@85. BC: – … back when the GOP cranked up its smear machine to “11″ in trying to discredit Joe Wilson, there was this constant claim by the likes of Orrin Hatch (yes, I know he’s being relabeled a RINO) on TV talk shows and such that this Senate Select Committee report showed Joe Wilson to be a liar.
LOL!!! Smear machine??? What a load of bilious idiocy.
Despite angry admonition from those who supported him throughout 2002 and 2003, the Bush Administration barely even responded to Wilson’s serial lies. That’s the limp-wristed lack of domestic leadership that gave us a Democrat-controlled Congress in 2006 and BHO in 2008.
BC, you desperately need to start taking your own advice and then get someone to teach you reading comprehension. Anyone who makes the effort to actually read the SSCI report – like Chris Hitchens did back in 2004 – will learn that, in point of fact, Joe Wilson IV has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to be a consummate, serial liar.
Even the Washington Post – Wilson’s left wing media mouthpiece, where he played “anonymous government source” in Walter Pincus’ hit jobs attacking the Bush Administration – has been forced to admit this:
…it now appears that the person most responsible for the end of Ms. Plame’s CIA career is Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson chose to go public with an explosive charge, claiming — falsely, as it turned out — that he had debunked reports of Iraqi uranium-shopping in Niger and that his report had circulated to senior administration officials.
Wilson claimed he’d debunked Iraq’s attempts to purchase uraniuim from Niger. That was a lie. He claimed that his “revelation” had been reported directly to the Vice President. That was a lie. He claimed the Vice President ignored it. That was a lie. In trying to defend himself by falsely charging the Bush Administration with outing his hapless spouse, Wilson claimed that Valerie Plame’s identity as a CIA employee was revealed in order to attack him. That was a lie. He claimed his wife was NOT the person who suggested he go to Niger for the CIA to investigate uranium sales to Iraq. That was a lie.
[all quotes below, my emphasis]
Starting with that last one, page 39 of the report clearly states:
…interviews and documents provided to the Committee indicate that [Wilson's] wife, a CPD employee, suggested his name for the trip. The CPD reports officer told Committee staff that the former ambassador’s wife “offerred up his name” and a memorandum to the Deputy Chief of the CPD on February 12, 2002, from the former ambassador’s wife says, “my husband has good relations with both the PM [prime minister] and the former Minister of Mines (not to mention lots of French contacts), both of whom could possibly shed light on this sort of activity.” This was just one day before CPD sent a cable {redacted} requesting concurrence with CPD’s idea to send the former ambassador to Niger…
Reading further, we see why Valerie Plame has become such a laughing stock in the Plamegate debacle: her razor-sharp objectivity as a sooper-seekrit intelligence operative…
“The former ambassador’s wife told Committee staff that when CPD decided it would like to send the former ambassador to Niger, she approached her husband on behalf of the CIA and told him “there’s this crazy report” on a purported deal for Niger to sell uranium to Iraq.”
Nothing like interjecting one’s own agenda into an ongoing CIA intelligence operation. No wonder our intelligence services have been such a joke.
But here’s the kicker, on p. 46:
The CIA’s DO gave the former ambassador’s information a grade of “good” [basically equivalent to a grade of 'C' -ed.], which means that it added to the IC’s body of understanding on the issue, {redacted}. The possible grades are unsatisfactory, satisfactory, good, excellent and outstanding, which, according to the Deputy Chief of CPD, are very subjective. {redacted} The reports officer said that a “good” grade was merited because the information responded to at least some of the outstanding questions in the Intelligence Community, but did not provide substantial new information. He said he judged that the most important fact in the report was that the Nigerien officials admitted that the Iraqi delegation had traveled there in 1999, and that the Nigerien Prime Minister believed the Iraqis were interested in purchasing uranium, because this provided some confirmation of foreign government service reporting.
Get that? The information Wilson provided to the CIA actually SUPPORTED the likelihood that Saddam had sought to purchase uranium in Niger. The information he provided was interpreted by the CIA to mean EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of what he claimed in his NYT attack on the Bush Administration. Wilson, in his overwhelming ignorance and arrogance (no wonder you’re defending him) didn’t consider that possibility.
Not only that, the report goes on to completely discredit Wilson’s claim that his “revelations” were sent to the Vice President, and that the V.P. ignored them. Page 46 notes in numerous places that Wilson’s report didn’t add any new or interesting information to what the intelligence community already had. But most damning to Wilson’s bogus claims was this (still p.46):
Because CIA analysts did not believe that the report added any new information to clarify the issue, they did not use the report to produce any further analytical products or highlight the report for policymakers. For the same reason, CIA’s briefer did not brief the Vice President on the report, despite the Vice President’s previous question about the issue.
So once again, BC, we see that you are completely and utterly full of sh!t. These are documented facts, right from the very source you cited, but you refuse to acknowledge them.
You certainly do live in an alter-universe. Heh.
