[Howlin]

Set up? Anatomy of the contrived Wilson "scandal"

[Wolfstar]

Thanks for the ping. I think Steyn, who is a brilliant analyst of the current political scene, is very close to the truth in this column. I don't think any observant person with an IQ above that of warm beer would fail to miss what the Wilson affair says about the CIA. Frankly, it's terrifying in a post-9/11 world. What I keep wondering is why President Bush continues to tolerate Tenet when the man has been a dramatic failure just this year alone.

Although I absolutely adore President Bush and would virtually walk through fire for him, he is a human being subject to all the human failings as the rest of us. Is it possible that his famous sense of loyalty is misplaced as regards Tenet? Or is it more a matter of there just being too much on the President's plate the last couple of years for him to want to bring in a new CIA director? Or is it something else? Not even having an inkling is deeply worrisome precisely because of what Steyn concludes:

"If sending Joseph C. Wilson IV to Niger for a week is the best the world’s only hyperpower can do, that’s a serious problem. If the Company knew it was a joke all along, that’s a worse problem. It means Mr Bush is in the same position with the CIA as General Musharraf is with Pakistan’s ISI: when he makes a routine request, he has to figure out whether they’re going to use it to try and set him up. This is no way to win a terror war."

[malia]

In the ----" Set up? Anatomy of the contrived Wilson "scandal"" it says---
Before he left Niger, Wilson said he briefed the ambassador on his findings. After returning to Washington...he provided "a detailed briefing to the CIA [and]...the State Department African Affairs Bureau. There was nothing secret or earth-shattering in my report, just as there was nothing secret about my trip...Though I did not file a written report..."

I've felt this was not an 'official WH request - one more contrived by Wilson and friends.