Posted on 07/14/2005 7:56:52 AM PDT by paltz
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Joe Wilson's Top Ten Worst Inaccuracies And Misstatements
1.) Wilson Insisted That The Vice Presidents Office Sent Him To Niger: Wilson Said He Traveled To Niger At CIA Request To Help Provide Response To Vice Presidents Office. In February 2002, I was informed by officials at the Central Intelligence Agency that Vice President Dick Cheneys 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 presidents office. (Joseph C. Wilson, Op-Ed, What I Didnt Find In Africa, The New York Times, 7/6/03)
Vice President Cheney: I Dont Know Joe Wilson. Ive Never Met Joe Wilson. And Joe Wilson - I Dont [Know] Who Sent Joe Wilson. He Never Submitted A Report That I Ever Saw When He Came Back. (NBCs Meet The Press, 9/14/03) CIA Director George Tenet: In An Effort To Inquire About Certain Reports Involving Niger, CIAs 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 Communitys Prewar Assessments On Iraq, 7/7/04) The Senate Select Committee On Intelligence Reported That The Vice President Was Not Briefed On Wilsons 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 ambassadors findings. (Senate Select Committee On Intelligence, Report On The U.S. Intelligence Communitys 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. (NBCs, Meet The Press, 5/2/04) Officials Said Evidence In Wilsons 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 Ambassadors 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 Communitys Prewar Assessments On Iraq, 7/7/04)
CIA Said Wilsons Findings Did Not Resolve The Issue. Because [Wilsons] 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 Presidents 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 Governments dossier, and by the Prime Minister in the House of Commons, were well-founded. By extension, we conclude also that the statement in President Bushs 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. CNNs 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. (CNNs Late Edition, 7/18/04)
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 Wifes Suggestion. CNNs 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 its 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 Clintons 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. (CNNs 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 CIAs 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 Communitys 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 Dont Know. Obviously, Theres Been This Orchestrated Campaign, This Smear Campaign. I Happen To Think That Its Because The RNC, The Republican National Committees Been Involved In This In A Big Way CNNs Wolf Blitzer: But They Werent Involved In The Senate Intelligence Committee Report. Wilson: No, They Werent. (CNNs Late Edition, 7/18/04) Senate Intelligence Committee Unanimously Concluded That Wilsons Report Lent More Credibility For Most Analysts To The Original Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Reports. Conclusion 13. The report on the former ambassadors 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 Communitys 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 Communitys 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 Communitys 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, Plames 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 [12th, 2003]. (Susan Schmidt, Plames Input Is Cited On Niger Mission, The Washington Post, 7/10/04)
8.) Wilson Claimed His Book Would Enrich Debate: NBCs 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. (NBCs 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) Wilsons Book The Politics Of Truth: Inside The Lies That Put The White House On Trial And Betrayed My Wifes CIA Identity Has Been Panned In Numerous Reviews For Its Inaccuracies:
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 Communitys 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. NBCs 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. (NBCs 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)
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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. ;)
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.
Nice try, keep running away from the debate you've lost, keep deflecting from the issue YOU brought up, have fun.
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.
At the very least Wilson was murky on Cheney's request. VERY murky, and nearly enough to rise to the level of misleading.
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.
It points to him being incompetent.
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!
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
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
What is murky about "Cheney didn't know I was going"?
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.
Wilson is transparent--we see through him so easily.
The sad thing is, so do those supporting him. They just don't care.
Why aren't our guys shoving these facts in the face of the dimwits and their media friends?
Where's that pic of Joe and wife in the whitehouse with Slick?
Seems to me like he is convinced that he was doing work on behest of the Office of the Vice President.
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.
Please add me to your ping list. Thanks.
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
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