Posted on 07/14/2005 7:56:52 AM PDT by paltz
It is pretty shameless.
I'm wondering that myself. Both seem to be saying the same thing. If you can figure out the difference, pass it on!
good find.
ping.
refresh your arguments - information ping
First, talking point #1 Wilson Insisted That The Vice President’s Office Sent Him To Niger refers to all the subequent information and quotes under that heading, not just the CNN interview. In his July 6th Op-Ed with the NYT, Wilson said, " 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.” As it turns out, the VP did not ask the CIA to conduct this inquiry. It was done at the Agency's initiative and not at the behest of the VP or his office.
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) I am sure that Tenet's statement was in response to Wilson's July 6th NYT OP-Ed, which created the impression that the VP's office initiated the Wilson visit.
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)
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)
This is an exact quote from Wilson. The implication is that the VP'office and more than likely the VP asked that the CIA to initiate a trip to Niger. Wilson goes on to say, "They asked essentially that we follow up on this report -- that the agency follow up on the report. So it was a question that went to the CIA briefer from the Office of the Vice President. The CIA, at the operational level, made a determination that the best way to answer this serious question was to send somebody out there who knew something about both the uranium business and those Niger officials that were in office at the time these reported documents were executed." This was a CYA statement made after the CIA's July 11 press releases. You can call it selective editing by the GOP, but why quote Wilson's cover-up statement?
Wilson made these statements to CNN after the CIA press releases on July 11 essentially shot down Wilson's assertions in his July 6, Op-Ed piece in the NYT. What I Didn't Find in Africa
If you read Wilson's pompous, self-promting Op-Ed, you can see what his partisan, political objective was.
"Though I did not file a written report, there should be at least four documents in United States government archives confirming my mission. The documents should include the ambassador's report of my debriefing in Niamey, a separate report written by the embassy staff, a C.I.A. report summing up my trip, and a specific answer from the agency to the office of the vice president (this may have been delivered orally). While I have not seen any of these reports, I have spent enough time in government to know that this is standard operating procedure. "
"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." The implication is that the VP received this report or was briefed on them.
"The question now is how that answer was or was not used by our political leadership."
The mendacity being displayed on this is amazing.
Wilson says Cheney asked the CIA to look into the Yellowcake reports. Wilson says the CIA decided to send him to Niger. This is absolutely, 100% true. And you can't point to a single statement where Wilson says anything different than that.
Of course, like the RNC, you completely excised THIS part of the quote. Obviously, because it completely refutes the 'implication' you want to take from the preceding part. Honesty and Integrity.
Thanks for the ping.
bttt
Here is the RNC claim (CAPS mine):
Wilson Insisted That The Vice President’s OFFICE SENT HIM To Niger
Here is Wilson's claim (CAPS mine):
What 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... BLITZER: Scooter Libby is the chief of staff for the vice president. WILSON: Scooter Libby. THEY asked essentially that we follow up on this report
The RNC claims Wilson said the trip was as a result of Cheney's office wanting confirmation of the report.
Wilson claimsCheney's office wanted confirmation of the report and led to him being sent to Niger.
Cheney's request that the CIA look into the Niger / yellowcake issue DID 'lead to' the CIA, at a operational level, sending Wilson to Niger. That is not disputed.
What is disputed is whether Wilson said Cheney sent him. The RNC says yes. But no one can point to such a statement. And anyone who reads the ENTIRE exchange you excerpted can see that Wilson specifically says that CIA officials, not Cheney, made the decision to send him. And that Cheney didn't even know he was going.
No they don't. Where in this article do they say that? Here's the quote:
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 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)
You're attacking the RNC for supposedly being dishonest; where have they been dishonest? Show the specific quotes, please.
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)The allegation is that Iraq attempted to purchase uranium from Niger, not that Niger sold uranium to Iraq. Just documenting the attempt to purchase would satisfy his mission. Which he did inadvertantly. It's just as if a know felon walked into a gun store and tried to purchase an AK-47. The gun store would turn him down. But that doesn't mean he didn't try. Just as here when Niger turned down Iraq's offers. Iraq still nevertheless "sought" to purchase the uranium. The President and British Intelligence were correct, Joe Wilson continues to lie about it.
"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." (President Bush, in the State of the Union Address, January 28th, 2003)
The problem with your point is that Wilson didn't say that, either. He consistently said that the CIA, at an operational level, sent him.
So, the quote you posted is still the lie.
That caption covers everything under paragraph #1 ,not just the excerpted portion of the CNN interview. Wilson, implicitly and explicitly, makes the point that the VP's office was the genesis of his trip and that the VP ignored or intentionally misled the public about Wilson's report. We now know that it was strictly a CIA initiated trip and that the VP was never briefed on the contents of Wilson's report. Wilson started all of this with his highly partisan NYT Op-Ed piece.
You need to read Wilson's comments to CNN in the context and timeline of the incident. Wilson made a bunch of bogus claims and allegations in his July 6th Op-Ed. The CIA issued two press releases on July 11 setting the record straight. On August 3, Wilson still implied the VP office linkage, but he could no longer make the claim that the VPs office was the genesis of his trip or that they saw his report. Read Wilson's Op-Ed piece as the starting point.
Could the GOP have done a better job of wording its "Top Ten" list. Yes, but it certainly does not rise to the level of Wilson's unfounded accusations against Bush, Cheney and Rove. Wilson was all over the talk show circuit spreading lies and disinformation. Wilson used the Plame disclosure flap to attack the WH and get Kerry elected. The whole Plame story is bogus and Wilson knows it. He is enjoying his 15 minutes of fame and a book deal.
The facts out there indicate that Rove was ASKED about Plame and gave an off-the-record comment that was THE TRUTH. Now the MSM are attacking THE TRUTH--which is that two Gore supporters connived to send one of them--who's said his goal is to ruin this administration--to Niger, where he sat around and chatted with a few people and didn't even write a report on a potential source of nuclear fuel!
Wilson then said Bush lied with those 16 words; in fact, he did not--British intel DID find that Iraq had attempted to get yellowcake from Niger.
Two political enemies of the President run an operation in the CIA to hurt the president...and the "scandal" is that someone blew the cover off it!
There's the quote you wanted. I'd love to see your quote where Wilson says this. But I won't. Because he didn't.
The #1 charge is not that Cheney personally sent him. The charge is underlined: "Wilson Insisted That The Vice President’s Office Sent Him To Niger." Wilson's quote do not support the charge that Cheney sent him but the DO support the charge that Wilson claimed that the Office of the Vice President sent him.
You are being more selective and are twisting more than what you claim they are doing.
What 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... BLITZER: Scooter Libby is the chief of staff for the vice president. WILSON: Scooter Libby. They asked essentially that we follow up on this report -- that the agency follow up on the report.
So Wilson explicitly saying Cheney's office asked that the agency follow up on the report and that agency officials asked if he would travel to Niger to check out the story so they could provide a response to the vice president’s office, ISN"T the same as saying Cheney's office in the person of Scooter Libby ordered confirmation of the report, which resulted in Wilson being sent?
Talk about hypertechnical points.
Wilson said:“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.”
That's what the RNC said. You can dance all you want, dude, but he said it.
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