Set up? Anatomy of the contrived Wilson "scandal"

Multiple & linked in article | 10/2/03 | Wolfstar

[prognostigaator]

you're welcome [bump]

[Conservative4Ever]

Great work...will mark for later read. We will win this war, and take America back for the socialists. Fighting has begun in California.

Red

[Ben Hecks]

Outstanding! Thanks for taking the effort to lay this out. I had not realized that Walter Pincus was involved but this fact does not surprise me.

[MJY1288]

Great job in puting this all together

Thanks

[OXENinFLA]

BUMP!!

[ravingnutter]

The big one is whether Wilson's initial report on yellowcake reliable?

Hmmmm...actually the big one is the following info from the CIA...

The agency pointed out that Iraq already had 500 tons of uranium, portions of which came from Niger, according to the International Atomic Energy Administration (IAEA).

Source

This backs up a previous statement by Stephen Hadley, Bush's #2 National Security guy...

An unsigned CIA memo on Oct. 5 advised that "the CIA had reservations about the British reporting" on Iraq's alleged attempts in Niger, Hadley [No.2 guy on Bush's National Security team] said. A second memo, sent on Oct. 6, elaborated on the CIA's doubts, describing "some weakness in the evidence," such as the fact that Iraq already had a large stock of uranium and probably wouldn't need more, Hadley said.

Source

I saw it admitted again in another story this morning. Why the big deal about Wilson's trip, when the truth is that Saddam already had uranium?

[hoosiermama]

Well done! THank you!

[browardchad]

Great work -- thanks for your efforts!

[MizSterious]

Ahah, well, that explains why it was so well-done! It doesn't, however, explain why the "press" can't do it too--unless, as I said above, they don't want to. Thanks again. I've finally sifted through all of it, and emailed it to a couple of people. Great work. (Now if I can just avoid the dreaded "internal server error"...)

[mj81]

It is likely that the military and other agencies have uncovered lots of intelligence in Iraq, and it damns many operatives (over here) - making them, literally, traitors. With that in mind, it's easy to surmise that this episode is a pre-emptive strike intended to shield the Wilsons against the incriminating information that is about to come out. The Wilson defense will be that the stories of their complicity in aiding the enemy were planted or concocted by the Bush administration in retaliation for the damage done.

[MeekOneGOP]

I will bookmark this for reading and future reference. Passing along to others also.

Thanks for the post and ping ! ...

Set up? Anatomy of the contrived Wilson "scandal"

Excerpt:

Note to Readers
This article uses excerpts from mainstream news sources to establish how former Amb. Joseph C. Wilson IV morphed over months from the anonymous source of a forgotten CIA-requested report, to the self-described outraged husband at the center of Washington's latest political firestorm. The sources these excerpts are drawn from are extensive and easily could make a fair-sized booklet. Therefore, the excerpts are necessarily tightly focused, and the reader is encouraged to:

1. Pay close attention to details of how Wilson's statements and behavior morph over time—literally from no mention in an interview conducted by Bill Moyers one month after the SOUA, to his recent statements (reported elsewhere) about seeing Karl Rove being escorted from the White House in handcuffs, and movie deals for his wife and himself.
   
2. Use the links provided for each excerpt to read the full source material.

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.

[marron]

The big one is whether Wilson's initial report on yellowcake reliable?

Wilson's only written report is the one that appeared in the New York Times. And it is itself an extended falsehood on several levels.

First lie is his claim to have "investigated" the issue of uranium sales, which he and the press have repeated hundreds of times lately, yet if you read the fine print of his article he makes it clear that he did no investigating whatever. He merely asked the government of Niger if they had made any illegal sales lately, and took their word for it when they said "no". He proceeded to accuse the president of lying based on an investigation that never happened, in other words. So that is lie #1.

His second lie is his verbal sleight of hand, in which he answers a charge that the president never made. His case is that Niger denies that a deal took place; but of course Bush never said a deal took place, he said that Iraq "sought" uranium, not that they obtained it. And the fact that they "sought" uranium isn't even controversial. Their trade mission to Niger is public knowledge. It was unnecessary to travel to Niger to confirm the president's charge, since the trade mission by Zahawie was no secret.

His third lie, then, is that lie of omission, in which he failed to mention the trade mission by senior Iraqi ambassador Zahawie, well known for publicly calling for Iraq to develop nuclear arms. The president's charge does not rest on secret MI6 reports, or faked Italian documents, or French intel that they refuse to divulge, Iraq's trade mission to Niger is public information. It is not even in question. He failed to mention it because he couldn't mention it and continue to attack the president, this simple fact blows a hole in his argument that no one could miss.

His fourth lie was to claim that the mines were so well monitored by the IAEA that an illicit sale would be impossible. But the IAEA says that they are undermanned, and that they lack the legal basis to properly monitor the mines in Niger. Which means that it isn't happening, which means he lied again.

But it can't be stressed enough that there was no investigation. Wilson never followed any trucks, he didn't stake out the port in Benin, he didn't interview any drivers, he didn't audit company records, he didn't polygraph the company accountant, he didn't tap the mine company phones... He self-admittedly did none of that. He simply parroted the official story and cloaked it in a CIA wrapper, and has been hawking it ever since. It would be embarrassing if he or the press that are his enablers were capable of embarrassment.

[Wolfstar]

Thanks for spreading the word, Julie.

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[Wolfstar]

Thanks for sending it to your ping list. BTW, I smashed my right index finger in the car door three weeks ago, but it's still sore. So I hope everyone will forgive the typo or two that — despite running a spell-checker — I still managed to miss, LOL!

[Wolfstar]

I think all signs point in that direction.

[RightWhale]

Funny, but the dirt on Ahnold, which should have bumped the CIA scandal, didn't, and the Rush scandal has bumped them both. It's obviously a coordinated campaign, but the scandals are cancelling each other. Net effect: zero. They might even end up backfiring on the immoral scandal-mongerers.

[cookcounty]

bump again.

[Wolfstar]

Wilson has made increasingly inflammatory statements, and I do believe you are correct that he made one along the lines of bringing the administration down. However, I can't cite a source since my research didn't cover that aspect of the story.

[Wolfstar]

Thanks for adding that valuable link to this thread, Kleon.