inquiry. Mid level managers in the CIA initiated the Niger mission, most likely in an effort to gain "brownie points".

[memaw]

I have my doubts about this man.....It would not surprise me if he is not the one that started this rumor......These people will do everthing they can to hurt President Bush......I am so fed up with those demoRats I will never vote fo another one of them.Grannie

[ChadGore]

I DEMAND A FULL AND COMPLETE INVESTIGATION INTO HIS VACATION IN NIGER!

[Mo1]

Or was his patriotism prompted by the all expenses paid trip and the hefty 'fee' from the CIA slush fund?

From what I've read he did it for free except for his expenses

What doesn't make sense to me is why the CIA would send Wilson, a person with no experience in investigations of uranium

ALso .. did his wife go with him on the trip?

[WesternPacific]

Wasn't Mr. Wilson's research methodology questionable? Seems that his research consisted of asking the Niger gov. if Iraq had tried to obtain yellow cake; to which their reply was "no" and this was accepted as the basis of his research. Is my memory wrong?

[Mo1]

Yep, that's how it apparently happened

It's like going to a bar and asking a drunk if they were drinking

[mewzilla]

Wilson says he met with between 6 and 8 people, some CIA, some with other ties apparently, before he went on the Niger trip. Wilson says he didn't know any of these people. Who were they, and why would they pick a guy they didn't know and who was out of the loop for this job?

[Mo1]

How does he know for sure they were CIA???

And why would he not question it??

Does he normally take on high risk investigations from people he doesn't know?

You mean his wife didn't know these people either?

*sigh* .. so many qustions

[mewzilla]

Here's another link with Wilson's version of how he came to be hired. An excerpt:

But in response to this query, he says, "I was invited out to meet with a group of people at the CIA who were interested in this subject. None I knew more than casually. They asked me about my understanding of the uranium business and my familiarity with the people in the Niger government at the time. And they asked, 'what would you do?' We gamed it out--what I would be looking for. Nothing was concluded at that time. I told them if they wanted me to go to Niger I would clear my schedule. Then they got back to me and said, 'yes, we want you to go.'"

Raises more questions than it answers to my mind. If it's even true.