URGENT: '02 Wilson bio gives wife's maiden name; '03 he claims revealing maiden name compromises her

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Editorial Board ^ | 9/30/03 (orig. 8/10/03)

[Wolfstar]

An August 10, 2003 Seattle Post-Intelligencer Editorial contains the following paragraph:

"In carefully discussing what he called the hypothetical possibility his wife is a CIA employee, Wilson noted that the use of her maiden name would compromise work done before their marriage five years ago." [end exerpt]

Oh, really. Well then WILSON, HIMSELF, compromised his own wife when his copyrighted 2002 biography was published with this statement: "He is married to the former Valerie Plame and has two sons and two daughters."

Please click the above link if you want to read the entire editorial (pretty vicious toward President Bush).

[Wolfstar]

What I find stunning is the breathtaking phoniness of this guy. In the midst of his "outrage" this year over his wife's supposed "outing," he goes so far as to tell the press that revealing her maiden name will compromise her work done before their marriage "five years ago," i.e., work done prior to 1998. Yet his 2002 bio containing her maiden name is available to anyone with access to Google.

[cyncooper]

There's no such thing as a non-partisan member of moveon.org.

And I would argue having items published in the likes of "The Nation" betrays a bias...

[Wolfstar]

He is the source of publicizing his own wife's name. But the way this whole phony scandal was set up from the beginning seems to go beyond just him. I'm working on collecting info for an FR post on that angle.

[Chad Fairbanks]

And another...

http://www.cpsag.com/our_team/wilson.html

[Wolfstar]

Brilliant! Thanks for adding that info to this post.

[Wolfstar]

Don't know, but I will after lunch.

[Sacajaweau]

brr...

[Chad Fairbanks]

And yet another...

http://epic-usa.org/epicevents/forumaudio2003.php

[Wolfstar]

Oh, thanks. Sorry for misunderstanding, and I always appreciate the help of FReepers. :-)

[alloysteel]

Joseph C. Wilson IV is being revealed, more and more, as a flake.

He turns out to be a whole snowstorm.

Why was he sent to Niger to track down the "yellowcake" story? And did he do a good and diligent job?

Nobody, yet, had disproved the assertion that Saddam Hussein was looking for refined uranium during the period 1992 through 2002, and while he may not have consummated the deal in Niger, this does not mean that another deal somewhere else was not being cut. Did Wilson check out all those stories too?

[Chad Fairbanks]

Just doing a Google Search on "former Valerie Plame" resulted in a few pages of links, 3 of which are official bios, links have been posted in this thread - better grab them quick, before they disappear...

[gaspar]

Because he was in Baghdad prior to Operation Desert Storm and did a commendable job he was rewarded by the State Department and confirmed by Bush with an Ambassadorship in Gabon. It was Clinton, however, who brought him into the National Security Council for a year and made him his flack in preparation for a trip to Africa.

[Wolfstar]

Actually, my gut instinct keeps telling me this whole phony scandal was a setup from the beginning. And I mean from the very beginning. I'm doing my best to research this angle and will post what I find on FR.

[Mo1]

Heck .. Wilson couldn't fill out and file a report of what he did or didn't find on this trip

[gaspar]

Please check a Time magazine article dated July 17,2003 that is very informative on Wilson and his wife. I have not seen it produced elsewhere:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/printout/0,8816,465270,00.html

[Grampa Dave]

Wolfstar, listen to Chad here, "Just doing a Google Search on "former Valerie Plame" resulted in a few pages of links, 3 of which are official bios, links have been posted in this thread - better grab them quick, before they disappear... ~"

Trust me, this stuff will disappear unless you put ii on a separate server. Just links will not work if they delete the articles from their servers.

[Williams]

Excuse me. I think Wilson is scum and the whole thing about his wife totally overblown. However, I think the salient revelation is taht his wife is a CIA "operative." The fact taht someone's wife's name is known is meaningless unless one is also told "His wife is a CIA operative." I think it's a slender thread to claim that it was ok to out his "wife" as though no one would ever figure out who that was. Lots of wives use their maiden names. You may say well no one knew she was using her maiden name at the CIA. Fine, but once you out someone's "wife" people can easily find out her name from many sources.

Having said that, the entire "scandal" is ridiculous. The husband is a raving leftist politico who has been giving speeches about wanting to "frog walk" white house aides out in handcuffs. His motives are obvious. as for the wife, any patriotic CIA employee would say "OK, my cover was blown by my husband's political activities, move me somewhere else." Plus she appears to be an employee more than an "operative."

[mattdono]

We have had a running thread and discussion on this issue.

Cross Reference Link

Have Corner commentary from Jonah Goldberg and Ramesh P.

[woodyinscc]

Are reputable journalists really taking such an allegation seriously?

There is no such animal as a reputable liberal journalist, in fact it is an oxymoron! We can only hope that in the aftermath of this story, more people will see through their hate laden agenda!

[Bubba_Leroy]

I have a question that I haven't seen anyone else raise. Wasn't Wilson violating the law when he wrote his NYT Op-Ed piece and disclosed the substance of his classified report?