Free Republic

Remember Joe Wilson? He's the diplomat who went to Niger to investigate Bush administration claims that Saddam Hussein had tried to buy yellowcake uranium, a raw material used in building nuclear bombs, from Africa. He wrote in a July 6, 2003, New York Times op-ed that he had spent the previous February in Niger, "drinking sweet mint tea and meeting with dozens of people ... associated with the country's uranium business. It did not take long to conclude that it was highly doubtful that any such transaction had ever taken place." A story that has to be the most underplayed...

Link only

Scott McClellan, the former Press Secretary to President Bush (now a puppet for the Left) has written a book named, "What Happened," (probably ghost-written by the tripartite efforts of Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean and Harry Reid) which suggests that: The president used propaganda at worst, or bogus intelligence at best, as a basis for the invasion of Iraq; that Scooter Libby, Vice president Cheney or Karl Rove leaked the name of the CIA operative, Valerie Plame, and if the president didn't authorize it, he, at least, had knowledge of it. Here is what really happened: • In February, 2002, Joseph...

Former Gov. Pete Wilson has lashed out at GOP state Sen. Tom McClintock, saying McClintock couldn't be counted on in the Legislature and should not go to Congress. Wilson, a fellow Republican, made the remarks during a campaign event for the 4th Congressional District GOP primary organized by McClintock rival Doug Ose. The two are battling to replace incumbent GOP Rep. John Doolittle, who is retiring. McClintock was in the state Assembly while Wilson was governor. Wilson said McClintock was the first to criticize but the last to help his own team. McClintock's campaign did not immediately respond to a...

Big Government types and Prop 99 All you really need to know about the two eminent domain propositions on the June 3 ballot, 98 and 99, is that Proposition 99 is being touted by politicians and other government types as the real solution to government intrusion on private property ownership. Among them are the usual suspects, including California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, both of whom believe in Big Government, and both of whom describe Proposition 98 as a hindrance to solving such state problems as water quality and supply. Feinstein, in a release at the end...

A coalition of environmental groups is targeting the U.S. Senate race in New Mexico to help swing that seat into the Democratic column. The coalition plans to help Democrat Tom Udall in the race against the winner of the Republican primary, either Steve Pearce or Heather Wilson. The coalition says voters already are talking about what they pay at the pump while oil companies rake in record profits. Elise Annunziata of Clean Water says the issues of energy policy and gas prices cut across party lines. She says voters can draw their own conclusions from the candidates' records. The coalition...

The Prime Minister of Niger reported to the U.S. State Department in early 2002 that Iraq tried to buy uranium "yellow cake" (ore) -- a June 2003 Memo reveals. A declassified court exhibit introduced in the 2007 trial of Scooter Libbey proved that Saddam Hussein tried to get uranium ore from Niger -- covertly and under the table. This is clear evidence that Saddam Hussein was actively developing nuclear weapons. Iraq already had stockpiles of uranium "yellow cake" that it was not using -- but that uranium was being watched by UN inspectors. Iraq could have no reason for wanting...

WILSON: Kilpatrick's Secret SpendingLast Update: 12:23 am Under strong pressure to resign, vowing never to quit, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is holding fast to his penchant for hiding information the law says taxpayers have a right to see. Wilson: You might think now that he’s facing multiple felony charges for his alleged misconduct linked to hiding his secret deal in the text message scandal, the mayor would be ready now to support the transparency he’s always promised…but here’s another example, law or no law, this mayor is still just not interested in that. Wilson approaching mayor: Mr. Mayor? Mr. Mayor?...

Everyone else in the media is pounding Hillary Clinton for her tale, now shown to be fanciful, of dodging bullets on a Bosnian tarmac as first lady. But if you're looking for the best recent example of the lengths Mrs. Clinton will go to win the Democratic Presidential nod, consider that last week in Philadelphia she used Joe and Valerie Wilson as campaign props. Was George Galloway not available? Mr. Wilson and his wife are darlings of the antiwar crowd for their roles as self-styled martyrs in the CIA "leak" fiasco. The former ambassador is still cashing in on his...

Bush's War Monday, March 24 and Tuesday, March 25, 2008 9 P.M. (check local listings) From the horror of 9/11 to the invasion of Iraq; the truth about WMD to the rise of an insurgency; the scandal of Abu Ghraib to the strategy of the surge-for six years, FRONTLINE has revealed the defining stories of the war on terror in meticulous detail, and the political dramas that played out at the highest levels of power and influence. Now, on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, the full saga unfolds in the two-part FRONTLINE special Bush's War, airing Monday, March...

If there exists one visional depiction of the Cold War’s end, it is still a Eurocentric one, November 9, 1989, the day East Berliners joined with those of the city’s West in celebration of the Berlin Wall’s demise. Three weeks earlier, on October 19, 1989, Stalinist East German dictator Erich Honecker, facing mass internal opposition, was forced from power when the Kremlin, overwhelmed with comparable resistance on many fronts, for the first time refused to provide the East German dictatorship with the political or military cover it had come to expect in its Cold War defense of the regime’s totalitarian...

Here For The Party (Gretchen Wilson Supports Fred Thompson) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ5mcTsDD_c&feature=related

“Charlie Wilson's War” is a rattling good movie. It is also a good history lesson. And it is a good civics lesson, if a discouraging one. It is, if you do not know, the story of how a liberal Democratic congressman from Texas, a drinker, a womanizer and probably a cocaine user, single-handedly upped U.S. support for the mujahideen in Afghanistan.

Reagan's War, Not Charlie Wilson's Media Bias: Hollywood would have us believe that Democrats defeated the evil empire in Afghanistan, and that President Reagan played only a minor role and even helped pave the way to 9/11. If you think Hollywood's idea of a Christmas movie being one about the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan is strange, even stranger is the plot line. "Charlie Wilson's War," which opened Friday, manages to reduce the president who won the Cold War to a background footnote. Charlie Wilson was a pro-abortion, Equal Rights Amendment-supporting congressman widely known as "the liberal from Lufkin." To his...

On Wednesday, I reported on the outrageous indictment of American Patriot Richard Convertino. I also linked to a longer version of my previous New York Post column about what's really going on here (Justice Dept. and U.S. Attorney's Office pandering to Muslim Extremists). Now, Rick Convertino's wife, the lovely Valerie Convertino, has an excellent op-ed piece in today's Detroit Free Press. (I disagree with her about Joe Wilson and his wife, but the rest I know to be true.) This is Val's second, well-said Free Press column on the topic. (Her first Free Press Op-Ed, regarding the events behind this...

Who by now doesn’t know the tangled, twisted story of Valerie Plame? In case you just came in from the cold, the former CIA agent’s cover was blown after her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, wrote a blistering New York Times opinion piece charging the Bush administration with manipulating WMD intelligence to justify the Iraq war. Then came Scooter and Judith and Karl; the clarion calls for frog-marching; the double secret background e-mails; the turning of aspens and the rest. This month, the sexy ex-spy’s memoir, “Fair Game,” landed on bestseller lists. Earlier this year it was optioned for a...

Valerie Plame Wilson chides President Bush for not firing anyone for the leaking of her covert CIA identity, which caused a national scandal and an investigation resulting in a perjury and obstruction of justice conviction against Vice President Richard Cheney's chief of staff. She also tells Katie Couric that she has learned of the damage that the leaking of her identity caused agents of the clandestine service and it is serious. Wilson speaks to Couric in her first interview for a 60 Minutes report to be broadcast Sunday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. ET/PT. . . . Plame says the...

Republican Congressman Steve Pearce will run against Congresswoman Heather Wilson for the Republican nomination to succeed Senator Pete Domenici, according to an online report published Tuesday. ABQJounal.com cites a “person familiar with Pearce’s plans” in reporting that the southeastern New Mexico Congressman will notify friends and supporters by email of his intention to run. The Associated Press reports that "a source close to Pearce" confirms he will run, but only on the condition of anonymity. Pearce, who represents the southern part of New Mexico, is generally considered to be more conservative than Wilson, whose congressional district is in the central...

Country singer Gretchen Wilson behaved so badly on a recent flight to Los Angeles, American Airlines was forced to issue an in-flight citation and write up what the airline calls a "disturbance report." Redneck woman! TMZ has learned that Wilson, who was traveling -- in coach!-- from Nashville to L.A. on Wednesday evening, became "belligerent, and verbally abusive" to staff when they asked her to put her dog back in its carrier case. Sources on the flight tell TMZ that a flight attendant attempted to discuss the situation in the back, but Gretchen responded with a pissed off "F**k you!"...

Columnist Robert Novak said Saturday Ambassador Joe Wilson did not forcefully object to the naming of his CIA operative wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, when Novak spoke to him prior to the publication of a column that sparked a federal investigation and sent White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby to jail. “He was not terribly exercised about it,” Novak said. Instead, Wilson focused on not being portrayed as simply an opponent of the Iraq war. Wilson also stressed that his wife went by his last name, Wilson, rather than Plame, Novak said. Novak forcefully defended his handling of the column...

Columnist Robert Novak said Saturday Ambassador Joe Wilson did not forcefully object to the naming of his CIA operative wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, when Novak spoke to him prior to the publication of a column that sparked a federal investigation and sent White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby to jail. “He was not terribly exercised about it,” Novak said. Instead, Wilson focused on not being portrayed as simply an opponent of the Iraq war. Wilson also stressed that his wife went by his last name, Wilson, rather than Plame, Novak said. Novak forcefully defended his handling of the column...

Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M) will run for the New Mexico Senate seat that is expected to open up officially later Thursday when Sen. Pete Domenici (R) declares that he will not seek reelection in 2008, according to a source familiar with Wilson’s decision. Domenici has taken Wilson under his wing in recent years, and as he has gotten older, Wilson’s name has topped the list of potential heirs. A strong campaigner, she has survived several multimillion-dollar challenges in a swing district ...

CARACAS, Venezuela – The Venezuelan government on Friday denied any link to a businessman who was stopped at an Argentine airport carrying a suitcase filled with nearly $800,000 in cash. The Venezuelan businessman, Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, carried the money from Caracas to Buenos Aires on a flight chartered by the Argentine government, and the undeclared funds were seized by customs agents last weekend. “We don't have anything to do with that plane or with that trip ... nothing to do with that businessman,” Venezuelan Finance Minister Rodrigo Cabezas told reporters. The incident has shaken the Argentine government, prompted one...

Sean Hannity shows you the secret CIA documents that reveal the truth about Joe and Valerie Wilso. Sunday, August 12 at 9 p.m. ET

BURLINGAME — A legal team that includes Burlingame attorney Joe Cotchett is moving ahead with a civil suit on behalf of outed CIA agent Valerie Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson IV, following a setback in federal court. The Wilsons have filed an appeal of a decision last week by U.S. District Judge John Bates, who dismissed their suit against four Bush Administration officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney and his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. The Wilsons are seeking unspecified monetary damages for the defendants' alleged roles in leaking Plame's identity to punish Wilson,...

Theologian Douglas Wilson and atheist Christopher Hitchens, authors whose books are already part of a larger debate on whether religion is pernicious, agreed to discuss their views on whether Christianity itself has benefited the world. Below is their exchange, one in a series that will appear on our website over the course of this month. Douglas Wilson is author of Letter from a Christian Citizen, senior fellow of theology at New Saint Andrews College, and minister at Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho. He is also the editor of Credenda/Agenda magazine and has written (among other things ) Reforming Marriage and...

U. S. District Court Judge John D. Bates has dismissed the lawsuit that Valerie Plame Wilson filed against Vice President Dick Cheney and other members of the Bush administration, saying there was no legal basis for the suit. The judge commented that the act of rebutting public criticism—such as that levied by Joseph Wilson against the administration—by speaking with members of the press is within the scope of employment for members of the Executive branch.

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed former CIA operative Valerie Plame's lawsuit against members of the Bush administration in the CIA leak scandal.

Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson signed on with Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign yesterday, saying "it's entirely possible" his ex-spy wife will hit the trail with her, too. Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was outed as a covert CIA operations officer by President Bush's advisers in 2003 as they sought to discredit her Iraq war critic husband. She's writing a memoir due in the fall. "I would expect her to be engaged [politically] probably after the book tour," Wilson told the Daily News after Clinton announced his endorsement. Wilson said his wife shunned politics during her two decades as a covert spy. But...

Do you believe Democrats will be swept into control of the White House, the House, and the Senate next year on a wave of public outrage over the CIA leak affair? Neither do I. Democrats might indeed win it all in 2008, but Plamegate won’t be the reason. Nevertheless, some are still trying to wring the last drops of political benefit from the CIA leak saga, still acting as if the public is hungry for one more retelling of the story. The latest retelling came Wednesday, when House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) held a hearing entitled “The...

"Look, I make no apologies," Rove said in response to a question from the audience about whether he felt personally responsible for the war. "It was the right thing to do. The world is better off with him gone," he said, referring to Saddam Hussein. "We all thought he had weapons of mass destruction. The whole world did. He didn't." Rove said that Hussein had the intent to develop new weapons, and he tied the war in Iraq to the administration's global "war on terror." "In the aftermath of the removal of the regime, al-Qaida decided to make its stand...

Morning Edition, July 3, 2007 · President Bush's decision to commute I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence proves that "this administration is corrupt to the core," said Ambassador Joseph Wilson, the former diplomat whose wife was at the center of the CIA leak investigation that sparked the Libby case. In denouncing the Bush administration, Wilson told NPR, "I would only hope that Americans now realize, with this subversion of our system of justice and the rule of law in this country, just exactly how corrupt they are." After Wilson wrote skeptically about U.S. claims that Iraq was shopping for enriched...

"Mr. Libby was convicted of lying to federal agents investigating the leak of the name of a covert C.I.A. operative, Valerie Wilson. Mrs. Wilson’s husband, Joseph Wilson, was asked to investigate a central claim in Mr. Bush’s drive to war with Iraq — whether Iraq tried to purchase uranium from Africa. Mr. Wilson concluded that Iraq had not done that and had the temerity to share those conclusions with the American public. It seems clear from the record that Vice President Dick Cheney organized a campaign to discredit Mr. Wilson. And Mr. Libby, who was Mr. Cheney’s chief of staff,...

A federal appeals court refused on Monday to step in and delay former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence in the CIA leak case. The unanimous decision is a dramatic setback for Libby's legal case and puts pressure on President Bush, who has been sidestepping calls by Libby's allies to pardon the former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney. Libby faces 2 1/2 years in prison on his conviction of lying and obstructing the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. The former chief of staff to Cheney, he is the highest-ranking White...

Roger Aronoff says that in connection with the Plame case(s) we may finally get to the bottom of the CIA's role in this faux scandal. '....Plame, who has sued Cheney, Karl Rove, Libby and Armitage for destroying her career, and now the CIA and Director of National Intelligence over the contents of her forthcoming book, has some explaining of her own to do. Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri has released a document that appears to contradict a statement she made under oath before a Congressional committee. Sen. Bond said, according to USA Today, that she "should explain the 'differences' in...

U.S. District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton wants former vice presidential aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby to go directly to jail, without passing go, and without collecting $200 dollars. And so far, the word from the White House is that President Bush has no intention of giving Libby a Get Out of Jail Free card.“The prospect of a pardon has become so sensitive inside the West Wing that top aides have been kept out of the loop, and even Bush friends have been told not to bring it up with the president,” the Washington Post wrote on Wednesday. If true, that’s...

Wilson says 'good riddance' to Scooter Libby, Cheney should be next. Former Ambassador Joe Wilson, whose wife Valerie Plame was at the heart of the Lewis "Scooter" Libby case, showed no mercy following the announcement of Libby's jail sentence. Libby was sentenced to 30 months in prison and fined $250,000 for lying to federal investigators about his role in the outing of former CIA operative Valerie Plame, Wilson's wife. Here's the Wilson statement in full: “As Americans, both Valerie and I are grateful that justice has been served, reconfirming that our country remains a nation of laws. We are also...

The Senate Intelligence Committee has just released a new report as part of its continuing investigation into prewar intelligence. In the report, the committee's vice chairman, Republican Sen. Christopher Bond, has included a set of "additional views" in which he provides new evidence contradicting some of the public testimony Valerie Plame Wilson gave before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in March. In that testimony, Mrs. Wilson flatly denied playing a role in choosing her husband, Joseph Wilson, for a fact-finding trip to Niger. "I did not recommend him. I did not suggest him," she testified.

rtsp://video.c-span.org/project/ter/ter050707_qaeda.rm Woodrow Wilson Center Speech on "Understanding Al Qaeda" Bruce Riedel, Brookings Institution, Senior Fellow and former NSC Senior Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs, gives a speech on "Understanding Al Qaeda" at the Woodrow Wilson Center. 5/7/2007: WASHINGTON, DC:

Lawyers for Vice President Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and two other Bush administration officials belittled Valerie Plame's lawsuit Thursday over the disclosure of her CIA identity. At a nearly-three-hour court hearing, Cheney's lawyer said Plame was making "fanciful claims" in what amounted to "a fishing expedition." Plame says her constitutional rights were violated by Cheney and his now-convicted former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, as well as White House political adviser Rove and former State Department official Richard Armitage. Her suit is "principally based on a desire for publicity and book deals," said Michael Waldman, who represents Armitage

Former CIA Director George Tenet has agreed to cooperate with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform as the panel investigates the Bush administration’s pre-war claims about Iraq’s efforts to acquire uranium. Tenet will testify before the panel and has agreed to provide a deposition prior to his appearance, according to a committee release. Waxman’s staff also announced Monday that a hearing with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been pushed back to June 19 from Tuesday. Rice has been subpoenaed to appear but has indicated that she will not comply. According to a committee release, however, Waxman still...

The closest he came to being animated during our discussion came as he discussed the chain of events that led to the prosecution of Libby. His comments are worth quoting at length: ~~~~~~ "I know what he's undergoing now. I know what it costs him. I know what's happening to him and his family, I've seen it before. And he's suffering from the fact that he is in Washington, D.C., as an employee of the Bush administration and especially as someone who is working for Dick Cheney. It was obvious to me that no crime had been committed, that Valerie...

Waxman threatens to subpoena Card, Rice By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer Sat Apr 21, 1:51 AM ET WASHINGTON - If President Bush ‘s former chief of staff can chat about the identifying of CIA agent Valerie Plame on Jon Stewart‘s comedy show, he c, , ), D-Calif. "Mr. Fielding‘s position appears to be that it is appropriate for you to discuss these matters on ‘The Daily Show‘ but not before a congressional committee," Waxman wrote to Card on Friday. "You will not be surprised to learn that I take a different view of this matter." Also being considered for...

Joseph Wilson and his wife, outed CIA spy Valerie Plame, are finally getting a chance to unwind. They arrived at their new 4,600-square-foot adobe home in Santa Fe three weeks ago and they’ve traded in their Jaguar for a pickup truck. Their seven-year-old twins already have found new friends and spotted three snakes. There’s a book deal in the works, a movie on the horizon, and a pending federal lawsuit that names Vice President Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and others. In an interview with The Associated Press, Wilson says it’ll take a couple of years to sort through the remains...

Far From CIA Scandal, Wilsons Settle In By DEBORAH BAKER SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - In this liberal-leaning tourist town known for its handmade turquoise- and-silver jewelry, Joseph Wilson has just bought his wife something special in a downtown shop: a red-and-blue pin that reads, "I'm not anti-Bush. I'm pro-intelligence." Wilson and his wife, outed CIA spy Valerie Plame, are finally getting a chance to unwind. Three weeks ago, they arrived at their new 4,600- square-foot hilltop adobe home and have traded in their Jaguar for a pickup truck. Their 7-year-old twins already have found new friends and spotted three...

Outed CIA officer Valerie Plame has canceled her April 11 visit to the University of Florida. Plame, whose identity was revealed in a 2003 syndicated column by Robert Novak, canceled because she's still sorting out legal issues related to her upcoming book, according to Accent, the student-run speakers bureau that invited Plame. "She's pretty much still testifying in front of Congress and trying to resolve some legal issues with her book," said Andrew Brown, chairman of Accent. Plame testified before Congress early this month, and the scope of the testimony was heavily vetted in advance by CIA officials to ensure...

It's really too bad that Karl Rove/Dick Cheney/Scooter Libby/Dick Armitage/whoever ruined Valerie Plame's life by destroying her priceless anonymity. Still, there's an upside: Now you can have lunch with Plame and her husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson for the low, low current asking price of $950.00.The bill of fare: Includes lunch for two(2) with Valerie Plame Wilson and Joe Wilson and a signed book. We don't remember who told us, but you'll have lunch with Ambassador Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame at a "safehouse". Lost in the din of the leak scandal that has consumed Washington is the very personal impact...

Waxman and Democratic colleagues did not ask these pertinent questions: Had not Plame been outed years ago by a Soviet agent? Was she not on an administrative, not operational, track at Langley? How could she be covert if, in public view, she drove to work each day at Langley? What about comments to me by then CIA spokesman Bill Harlow that Plame never would be given another foreign assignment? What about testimony to the FBI that her CIA employment was common knowledge in Washington? Instead of posing such questions, Waxman said flatly that Plame was covert and cited Hayden as...

I hope the Republicans learn from the experience of the November 2006 elections. They need to understand the consequences of their failure to lead and pandering to the left. It got them ousted from power in both houses of Congress and has ultimately led to the gridlock of pointless Congressional investigation. We now face hearings into the absolutely common political function of replacing political hires in the fired federal prosecutors imbroglio, We have seen the Scooter Libby trial where a man was convicted for a poor memory, and we are now seeing hearings related to that very same case. Patrick...

A gutless, two-faced, lying little loser and his insubordinate, agitator wife, who both should be in jail for the havoc they have wrought on a nation at war, walk free today, lionized like movie stars by a complicit press, while an innocent man stands convicted. And now their partisan allies in Congress have begun the witch hunt that will help them turn this entire ignoble affair into another bludgeon to be used against Republicans and line up Comrade Hillary for a shot at 2008. Simply despicable! I have watched the Plame Game unfold from day one and it has been,...