Fact-Checking Joe Wilson, One More Time
I, like the rest of you I'm sure, am sick of the whole Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame affair. But I had to make one quick point in light of the news that the dynamic duo are suing Veep & Co. and even though this has been covered ad nauseum in the past. According to the good folks over at Daily Kos, the ambassador apprently sent out a newsletter today which included the following [emphasis added]:
"Robert Novak, some other commentators and the Administration continue to try to completely distort the role that Valerie Wilson played with respect to Ambassador Wilson's trip to Niger. The facts are beyond dispute. The Office of the Vice President requested that the CIA investigate reports of alleged uranium purchases by Iraq from Niger. The CIA setup a meeting to respond to the Vice President's inquiry. Another CIA official, not Valerie Wilson, suggested to Valerie Wilson's supervisor that the Ambassador attend that meeting. That other CIA official made the recommendation because that official was familiar with the Ambassador's vast experience in Niger and knew of a previous trip to Africa concerning uranium matters that had been undertaken by the Ambassador on behalf of the CIA in 1999. Valerie Wilson's supervisor subsequently asked her to relay a request from him to the Ambassador that he would like the Ambassador to attend the meeting at the CIA. Valerie Wilson did not participate in the meeting.
As the CIA itself has officially confirmed, Valerie Wilson did not send Ambassador Wilson to Niger and she neither suggested him nor recommended him for the trip. Furthermore, the Ambassador agreed to travel to Niger pro bono with only his travel expenses being paid."
I have not verified the contents of the newsletter; I am not on the Wilsons' mailing list. I am relying on the block quote posted on Daily Kos. If that turns out to be wrong for whatever reason, then I'll correct this post. However, I would point out that I have seen good old Joe make this same point in numerous TV appearances, including in a TV appearance with Larry King on CNN. He has consistently denied that Ms. Wilson/Plame played any substantive role in setting up his trip to Niger. And this claim has largely gone unchallenged in the mainstream press.
The Wilsons, like many in the mainstream press who refuse to check their story, apparently have not read the Senate Intelligence Report ("SIR") from July 2004. If they had, they would know that their story is complete bunk. From pages 39 and 40 of the SIR [emphasis added]:
Officials from the CIA's DO Counterproliferation Division (CPD) told Committee staff that in response to questions from the Vice President's Office and the Departments of State and Defense on the alleged Iraq-Niger uranium deal, CPD officials discussed ways to obtain additional information. [redacted] who could make immediate inquiries into the reporting, CPD decided to contact a former ambassador to Gabon who had a posting early in his career in Niger.
Some CPD officials could not recall how the office decided to contact the former ambassador, however, interviews and documents provided to the Committee indicate that his wife, a CPD employee, suggested his name for the trip. The CPD reports officer told Committee staff that the former ambassador's wife "offered up his name" and a memorandum to the Deputy Chief of the CPD on February 12, 2002, from the 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 and requesting any additional information from the foreign government service on their uranium reports. 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.
The next paragraph of the SIR says that Ms. Wilson offered up her husband for a trip to Niger in 1999. There is then a paragraph that recounts the details of a February 18, 2002 cable from the embassy in Niger concerning the reports of Iraqi attempts to procure uranium. Then there is this paragraph about a meeting the following day:
On February 19, 2002, CPD hosted a meeting with the former ambassador, intelligence analysts from both the CIA and INR, and several individuals from the DO's Africa and CPD divisions. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the merits of the former ambassador traveling to Niger. An INR analyst's notes indicate that the meeting was "apparently convened by [the former ambassador's] wife who had the idea to dispatch [him] to use his contacts to sort out the Iraq-Niger uranium issue." The former ambassador's wife told Committee staff that she only attended the meeting to introduce her husband and left after about three minutes.
Obviously, the SIR paints a picture that differs in significant ways from the Wilsons' narrative. The Wilsons say that she did not recommend her husband for the trip, the SIR says she did. The SIR cites "interviews and documents" demonstrating Ms. Wilson's role. The Wilsons say that the former ambassador's trip was organized by the CIA in response to requests from the Vice President's Office, but they fail to mention that the Departments of State and Defense were also asking questions and the CIA was responding to all of these (not just the Veep's office).
The Wilsons say that Ms. Wilson was not involved in setting up the former ambassador's trip. The SIR says otherwise.
"Robert Novak, some other commentators and the Administration continue to try to completely distort the role that Valerie Wilson played with respect to Ambassador Wilson's trip to Niger. The facts are beyond dispute. The Office of the Vice President requested that the CIA investigate reports of alleged uranium purchases by Iraq from Niger. The CIA setup a meeting to respond to the Vice President's inquiry. Another CIA official, not Valerie Wilson, suggested to Valerie Wilson's supervisor that the Ambassador attend that meeting. That other CIA official made the recommendation because that official was familiar with the Ambassador's vast experience in Niger and knew of a previous trip to Africa concerning uranium matters that had been undertaken by the Ambassador on behalf of the CIA in 1999. Valerie Wilson's supervisor subsequently asked her to relay a request from him to the Ambassador that he would like the Ambassador to attend the meeting at the CIA. Valerie Wilson did not participate in the meeting.
As the CIA itself has officially confirmed, Valerie Wilson did not send Ambassador Wilson to Niger and she neither suggested him nor recommended him for the trip. Furthermore, the Ambassador agreed to travel to Niger pro bono with only his travel expenses being paid."
I have not verified the contents of the newsletter; I am not on the Wilsons' mailing list. I am relying on the block quote posted on Daily Kos. If that turns out to be wrong for whatever reason, then I'll correct this post. However, I would point out that I have seen good old Joe make this same point in numerous TV appearances, including in a TV appearance with Larry King on CNN. He has consistently denied that Ms. Wilson/Plame played any substantive role in setting up his trip to Niger. And this claim has largely gone unchallenged in the mainstream press.
The Wilsons, like many in the mainstream press who refuse to check their story, apparently have not read the Senate Intelligence Report ("SIR") from July 2004. If they had, they would know that their story is complete bunk. From pages 39 and 40 of the SIR [emphasis added]:
Officials from the CIA's DO Counterproliferation Division (CPD) told Committee staff that in response to questions from the Vice President's Office and the Departments of State and Defense on the alleged Iraq-Niger uranium deal, CPD officials discussed ways to obtain additional information. [redacted] who could make immediate inquiries into the reporting, CPD decided to contact a former ambassador to Gabon who had a posting early in his career in Niger.
Some CPD officials could not recall how the office decided to contact the former ambassador, however, interviews and documents provided to the Committee indicate that his wife, a CPD employee, suggested his name for the trip. The CPD reports officer told Committee staff that the former ambassador's wife "offered up his name" and a memorandum to the Deputy Chief of the CPD on February 12, 2002, from the 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 and requesting any additional information from the foreign government service on their uranium reports. 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.
The next paragraph of the SIR says that Ms. Wilson offered up her husband for a trip to Niger in 1999. There is then a paragraph that recounts the details of a February 18, 2002 cable from the embassy in Niger concerning the reports of Iraqi attempts to procure uranium. Then there is this paragraph about a meeting the following day:
On February 19, 2002, CPD hosted a meeting with the former ambassador, intelligence analysts from both the CIA and INR, and several individuals from the DO's Africa and CPD divisions. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the merits of the former ambassador traveling to Niger. An INR analyst's notes indicate that the meeting was "apparently convened by [the former ambassador's] wife who had the idea to dispatch [him] to use his contacts to sort out the Iraq-Niger uranium issue." The former ambassador's wife told Committee staff that she only attended the meeting to introduce her husband and left after about three minutes.
Obviously, the SIR paints a picture that differs in significant ways from the Wilsons' narrative. The Wilsons say that she did not recommend her husband for the trip, the SIR says she did. The SIR cites "interviews and documents" demonstrating Ms. Wilson's role. The Wilsons say that the former ambassador's trip was organized by the CIA in response to requests from the Vice President's Office, but they fail to mention that the Departments of State and Defense were also asking questions and the CIA was responding to all of these (not just the Veep's office).
The Wilsons say that Ms. Wilson was not involved in setting up the former ambassador's trip. The SIR says otherwise.
posted by Thomas Joscelyn at 6:50 PM
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