Joe Wilson's Top Ten Worst Inaccuracies And Misstatements

GOP.COM ^ | 7/14/05 | GOP.COM

[paltz]

Thursday, July 14, 2005
Joe Wilson's Top Ten Worst Inaccuracies And Misstatements

1.)  Wilson Insisted That The Vice President’s Office Sent Him To Niger:

Wilson Said He Traveled To Niger At CIA Request To Help Provide Response To Vice President’s Office. “In February 2002, I was informed by officials at the Central Intelligence Agency that Vice President Dick Cheney’s office had questions about a particular intelligence report. … The agency officials asked if I would travel to Niger to check out the story so they could provide a response to the vice president’s office.” (Joseph C. Wilson, Op-Ed, “What I Didn’t Find In Africa,” The New York Times, 7/6/03)

• Joe Wilson: “[W]hat They Did, What The Office Of The Vice President Did, And, In Fact, I Believe Now From Mr. Libby’s Statement, It Was Probably The Vice President Himself ...” (CNN’s “Late Edition,” 8/3/03)

Vice President Cheney: “I Don’t Know Joe Wilson. I’ve Never Met Joe Wilson. … And Joe Wilson - I Don’t [Know] Who Sent Joe Wilson. He Never Submitted A Report That I Ever Saw When He Came Back.” (NBC’s “Meet The Press,” 9/14/03)

CIA Director George Tenet: “In An Effort To Inquire About Certain Reports Involving Niger, CIA’s Counter-Proliferation Experts, On Their Own Initiative, Asked An Individual With Ties To The Region To Make A Visit To See What He Could Learn.” (Central Intelligence Agency, “Statement By George J. Tenet, Director Of Central Intelligence,” Press Release, 7/11/03)

2.)  Wilson Claimed The Vice President And Other Senior White House Officials Were Briefed On His Niger Report:

“[Wilson] Believed That [His Report] Would Have Been Distributed To The White House And That The Vice President Received A Direct Response To His Question About The Possible Uranium Deal.” (Senate Select Committee On Intelligence, “Report On The U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Assessments On Iraq,” 7/7/04)

The Senate Select Committee On Intelligence Reported That The Vice President Was Not Briefed On Wilson’s Report. “Conclusion 14. The Central Intelligence Agency should have told the Vice President and other senior policymakers that it had sent someone to Niger to look into the alleged Iraq-Niger uranium deal and it should have briefed the Vice President on the former ambassador’s findings.” (Senate Select Committee On Intelligence, “Report On The U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Assessments On Iraq,” 7/7/04)

CIA Director George Tenet:  “Because This Report, In Our View, Did Not Resolve Whether Iraq Was Or Was Not Seeking Uranium From Abroad, It Was Given A Normal And Wide Distribution, But We Did Not Brief It To The President, Vice-President Or Other Senior Administration Officials.” (Central Intelligence Agency, “Statement By George J. Tenet, Director Of Central Intelligence,” Press Release, 7/11/03)

3.)  Wilson Has Claimed His Niger Report Was Conclusive And Significant

Wilson Claims His Trip Proved There Was Nothing To The Uranium “Allegations.” “I knew that [Dr. Rice] had fundamentally misstated the facts. In fact, she had lied about it. I had gone out and I had undertaken this study. I had come back and said that this was not feasible. … This government knew that there was nothing to these allegations.” (NBC’s, “Meet The Press,” 5/2/04)

Officials Said Evidence In Wilson’s Niger Report Was “Thin” And His “Homework Was Shoddy.”  (Michael Duffy, “Leaking With A Vengeance,” Time, 10/13/03)

Senate Select Committee On Intelligence Unanimous Report: “Conclusion 13. The Report On The Former Ambassador’s Trip To Niger, Disseminated In March 2002, Did Not Change Any Analysts’ Assessments Of The Iraq-Niger Uranium Deal.” (Senate Select Committee On Intelligence, “Report On The U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Assessments On Iraq,” 7/7/04)

• “For Most Analysts, The Information In The Report Lent More Credibility To The Original Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Report On The Uranium Deal, But State Department Bureau Of Intelligence And Research (INR) Analysts Believed That The Report Supported Their Assessments That Niger Was Unlikely To Be Willing Or Able To Sell Uranium.”  (Senate Select Committee On Intelligence, “Report On The U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Assessments On Iraq,” 7/7/04)

CIA Said Wilson’s Findings Did Not Resolve The Issue. “Because [Wilson’s] report, in our view, did not resolve whether Iraq was or was not seeking uranium from abroad, it was given a normal and wide distribution, but we did not brief it to the president, vice president or other senior administration officials. We also had to consider that the former Nigerien officials knew that what they were saying would reach the U.S. government and that this might have influenced what they said.” (Central Intelligence Agency, “Statement By George J. Tenet, Director Of Central Intelligence,” Press Release 7/11/03) 

The Butler Report Claimed That The President’s State Of the Union Statement On Uranium From Africa, “Was Well-Founded.” “We conclude that, on the basis of the intelligence assessments at the time, covering both Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the statements on Iraqi attempts to buy uranium from Africa in the Government’s dossier, and by the Prime Minister in the House of Commons, were well-founded. By extension, we conclude also that the statement in President Bush’s State of the Union Address of 28 January 2003 that:  ‘The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.’ was well-founded.” (The Rt. Hon. The Lord Butler Of Brockwell, “Review Of Intelligence, On Weapons Of Mass Destruction,” 7/14/04)

4.)  Wilson Denied His Wife Suggested He Travel To Niger In 2002:

Wilson Claimed His Wife Did Not Suggest He Travel To Niger To Investigate Reports Of Uranium Deal; Instead, Wilson Claims It Came Out Of Meeting With CIA.  CNN’s Wolf Blitzer: “Among other things, you had always said, always maintained, still maintain your wife, Valerie Plame, a CIA officer, had nothing to do with the decision to send to you Niger to inspect reports that uranium might be sold from Niger to Iraq. … Did Valerie Plame, your wife, come up with the idea to send you to Niger?”  Joe Wilson:  “No. My wife served as a conduit, as I put in my book. When her supervisors asked her to contact me for the purposes of coming into the CIA to discuss all the issues surrounding this allegation of Niger selling uranium to Iraq.”  (CNN’s “Late Edition,” 7/18/04)

• But Senate Select Committee On Intelligence Received Not Only Testimony But Actual Documentation Indicating Wilson’s Wife Proposed Him For Trip.  “Some CPD, [CIA Counterproliferation Division] officials could not recall how the office decided to contact the former ambassador, however, interviews and documents provided to the Committee indicate that his wife, a CPD employee, suggested his name for the trip.  The CPD reports officer told Committee staff that the former ambassador’s wife ‘offered up his name’ and a memorandum to the Deputy Chief of the CPD on February 12, 2002, from the former ambassador’s wife says, ‘my husband has good relations with both the PM [prime minister] and the former Minister of Mines (not to mention lots of French contacts), both of whom could possibly shed light on this sort of activity.’”  (Select Committee On Intelligence, “Report On The U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments On Iraq,” U.S. Senate, 7/7/04)

5.)  Wilson Has Claimed His 1999 Trip To Niger Was Not Suggested By His Wife:

Wilson Claims CIA Thought To Ask Him To Make Trip Because He Had Previously Made Trip For Them In 1999, Not Because Of His Wife’s Suggestion.  CNN’s Wolf Blitzer:  “Who first raised your name, then, based on what you know? Who came up with the idea to send you there?”  Joe Wilson:  “The CIA knew my name from a trip, and it’s in the report, that I had taken in 1999 related to uranium activities but not related to Iraq. I had served for 23 years in government including as Bill Clinton’s Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council. I had done a lot of work with the Niger government during a period punctuated by a military coup and a subsequent assassination of a president. So I knew all the people there.”  (CNN’s “Late Edition,” 7/18/04)

In Fact, His Wife Suggested Him For 1999 Trip, As Well.  “The former ambassador had traveled previously to Niger on the CIA’s behalf … The former ambassador was selected for the 1999 trip after his wife mentioned to her supervisors that her husband was planning a business trip to Niger in the near future and might be willing to use his contacts in the region …”  (Select Committee On Intelligence, “Report On The U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments On Iraq,” U.S. Senate, 7/7/04)

6.) Wilson Claimed He Was A Victim Of A Partisan Smear Campaign

Joe Wilson: “Well, I Don’t Know. Obviously, There’s Been This Orchestrated Campaign, This Smear Campaign. I Happen To Think That It’s Because The RNC, The Republican National Committee’s Been Involved In This In A Big Way …”  CNN’s Wolf Blitzer: “But They Weren’t Involved In The Senate Intelligence Committee Report.”  Wilson: “No, They Weren’t.”  (CNN’s “Late Edition,” 7/18/04)

Senate Intelligence Committee Unanimously Concluded That Wilson’s Report “Lent More Credibility” For Most Analysts “To The Original Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Reports.”  “Conclusion 13. The report on the former ambassador’s trip to Niger, disseminated in March 2002, did not change any analysts’ assessments of the Iraq-Niger uranium deal. For most analysts, the information in the report lent more credibility to the original Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reports on the uranium deal, but the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) analysts believed that the report supported their assessment that Niger was unlikely to be willing or able to sell uranium to Iraq.”  (Select Committee On Intelligence, “Report On The U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments On Iraq,” U.S. Senate, 7/7/04)

Members Of The Senate Select Committee On Intelligence That Wrote The Unanimous “Report On The U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments On Iraq”:

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL)

Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN)

Sen. John Edwards (D-NC)

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS)

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)

Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH)

Sen. Christopher Bond (R-MO)

Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS)

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE)

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)

Sen. John Warner (R-VA)

(Select Committee On Intelligence, “Report On The U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments On Iraq,” U.S. Senate, 7/7/04)

7.) A Month Before The Bob Novak And Matthew Cooper Articles Ever Came Out, Wilson Told The Washington Post That Previous Intelligence Reports About Niger Were Based On Forged Documents:

In June Of 2003, Wilson Told The Washington Post “The Niger Intelligence Was Based On Documents That Had Clearly Been Forged Because ‘The Dates Were Wrong And The Names Were Wrong.’” (Susan Schmidt, “Plame’s Input Is Cited On Niger Mission,” The Washington Post, 7/10/04)

However, “The [Senate Select Committee On Intelligence] Report …  Said Wilson Provided Misleading Information To The Washington Post Last June [12^th, 2003].” (Susan Schmidt, “Plame’s Input Is Cited On Niger Mission,” The Washington Post, 7/10/04)

• Senate Select Committee On Intelligence Unanimous Report: “The Former Ambassador Said That He May Have ‘Misspoken’ To The Reporter When He Said He Concluded The Documents Were ‘Forged.’”   (Senate Select Committee On Intelligence, “Report On The U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Assessments On Iraq,” 7/7/04)

8.) Wilson Claimed His Book Would Enrich Debate:

NBC’s Katie Couric: “What Do You Hope The Whole Point Of This Book Will Be? Joe Wilson: “Well, I - I Hope, One, It Will Tell - It Tries To Tell An Interesting Story. Two, I Hope That It Enriches The Debate In A Year In Which We Are All Called Upon As Americans To Elect Our Leaders. And Three, … That [It] Says That This Is A Great Democracy That Is Worthy Of Our Taking Our Responsibilities As Stewards Seriously.” (NBC’s “Today Show,” 5/3/04)

Wilson Admits In His Book That He Had Been Involved In “A Little Literary Flair” When Talking To Reporters.  “[Wilson] wrote in his book, he told Committee staff that his assertion may have involved ‘a little literary flair.’” (Matthew Continetti, “‘A Little Literary Flair’” The Weekly Standard, 7/26/04)

Wilson’s Book The Politics Of Truth:  Inside The Lies That Put The White House On Trial And Betrayed My Wife’s CIA Identity Has Been Panned In Numerous Reviews For Its Inaccuracies:

• “On Page One Of Chapter One, He Quotes NBC Talk Show Host Chris Matthews, Who Told Him That, After Mr. Wilson Chose To Go Public: ‘Wilson’s Wife Is Fair Game.’ Later, He Bases His List Of Suspect Leakers On Conversations With Members Of The News Media And A ‘Source Close To The House Judiciary Committee.’” (Eli Lake, Op-Ed, “Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Mr. Wilson,” New York Post, 5/4/04)
  
• “For Example, When Asked How He ‘Knew’ That The Intelligence Community Had Rejected The Possibility Of A Niger-Iraq Uranium Deal, As He Wrote In His Book, He Told [Senate Intelligence] Committee Staff That His Assertion May Have Involved ‘A Little Literary Flair.’” (Matthew Continetti, “‘A Little Literary Flair,’” The Weekly Standard, 7/26/04)
  
• The Boston Globe: “In Essence, Much Of Wilson’s Book Is An Attempt To Portray The Bush Administration As A Ministry Of Fear Whose Mission In Pursuing War In Iraq Required It To Proclaim A Lie As Truth.” (Michael D. Langan, Op-Ed, “‘Truth’ Makes Much Of Bush Controversy,” The Boston Globe, 5/4/04)
  
• Newsweek’s Evan Thomas Wrote In The Washington Post: “[W]ilson’s Claims And Conclusions Are Either Long Hashed Over Or Based On What The Intelligence Business Describes As ‘Rumint,’ Or Rumor Intelligence.” (Evan Thomas, Op-Ed, “Indecent Exposure,” The Washington Post, 5/16/04)

9.) Wilson Claimed The CIA Provided Him With Information Related To The Iraq-Niger Uranium Transaction:

“The Former Ambassador Noted That His CIA Contacts Told Him There Were Documents Pertaining To The Alleged Iraq-Niger Uranium Transaction And That The Source Of The Information Was The [Redacted] Intelligence Service.” (Senate Select Committee On Intelligence, “Report On The U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Assessments On Iraq,” 7/7/04)

• However, “The DO [Director Of Operations At The CIA] Reports Officer Told Committee Staff That He Did Not Provide The Former Ambassador With Any Information About The Source Or Details …” (Senate Select Committee On Intelligence, “Report On The U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Assessments On Iraq,” 7/7/04)

10.) Wilson Claimed He Is A Non-Partisan “Centrist”:

Recently, Joe Wilson Refused To Admit He Is A Registered Democrat. NBC’s Jamie Gangel: “You are a Democrat?” Joe Wilson: “I exercise my rights as a citizen of this country to participate in the selection of my leaders and I am proud to do so. I did so in the election in 2000 by contributing not just to Al Gore's campaign, but also to the Bush-Cheney campaign.” (NBC’s “Today Show,” 7/14/05)

“[Wilson] Insist[s] He Remained A Centrist At Heart.” (Scott Shane, “Private Spy And Public Spouse Live At Center Of Leak Case,” The New York Times, 7/5/05)

• Joe Wilson Is A Registered Democrat. (District Of Columbia Voter Registrations, Accessed 7/14/05)
  
• Joseph Wilson Has Donated Over $8,000 To Democrats Including $2,000 To John Kerry For President In 2003, $1,000 To Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) HILLPAC In 2002 And $3,000 To Al Gore In 1999.  (The Center For Responsive Politics Website, www.opensecrets.org, Accessed 7/12/05)
  
• Wilson Endorsed John Kerry For President In October 2003 And Advised The Kerry Campaign.  (David Tirrell-Wysocki, “Former Ambassador Wilson Endorses Kerry In Presidential Race,” The Associated Press, 10/23/03)
  
• “[Wilson] Admits ‘It Will Be A Cold Day In Hell Before I Vote For A Republican, Even For Dog Catcher.’” (Scott Shane, “Private Spy And Public Spouse Live At Center Of Leak Case,” The New York Times, 7/5/05)

[Darkwolf377]

So you come up with your lack of logic on your own? Good on ya!

You really don't see that you completely left the topic and swerved onto Wilson's Iraq experience, which has absolutley nothing to do with what we were talking about?

You can't answer questions and logic so YOU--remember--not me started with "Kool-Aid" and "hack" insults.

The sign of one who's lost the argument. You can whine all you want, but we all know that's the truth. And so do you. ;)

[lugsoul]

"basically running the canteen at the embassy"

I'm sure that's what led President Bush to call him a "True American Hero" and "courageous" and "inspiring."

Statements like that show that I wasn't making any personal attack. I was just stating objective fact.

[Darkwolf377]

Nice try, keep running away from the debate you've lost, keep deflecting from the issue YOU brought up, have fun.

[lugsoul]

You really don't see that you brought up Gulf War I before I ever mentioned it? That you strongly implied Wilson was lying when he said he supported it?

Lost the argument? I'll have 'lost the argument' when you can show me a single statement by Joe Wilson claiming that he was sent to Niger by the VP's office rather than the CIA. That's what this document says is an "inaccuracy" or "misstatement". But he never said it. And you can't point to anything where he did say it.

[Darkwolf377]

Lost the argument? I'll have 'lost the argument' when you can show me a single statement by Joe Wilson claiming that he was sent to Niger by the VP's office rather than the CIA. That's what this document says is an "inaccuracy" or "misstatement". But he never said it. And you can't point to anything where he did say it.

As I have said over and over, you are bitching about the phrasing of a subject line--every other point is true. I'm sick of having to repeat it to you, because you can't seem to grasp anything except the most basic English. You cannot understand what Wilson was doing--funny how you didn't respond to that post of mine, hmmm? (Too busy calling names, I guess.)

As for your "hero":

"According to my sources, during most of his diplomatic career he specialized in general services and administration, which means he was not the political or economic adviser to the ambassador, rather he was the guy who makes sure the embassy plumbing is working and that the commissary is stocked with Oreos and other products the ambassador prefers.

"Just prior to the Gulf War, he did serve in Iraq, a hot spot to be sure, but that was under Ambassador April Glaspie, who failed to make it clear to Saddam that invading Kuwait would elicit a robust response from Washington. I doubt that Wilson advised her to do otherwise. I rather doubt she asked. As he says in his book, she was giving him an "on-the-spot education in Middle Eastern diplomacy. It was a part of the world in which I had no experience."

"In 1991, Wilson's book jacket boasts, President George H.W. Bush praised Wilson as "a true American hero," and he was made an ambassador. But for some reason, he was assigned not to Cairo, Paris, or Moscow, places where you put the best and the brightest, nor was he sent to Bermuda or Luxembourg, places you send people you want to reward. Instead, he was sent to Gabon, a diplomatic backwater of the first rank."

http://www.nationalreview.com/may/may200407121105.asp

So other than a politician tossing around compliments, your hero's major accomplishments were so mind-boggling that he was rewarded with an ambassadorship to...GABON.

Stay in denial, keep spinning your wheels, keep ignoring the points brought up--you and Wilson live in bizarre, insular worlds where facts don't seem to matter.

[Space Wrangler]

At the very least Wilson was murky on Cheney's request. VERY murky, and nearly enough to rise to the level of misleading.

[FreeAtlanta]

I love that she kept calling him "Clown Wilson" on H & C last night. Colmes was about to come undone. Coulter does a good job of springing the left-wingers.

[FreedomCalls]

Nothing in your post points to a lie.

It points to him being incompetent.

[Rummyfan]

Yes I liked that too. Poor Alan, 'you're slandering Mr Wilson'. Ha! If it acts like a clown, and talks like a clown, call it a Clown!

[kabar]

Do you know what Wilson was doing during Desert Shield? Do you know what word President Bush used to describe his actions in Iraq? Yes, that's right - 'hero'.

Wilson was in Iraq as Charge' after his boss, April Glaspie, gave Saddam the green light to invade Kuwait. I was in Saudi Arabia during Desert Shield/Storm. Even Presidents are guilty of hyperbole.

In 1985-1986, Wilson served in the offices of Senator Albert Gore and the House Majority Whip, Representative Thomas Foley, as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow. He has been a Democrat contributor over many years. To suggest that Wilson is not a political partisan is ridiculous.

Question: If the VP's office was the genesis of the Wilson report, why was the VP never briefed on it or made aware of the Wilson trip? The answer is that this was strictly a CIA initiative, probably thought up by Plame to get her husband a free trip out to Niger to conduct some personal business that began in 1999.

I guess ol' Joe was just makin' all that up, too. It was all part of his plan to eventually set up the President's son.

If Wilson was such a luminary in the State Department, why did he retire after only 22 years? I suspect it was because he was a dim bulb and reached his level of incompetency.

Wilson is now working for CPS, a Turkish run lobbying group, as a strategic advisor. CPS

[Darkwolf377]

Q:So you understood that the CIA didn't even have these documents?

That's correct.

Q:They had heard about them from another intelligence service?

They had a report from their intelligence service, from their field operative, based upon either a viewing of these documents or a third party's having shared with them information relating to the document.

Q:I see. So it's in some ways hearsay, or "We've seen something, but we want to investigate."

That's right. …

And Wilson has subsequently said:

"I never claimed to have 'debunked' the allegation that Iraq was seeking uranium from Iraq."

http://dailyhowler.com/dh072004.shtml

[lugsoul]

What is murky about "Cheney didn't know I was going"?

[kabar]

I agree with you. You can parse Wilson's words all you want, but it is obvious that on July 6, 2003 (NYT Op-Ed) Wilson saw an opening to attack Bush/Cheney for partisan political purposes. He was clearly trying to create the impression that he went to Niger in response to a VP request and that the administration intentionally ignored or buried his report so they could invade Iraq. It was not too much later that Kerry picked him up as a advisor.

I am sure that Wilson was hoping to get an important position in the Kerry administration. He obviously was going nowhere in the State Department, which is why he left after only 22 years. Novak did Wilson a huge favor by mentioning his wife's name. Wilson has cashed in "big time" for a retired, undistinguished bureaucrat. He has made a lot of money for his 15 minutes of fame, which is now becoming 30 minutes.

[Darkwolf377]

Excellent overview of this story.

Wilson is transparent--we see through him so easily.

The sad thing is, so do those supporting him. They just don't care.

[TexasCajun]

Big Bump!

Why aren't our guys shoving these facts in the face of the dimwits and their media friends?

[TexasCajun]

Where's that pic of Joe and wife in the whitehouse with Slick?

[FreedomCalls]

"The office of the vice president, I am absolutely convinced, received a very specific response to the question it asked, and that response was based upon my trip out there." ~Joe Wilson

Seems to me like he is convinced that he was doing work on behest of the Office of the Vice President.

[krazyrep]

Maybe he didn't say it directly, but he has certainly made the claim Cheney asked the intelligence community to verify the information and that his report "disproving" it was given or briefed to Cheney - implying the President knew it was false prior to the State of the Union.

While Cheney did in fact ask intelligence officials about the Iraq-Niger connection, Wilson's report never reached Cheney.

And even assuming he didn't, quite a few liberals were making the claim for him.

On a final note, Wilson's op-ed piece "What I Didn't Find in Africa," certainly tries to connect his mission to Cheney: "Those are the facts surrounding my efforts. The vice president's office asked a serious question. I was asked to help formulate the answer. I did so, and I have every confidence that the answer I provided was circulated to the appropriate officials within our government."

And the GOP isn't claiming his wife sent him, but that she was highly influential in getting him the assignment.

[GOPJ]

Please add me to your ping list. Thanks.

[King Prout]

um.
um...
you... ah... you might want to go scope my profile page and see what my pinglist is :)

I have been pondering making some other pinglists:
one for ChiCom issues
one for Jihadi issues
one for "is it not nifty?" stuff
one for "gunporn"
one for science/geekdom issues

which of those would you want to be on?

If I misunderestimate your strategery, and you do indeed want ON the RKBA One Ping, lemme know