Hitch’s latest salvo on the Plame Affair – Clueless Joe Wilson – leads me back to the conclusion I and others drew from this tawdry business when it was first made public what seems like eons ago. Wilson was chosen (by his “cloak-and-dagger” wife and by the CIA) for the Niger mission precisely because he could be relied upon to come back with nothing. They got even more than they bargained for – overwhelming self-centered arrogance yielding to endless venalilty on all sides (including journalists lapping up meretricious book contracts). Although my title references Kipling, the whole pathetic story is a natural for Evelyn Waugh. Too bad he’s gone.
Roger,
The question is when are the LL and the MSM going to dump the lede?
With more discovery from Libby’s defense it’g going to look pretty bad. You know what they say in court don’t asked a question that you don’t know what the answer is :–)
Also I’m with the American Thinker there is a darkhorse in this mess. AT thinks the French intel is playing a disinformation campaign here to discredit Bush and steer the heat off of them.
After all they were at the head of the line in Saddam’s food chain, kept the Turks from letting us use their airspace and to invade with the IV ID from the North, and there’s nothing that goes in in Niger that their mining concerns don’t know about. Seems to be the agent with the forgeries admitted in Italian Court the source of the forged docs was French.
Makes you wonder if Wilson was a unknowing stooge or a willing participant considering his French/African connections. He met Plame while posted in France I believe. Makes you wonder where his loyaties lie.
RBT
Letís get something straight here and now: Joe Wilson was fairly successful. His nonsense almost certainly cost George W. Bush more than a few votes on election day. This was probably the real purpose for his trip to Niger! John Kerry lost the contest by less than three percentage points. A number of Americans now consider the president to be a liar solely due to the Plame mess. What about the long run? Isnít Wilsonís reputation being severely tarnished? Yes, but in the long run as John Maynard Keynes wisely pointed out—we are all dead anyway. Donít feel sorry for Mr. Wilson. His bank account is likely in splendid shape, and the leftist establishment will take care of him for many years into the future. Sigh, we should all have it so rough.
Here’s your title,Roger: “Cloak and Dumbass”
Wilson is the Inspector Clouseau of diplomacy
But, I thought we figured out that even though he may have been an ass… he was right about the whole Niger/Yellowcake thing. Did I miss some new revelation about the pertinent facts regarding the information about this?
Lord perserve us… has Hitch lost his mind?!
As we understand things. There was exactly one piece of evidence that linked Niger to Iraq. That document was found to be forged. This means that, unless a forged document had surfaced, we would not have had any reason to suspect Niger and Iraq of playing yellowcake.
Hitch here is arguing that even though the proof is False, we should still presume that the parties are guilty. This makes as much sense as the argument for Intelligent Design.
“…exactly one piece of evidence that linked Niger to Iraq. That document was found to be forged.” dclydew at April 18, 2006 10:33 AM
Oh my goodness, dclydew, Wilson’s report to CIA referenced the Iraqi trade mission approach, which had nothing to do with the forgeries. Iraq has BOUGHT uranium from Niger. Zahawie didn’t know Niger had uranium? What a hoot!
For extensive, knowledgeable, reasoned discussion of the Plame affair, see http://justoneminute.typepad.com/
dedclydew:
You can read the Senate report for yourself:
http://intelligence.senate.gov/iraqreport2.pdf
Niger is discussed starting on page 36 (46 in PDF pagination).
This comment thread proves how good the MSM are at discrediting the administration, right or wrong.
Remember the story that the Czech security services had video of Mohammed Atta (9-11 ringleader) meeting the Iraqi security chief in a Prague cafe and his bank account showing a $50k payment? The NY Times “discredited” this story by reporting that the FBI “doubted it” because Atta’s cell phone had been used in Florida during that week. As if a spy wouldnt ask his roomate to leave the lights on and make a few calls to cover his tracks. Despite the fact that the Czechs stood by their report the American public filed this away under “discredited” and still mock anyone who suggests a “connection” between Saddam and 9-11.
Now the Plame Game. Despite well known and documented purchases of Yellow Cake from Niger by Saddam in the 80′s the entire affair was discredited by the WAPO because one of the docs was an admitted French forgery and because Ambsdr Wilson “asked nicely” of the Niger PM over tea and he denied everything. Well, nuff said. Nevermind the fact that Saddam’s government records show they did in fact TRY to make another purchase but were turned down by Niger as “too hot” a customer at the time. So now people mock the President as a lier and/or stupid because Wilson “proved” it was all a lie.
I do think that W Bush has a low-average intellect, was a bad student and a spoiled brat, was a coke and alcohol addict, and converted to serious religious appearances to save his marriage. I also think he was hand picked by the business masters or oil and finance from Texas and New England. And I think he has no care for the environment, a whacked view of education policy, and poor international diplomacy. I dont think he is a great president or even very good. But I hate to see the MSM paint lies about him on these two points.
Saddam WAS a kingpin in world terror, he hosted terrorists and paid for Palestinian suicide bombings. He may well have been involved in some aspect of 9-11 funding, encouragement, and planning. And he definitely wanted to rebuild his WMD program, even if he simply couldnt and his underlings lied to him and he bluffed the rest of the world. Taking him out was the right thing to do and long overdue. Period.