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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BTTT.
BTTT.
Wow, thanks for posting this. I now have at my fingertips things I know, but had trouble pulling out of my brain with the documentation needed.
Fitzapatrick is going to do what Fitzpatrick is going to do. Nothing we can say or do will change that.
We can not rely on our elected representatives to go after Wilson. They will not. Look at how they folded with the memo Sean Hannity made public.
"I'm sorry Mr. Dem! Sean Hannity was a bad boy to expose that memo."
One more thing. I have always wondered how a CIA agent and ex-Ambassador can live the lifestyle of the Wilson's.
Trendy DC address, Rolex watch, Jaguar. Those are questions needing answers. This is a pre-book profit lifestyle. Wilson said he had to convince Valerie that they could afford the mortgage. Mmmmm, makes me wonder.
Someone should investigate the finances of good old Mr. Wilson.
Didn't Wilson charge that he was sent at the behest of the VP's office in his "anonymous" Op-ed? (I wish my memory was better!)
bttt
Nope. He didn't write an anonymous op-ed. Kristof wrote one that talked about him. In the op-ed Wilson wrote, he flat-out says that the VP asked the CIA questions, the CIA decided to send someone to Niger to help them answer those questions, and the CIA decided to send him. Which is, indisputably, what happened.
I'm definitely going to need to do my homework better!
Thanks,
MortMan
bttt
bttt
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