Joseph C. Wilson

Wilson at Clark University lecture on October 17, 2005 in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

Joseph Charles Wilson IV (born November 61949) is a retired United States foreign service diplomat, who was posted to African nations and Iraq during the George H. W. Bush administration. During the G. W. Bush administration, after his retirement from foreign service, Wilson became known to the general public as a result of his controversial editorial published in the New York Times on July 6, 2003, four months after the 2003 invasion of Iraq began. In the editorial, entitled "What I Didn't Find in Africa," Wilson documents his February 2002 trip investigating whether Iraq purchased or attempted to purchase Yellowcake from Niger in the late 1990s and accuses the George W. Bush administration of "exaggerating the Iraqi threat" in order to justify war."

Shortly thereafter, columnist Robert Novak, while writing on the choice of Wilson for the Niger mission, disclosed that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, worked for the CIA. In his column of July 14, 2003, Novak states: "Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me that Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA says its counterproliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him. 'I will not answer any question about my wife,' Wilson told me."

Late in August 2006, after over three years of controversial speculation and an ongoing grand jury investigation, the general public learned initially from news reports that Novak's "primary source" of this information is former Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage. Since that public disclosure, Novak has disputed several details of Armitage's account in the latter's subsequent media interviews.

After Attorney General John Ashcroft recused himself from the case, Deputy Attorney General James Comey named Patrick J. Fitzgerald as a special prosecutor to determine who was involved in disclosing the identity of a CIA operative. As of September 2006, this investigation, which is still open, has resulted in indictment of President George W. Bush's former Chief of Staff Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, charging him with five counts of alleged misconduct that hindered the investigation, including making false statements to investigators and a federal grand jury. Libby's trial date is set for early 2007.

Following the public disclosure in August 2006 that Richard Armitage was Robert Novak's "primary source" source of the leak of the identity of CIA covert operative Valerie Plame Wilson –– which Special Counsel Fitzgerald knew at the start of his investigation –– Fitzgerald's investigation of criminal wrongdoing in the matter popularly called "Plamegate" would otherwise appear to remain ongoing.

Despite Robert Novak's own conclusion that the identification of Armitage is "devastating news" for "the Left" in its attempts to corroborate what Novak calls the "left-wing fantasy of a well-crafted White House conspiracy to destroy Joe and Valerie Wilson," former Ambassador Wilson continues to enjoy considerable support among investigative journalists and others in both the mainstream media and the alternative media who believe that such a "conspiracy" did exist and its cover up may still exist, such as Frank Rich (The Greatest Story Ever Sold) and Robert Parry ("U.S. Press Bigwigs Screw Up, Again" and "How Obtuse Is the U.S. Press?"). Thus, the debate as to the merits of Wilson's claims in The Politics of Truth appears to remain both strong and ongoing and, in mid-September 2006, the "case" of the Wilsons against past and present officials of the Bush administration is still unresolved as it moves through the legal justice system.

Education

Wilson is a 1972 graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara. According to Richard Leiby, in the Washington Post, Wilson once joked that he majored in "history, volleyball, and surfing," maintaining a "C" average, but became much more serious about his education after graduating, learned to speak French fluently, and entered the Foreign Service in 1976, specializing in African affairs.

Career

Wilson was a member of the U.S. Foreign Service from 1976 through 1998. From 1988 to 1991, he was the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. He was hailed as "truly inspiring" and "courageous" by George H. W. Bush after sheltering more than one hundred Americans at the embassy, despite Saddam Hussein's threats to execute anyone who refused to hand over foreigners. As a result, in 1990, he also became the last American diplomat to meet with Saddam Hussein (Wilson, The Politics of Truth). When Hussein sent a note to Wilson (along with other embassy heads in Iraq) threatening to execute anyone sheltering foreigners in Iraq, Wilson publicly repudiated the dictator by appearing at a press conference wearing a homemade noose around his neck and saying "If the choice is to allow American citizens to be taken hostage or to be executed, I will bring my own fucking rope"; later Hussein offered a public apology for the diplomatic note.

As a self-identified non-partisan career diplomat, Wilson later served as U.S. ambassador to Gabon and São Tomé and Príncipe during the administration of President George H. W. Bush and helped direct Africa policy for the National Security Council during the administration of President Bill Clinton.

Wilson manages JC Wilson International Ventures Corporation, a consulting firm specializing in strategic management and international business development.

Also active as a public speaker, Wilson is represented exclusively by Greater Talent Network.

Political ties

In the mid-eighties, Wilson worked for Al Gore as a congressional staffer. In 2000, he donated $2,000 to Vice President Gore’s presidential campaign and $1,000 to George W. Bush's presidential campaign. In 2003, he formally endorsed John Kerry for President and donated $2,000 to his campaign. Wilson was also a supporter and donor to the Kerry/Edwards campaign for the presidency and served as an advisor and speechwriter in a "prominent role" for the Kerry campaign in 2003 and 2004. He has made contributions to the campaigns of Democratic candidates, such as Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Congressman Charles B. Rangel of New York, and to Republican Congressman Ed Royce of California.

After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Wilson supported activist groups like Win Without War, a nonpartisan coalition of groups united in opposition to the Iraq War, has been quoted in the organization's press releases, and has been attacked by conservatives for such anti-war activism. Nevertheless, according to an article to which Scott Shane and Lynette Clemetson contributed, published in the New York Times: "Despite conservatives' efforts to portray him as a left-wing extremist, [Wilson] insisted he remained a centrist at heart. But after his tangle with the current administration, he admits 'it will be a cold day in hell before I vote for a Republican, even for dog catcher.'"

Wilson endorses Veterans for a Secure America (VSA).

Wilson's trip to Niger

In late February of 2002, Wilson had been sent to Niger on behalf of the CIA to investigate the possibility that Saddam Hussein had a deal to buy enriched uranium yellowcake. Wilson met with the current Ambassador, Owens-Kirkpatrick, at the embassy, and was informed that she had already debunked that story. However, they agreed Wilson would interview dozens of officials who had been in the Niger government when the deal had supposedly taken place. Wilson ultimately concluded "it was highly doubtful that any such transaction had ever taken place."

But Wilson also reported that, although former Nigerien prime minister Ibrahim Assane Mayaki was unaware of any pending sales contract with Iraq, an Iraqi delegation had approached Mayaki in June 1999, expressing an interest in "expanding commercial relations." Mayaki believed this overture may have meant that they wanted to purchase yellowcake uranium –– one of Niger’s few exports –– but claimed that he refused to discuss any trade issues at all due to active UN sanctions on Iraq, and so steered the conversation in another direction.

The controversy surrounding Wilson began with President Bush's 2003 State of the Union Address, containing his now-infamous "16 words" in which he stated that "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." The documents had been obtained by the U.S. Embassy in Rome on October 92002, and distributed throughout the U.S. intelligence community shortly thereafter, but not passed on to the IAEA until February 32003. Two months later, documents suggesting that Iraq had tried to buy 500 tons of uranium from Niger, were judged to be "obvious" forgeries by the IAEA.

It is suggested that the documents that the IAEA judged to be forgeries were not the same documents on which the British based their original assessment. Two British Parliamentary reports confirm the original intelligence. One of these reports, the Butler Report, suggests that the forged documents were distributed with the knowing goal of being discovered as obvious forgeries so as to discredit the intelligence. The IAEA released its report a month later, just weeks before the start of the Iraq war.

Wilson's New York Times op-ed "What I Didn't Find in Africa"

On July 62003, Wilson authored an editorial-opinion piece in the New York Times entitled "What I Didn't Find in Africa," in which he accuses the Bush administration of "exaggerating the Iraqi threat" in order to justify war. In it he states the rationale for his trip as follows: "The vice president's office asked a serious question. I was asked to help formulate the answer" (italics added). Critics of Wilson contend that, in that op-ed, he falsely claims to have been sent by the vice president personally. Yet, in this statement of rationale for his trip in "What I Didn't Find in Africa," as on other occasions, Wilson states only that he was sent by the CIA in response to questions asked by the "office" of the vice president, not personally by Vice President Cheney himself.

George Tenet, the director of the CIA during Wilson's trip, has said that the administration was not directly briefed on Wilson's report "[b]ecause this report, in our view, did not resolve whether Iraq was or was not seeking uranium from abroad, it was given a normal and wide distribution (within the intelligence community), but we did not brief it to the President, Vice-President or other senior Administration officials."

On Monday, 7 July 2003, the day after the publication of "What I Didn't Find in Africa," the Bush administation admitted "that accusations included in the president's State of the Union address have turned out to be inaccurate." In a press conference held in Africa, where he was then traveling with President Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, "fielded questions about the faulty intelligence" and concluded: "There was sufficient evidence floating around at that time that such a statement was not totally outrageous or not to be believed or not to be appropriately used. It's that once we used the statement, and after further analysis, and looking at other estimates we had, and other information that was coming in, it turned out that the basis upon which that statement was made didn't hold up, and we said so, and we've acknowledged it, and we've moved on."

Nevertheless, as Colin Powell suggested at the time –– referring to "the case I put down on the 5th of February [2003], for an hour and 20 minutes, roughly, on terrorism, on weapons of mass destruction, and on the human rights case, a short section at the end, we stand behind" –– the Bush administration still maintains that other intelligence that Iraq may have attempted to acquire uranium in Africa may have been correct. Many supporters of the theory point to the Butler Review, which found, without giving evidence of such a claim, that there was credible intelligence that Iraq had attempted to acquire uranium from Niger in 1999, but not in 2002, and that there was even less certain intelligence that Iraq had attempted to acquire uranium from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Critics of the theory view the evidence relating to the Democratic Republic of Congo as suspect and point out that, while President Bush mentioned "Africa" in his State of the Union Address, in fielding questions in a "press gaggle" about the President's statement, also on 7 July 2003, press secretary Ari Fleischer affirmed explicitly that President Bush's claim that Iraq was seeking to purchase uranium from "Africa" derived specificially from information pertaining only to Niger and that the "the President did not have that information [about other African nations from the NIE] prior to his giving the State of the Union."

In addition, nuclear expert Norman Dombey has pointed out that the information relied upon by the Butler Review on the Niger issue was incomplete; on 25 July 2004, he notes: "The Butler report says the claim was credible because an Iraqi diplomat visited Niger in 1999, and almost three-quarters of Niger's exports were uranium. But this is irrelevant, since France controls Niger's uranium mines." Moreover, when asked by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to discuss the conclusions of British intelligence, Deputy Director of Intelligence John McLaughlin stated, "The one thing where I think they stretched a little bit beyond where we would stretch is on the points about Iraq seeking uranium from various African locations. We've looked at those reports and we don't think they are very credible. It doesn't diminish our conviction that he's going for nuclear weapons, but I think they reached a little bit on that one point."

See also: Butler Review

The Politics of Truth, by Joseph C. Wilson

In 2004 Wilson published a book entitled The Politics of Truth: Inside the Lies that Led to War and Betrayed my Wife's CIA Identity: A Diplomat's Memoir (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2004). Both a political and personal memoir, Wilson's autobiographical account of over two decades of his life in foreign service includes references to his previous marriage, his meeting of Valerie Plame, their relationship and marriage, and a detailed narrative of the events leading to his decision to go public with his criticisms of the Bush administration and its aftermath (extended in a chronological appendix). The paperback edition, published in 2005, is "Updated with a New Preface by the Author and an Investigative Report on the Niger Documents Affair by Russ Hoyle."

The Senate Intelligence Committee Report

See also: Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community's Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq

The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community's Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq (39-44) presents the following as established facts, some of which are still controversial:

• The U.S. embassy in Niger issued a cable reporting that the alleged Iraq-Niger uranium deal warranted a hard look.
• Valerie Plame suggested her husband travel to Niger to look into it.
• A WINPAC analyst sent an email saying the results "from this source" will be suspect and not believable, but the CIA decided to send Wilson anyway.
• In February 2002, Wilson arrived in Niger and met with former officials of Niger. [Wilson states in "What I Didn't Find in Africa" that this meeting was arranged by the current Ambassador, who had already interviewed them.]
• On March 1, 2002 the CIA published an intelligence assessment, "Niger: Sale of Uranium to Iraq is Unlikely," unrelated to Wilson's trip. This assessment was not provided to Vice President Cheney.
• On March 8, 2002 an intelligence report based on Wilson's trip was disseminated. The report indicated the former Prime Minister of Niger had said no contracts to sell uranium to Iraq were signed during his tenure. An Iraqi delegation had approached him in June 1999, however, to discuss "expanding commercial relations." The Prime Minister took this overture to refer to uranium yellowcake sales. The Prime Minister did not pursue the matter because of the UN sanctions on Iraq then in effect.
• The Senate Intelligence Committee Report finds that Wilson's description of his findings differ from some parts of the DO intelligence report "in some respects":
  • Wilson told the Senate his findings refuted the notion Iraq had sought uranium from Niger.
  • The intelligence report written from Wilson's findings, but not by Wilson, confirms that in 1999 Iraq had approached Niger for increased trade, which was interpreted by the former Prime Minister as suggesting that Niger was seeking uranium.
• The Senate Intelligence Committee Report also finds that Wilson's description of the information provided to him by the CIA differed from the CIA's account.
  • Wilson claimed that the CIA told him about documents pertaining to an alleged uranium sale to Iraq.
  • The CIA reports officer denied giving Wilson any such information and noted there were no such "documents" circulating at the time (44-45).

The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence ultimately concludes in its Iraq Report issued on July 7, 2004 and updated on July 9, 2004:

"Most of the major key judgments in the Intelligence Community's October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), Iraq's Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction, either overstated, or were not supported by, the underlying intelligence reporting."

Overall, however, the Senate Intelligence Committee's Report observes:

Problems with the Intelligence Community's HUMINT efforts were also evident in the Intelligence Community's handling of Iraq's alleged efforts to acquire uranium from Niger. The Committee does not fault the CIA for exploiting the access enjoyed by the spouse of a CIA employee traveling to Niger. The Committee believes, however, that it is unfortunate, considering the significant resources available to the CIA, that this was the only option available."

The "Niger Conclusions" relating to Wilson's op-ed essay about President Bush's "16 words" in his 2003 State of the Union address are Conclusions 12-26.

Selected press commentary and Wilson's responses

Susan Schmidt opens her article on the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report in the Washington Post by stating that it challenges some of the statements made by Wilson and suggests that Wilson's wife was more involved in his selection for the mission than Wilson has repeatedly asserted:

Former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, dispatched by the CIA in February 2002 to investigate reports that Iraq sought to reconstitute its nuclear weapons program with uranium from Africa, was specifically recommended for the mission by his wife, a CIA employee, contrary to what he has said publicly."

This introduction does not, however, take into account wide differences of interpretation relating to Wilson's comments on the matter both in print and in media interviews that she reports throughout the body of her article. Schmidt highlights the following:

The report states that a CIA official told the Senate committee that Plame "offered up" Wilson's name for the Niger trip, then on Feb. 12, 2002, sent a memo to a deputy chief in the CIA's Directorate of Operations saying her 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." The next day, according to the report, the operations official cabled an overseas officer seeking concurrence with the idea of sending Wilson.

But high-ranking CIA officials told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that they disputed the claim that Plame was involved in the final decision to send Wilson and indicated that the operations official who made it was not present at the meeting where Wilson was chosen. As reported by Knut Royce and Tim Phelps in Newsday on 22 July 2003:

A senior intelligence officer confirmed that Plame was a Directorate of Operations undercover officer who worked "alongside" the operations officers who asked her husband to travel to Niger. But he said she did not recommend her husband to undertake the Niger assignment. "They (the officers who did ask Wilson to check the uranium story) were aware of who she was married to, which is not surprising," he said. "There are people elsewhere in government who are trying to make her look like she was the one who was cooking this up, for some reason," he said. "I can’t figure out what it could be." "We paid his (Wilson’s) airfare. But to go to Niger is not exactly a benefit. Most people you’d have to pay big bucks to go there," the senior intelligence official said. Wilson said he was reimbursed only for expenses.

Wilson states in "Sixteen Words," the first chapter of The Politics of Truth:

Apart from being the conduit of a message from a colleague in her office asking if I would be willing to have a conversation about Niger's uranium industry, Valerie had had nothing to do with the matter. Though she worked on weapons of mass destruction issues, she was not at the meeting I attended where the subject of Niger's uranium was discussed, when the possibility of my actually traveling to the country was broached. She definitely had not proposed that I make this trip. (5)

Schmidt renders the quotation from Wilson in a misleading way, however, omitting any sign of her editorial ellipsis:

Wilson has asserted that his wife was not involved in the decision to send him to Niger. "Valerie had nothing to do with the matter," Wilson wrote in a memoir published this year [The Politics of Truth (2004)]. "She definitely had not proposed that I make the trip."

Wilson stood by his assertion in an interview yesterday [July 9, 2003], saying Plame was not the person who made the decision to send him. Of her memo [of Feb. 12, 2002 sent to a deputy chief in the CIA's Directorate of Operations saying her husband "has good relations with both the (Nigerian) 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"], he said: "I don't see it as a recommendation to send me."

Wilson's responses to this article, published in The Politics of Truth, point out significant errors of fact and interpretation in Susan Schmidt's account of the Committee's report:

Her article was replete with factual errors that could have been avoided had she bothered to read the text of the report or even done some basic research, such as looking up the CIA statement made the previous year in the Newsday article about Valerie's lack of involvement in the trip. But she did not. Indeed, her reporting was so sloppy that from the lead sentence she conflated what the three Republican senators––and not even a majority of their own party's representation on the committee––asserted with what the actual report concluded. She even confused Iraq with Iran, a significant error of fact. She aslo quoted a phrase from this book that Valerie "had nothing to do with the matter" without the qualifying phrase in the beginning of the sentence: "other than serve as a conduit." Schmidt asserted that my report, rather than debunking intelligence about the purported uranium sales to Iraq, had bolstered the case for most intelligence analysts. She went further, noting that "contrary to Wilson's assertions and even the government's previous statements, the CIA did not tell the White House it had qualms about the reliability of the Africa intelligence that made its way into 16 fateful words in President Bush's January 2003 State of the Union address."

Both of these assertions were patently false, and even a cursory reading of the body of the report dedicated to the Niger case would have borne that out. (lix)

Wilson's reply particularly to Senators Roberts, Bond, and Hatch was published online as "Joseph Wilson's Letter to the Senate: The Former Ambassador Responds to Allegations by Republican Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee Report Challenging His Credibility" on AlterNet on July 19, 2004.

In a "statement [submitted] to the Congress," former CIA officer Larry C. Johnson further refutes the "allegation" cited most often in the media:

Another false claim is that Valerie sent her husband on the mission to Niger. According to the Senate Intelligence Committee Report issued in July 2004, it is clear that the Vice President himself requested that the CIA provide its views on a Defense Intelligence Agency report that Iraq was trying to acquire uranium from Niger. The Vice President's request was relayed through the CIA bureaucracy to the Director of the Counter Proliferation Division at the CIA. Valerie worked for a branch in that Division. The Senate Intelligence Report is frequently cited by Republican partisans as "proof" that Valerie sent her husband to Niger because she sent a memo describing her husband's qualifications to the Deputy Division Chief. Several news personalities, such as Chris Matthews and Bill O'Reilly, continue to repeat this nonsense as proof. What the Senate Intelligence Committee does not include in the report is the fact that Valerie's boss had asked her to write a memo outlining her husband's qualifications for the job. She did what any good employee does; she gave her boss what he asked for.

Accounts of Valerie Plame's involvement in her husband's selection appear to differ markedly, but the main difference may be semantic. Wilson claims that his wife simply contacted him on the agency's behalf at its behest, responded to her supervisor's request for information, and escorted her husband to the meeting before leaving it, prior to any decision being made; whereas some press accounts whose reliability does appear at times indeed questionable claim that Plame may also have "recommended" her husband by virtue of her writing a summary of his qualifications when he was already being considered. According to the Senate Intelligence Committee's report, "Interviews and documents provided to the Committee indicate that his wife, a CPD [Counterproliferation Division] employee, suggested his name for the trip" (italics added). Nevertheless, as Schmidt clearly states, "Wilson has asserted that his wife was not involved in the decision to send him to Niger," and the Senate Intelligence Committee Report in no way contradicts or even counters that assertion (italics added).

Schmidt states in her July 10, 2003 article in the Washington Post: that the Senate Intelligence Committee Report points to inconsistencies in Wilson's retrospective accounts of his trip to Niger (which Wilson disputes):

The report also said Wilson provided misleading information to The Washington Post last June. He said then that he concluded the Niger intelligence was based on documents that had clearly been forged because "the dates were wrong and the names were wrong.

Nevertheless, Schmidt concludes:

Still, it was the CIA that bore the brunt of the criticism of the Niger intelligence. The panel found that the CIA has not fully investigated possible efforts by Iraq to buy uranium in Niger to this day, citing reports from a foreign service and the U.S. Navy about uranium from Niger destined for Iraq and stored in a warehouse in Benin.

The agency did not examine forged documents that have been widely cited as a reason to dismiss the purported effort by Iraq until months after it obtained them. The panel said it still has "not published an assessment to clarify or correct its position on whether or not Iraq was trying to purchase uranium from Africa."

Selected additional press commentary

An editorial in the Washington Post claims that "Mr. Wilson was the one guilty of twisting the truth and that, in fact, his report [to the CIA] supported the conclusion that Iraq had sought uranium." The last time Iraq sought uranium from Niger, according to the Duelfer Report cited in that editorial, was 1981." The editorial also claims that "President Bush was right to approve the declassification of parts of a National Intelligence Estimate about Iraq three years ago in order to make clear why he had believed that Saddam Hussein was seeking nuclear weapons."

Another editorial, published in the Wall Street Journal, makes similar claims: "In short, Joe Wilson hadn't told the truth about what he'd discovered in Africa, how he'd discovered it, what he'd told the CIA about it, or even why he was sent on the mission. The media and the Kerry campaign promptly abandoned him, though the former never did give as much prominence to his debunking as they did to his original accusations. But if anyone can remember another public figure so entirely and thoroughly discredited, let us know."

In contrast, a Washington Post news report by Dafna Linzer and Barton Gellman, which appears in the same issue of the Wall Street Journal as that editorial, indicates that the White House's disclosure of certain portions of the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) may have misrepresented to reporters the actual level of confidence of the intelligence community in the proposition that Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium. Linzer and Gellman state that "At Cheney's instruction, Libby testified, he [Libby] told [reporter] Miller that the uranium story was a "key judgment" of the intelligence estimate, a term of art indicating there was consensus on a question of central importance. In fact, the alleged effort to buy uranium was not among the estimate's key judgments, which were identified by a headline and bold type and set out in bullet form in the first five pages of the 96-page document." This report further notes that, according to the NIE, "U.S. intelligence did not know the status of Iraq's procurement efforts, 'cannot confirm' any success and had 'inconclusive' evidence about Iraq's domestic uranium operations. . . . The State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, likewise, called the claim 'highly dubious.' For those reasons, the uranium story was relegated to a brief inside passage in the October estimate."

A few days later Dafna Linzer wrote another article in the Washington Post describing a letter from Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald to Judge Reggie B. Walton correcting a sentence appearing in his recent filings describing Scooter Libby's testimony regarding his conversation with Judith Miller about the October 2002 NIE. Purportedly, that sentence states erroneously that Libby "was to tell Miller, among other things, that a key judgment of the NIE held that Iraq was 'vigorously trying to procure' uranium." Instead, the sentence should have conveyed that Libby was to tell Miller some of the key judgments of the NIE "and that the NIE stated that Iraq was 'vigorously trying to procure' uranium."

The Post's ombudsman, Deborah Howell, notes that Dafna Linzer's and Barton Gellman's reporting relied on Fitzgerald's representations in his legal filings, that the editorial was written before the front-page report and that although the writer had not read the report, it would not have changed his mind. She also notes that the basis for the editorial's claim that Wilson's report "supported the conclusion that Iraq had sought uranium" was the fact that there was a meeting between Iraqi and Nigerien trade officials "because that's mostly what Niger has to export." She also observes that the editorial had inconsistently dealt with the report of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, which noted that "the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research analysts believed that [Wilson's] report supported their assessment that Niger was unlikely to be willing or able to sell uranium to Iraq." She advises that "It would have been helpful if the editorial had put statements about Wilson in more context -- especially the controversy over his trip and what he said."

President George W. Bush gave a major speech on 7 October 2002, claiming: "The Iraqi regime . . . possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons." According to a report published in the Washington Post, earlier drafts of that speech included the specific claim that uranium was sought from Niger, but the CIA successfully requested that President Bush's speechwriters remove it.

President Bush included the 16 words in his January 2003 State of the Union address, claiming that a country in Africa had sought uranium, even after the CIA had expressed reservations in October 2002. The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) of October 2002 states that "the claims of Iraqi pursuit of natural uranium in Africa are, in INR's assessment, highly dubious."

David Corn revealed that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA to help determine the use of aluminum tubes purchased by Iraq.

Earlier, in 2002, CIA analysts had testified before Congress that, prior to the Iraq invasion, they believed that Iraq was trying to acquire nuclear weapons and that these tubes could be used in a centrifuge for nuclear enrichment, as claimed by the Bush administration and its supporters and as reported initially in the mainstream media.

On 11 December 2005, the Los Angeles Times reported that French intelligence had warned the Bush Administration repeatedly that there was no evidence that Saddam sought uranium from Niger: "The French conclusions were reached after extensive on-the-ground investigations in Niger and other former French colonies, where the uranium mines are controlled by French companies, said Alain Chouet, the French former official. He said the French investigate at the CIA's request. . . . [T]he essence of Chouet's account — that the French repeatedly investigated the Niger claim, found no evidence to support it, and warned the CIA — was extensively corroborated by [a] former CIA official and a current French government official, who both spoke on condition of anonymity."

Some additional criticism of Wilson

A core feature of Wilson's argument, namely that his wife's role in the CIA was leaked by a senior member (or members) of the Bush White House staff in retaliation for his Op-Ed article, is refuted by the recent book Hubris, by Michael Isikoff and David Corn. Here Isikoff and Corn assert that it was Richard Armitage, Deputy Secretary of State, who revealed this information to Bob Novak sometime before July 8, 2003. An editorial published in the Washington Post on September 1, 2006, concludes:

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. He ought to have expected that both those officials and journalists such as Mr. Novak would ask why a retired ambassador would have been sent on such a mission and that the answer would point to his wife. He diverted responsibility from himself and his false charges by claiming that President Bush's closest aides had engaged in an illegal conspiracy. It's unfortunate that so many people took him seriously.

Finally (it would at first appear), in late August 2006, news accounts revealed that Richard Armitage is indeed the source who had initially disclosed Plame's employment with the CIA to Robert Novak:

Richard L. Armitage, a former deputy secretary of state, has acknowledged that he was the person whose conversation with a columnist in 2003 prompted a long, politically laden criminal investigation in what became known as the C.I.A. leak case, a lawyer involved in the case said on Tuesday [August 29, 2006].

Following Armitage's reported acknowledgment, however, in a column posted in TownHall.com on 14 September 2006, Novak disputes details of Armitage's account of their conversations:

When Richard Armitage finally acknowledged last week he was my source three years ago in revealing Valerie Plame Wilson as a CIA employee, the former deputy secretary of state's interviews obscured what he really did. I want to set the record straight based on firsthand knowledge.

First, Armitage did not, as he now indicates, merely pass on something he had heard and that he "thought" might be so. Rather, he identified to me the CIA division where Mrs. Wilson worked, and said flatly that she recommended the mission to Niger by her husband, former Amb. Joseph Wilson. Second, Armitage did not slip me this information as idle chitchat, as he now suggests. He made clear he considered it especially suited for my column.

An accurate depiction of what Armitage actually said deepens the irony of him being my source. He was a foremost internal skeptic of the administration's war policy, and I long had opposed military intervention in Iraq. Zealous foes of George W. Bush transformed me improbably into the president's lapdog. But they cannot fit Armitage into the left-wing fantasy of a well-crafted White House conspiracy to destroy Joe and Valerie Wilson. The news that he and not Karl Rove was the leaker was devastating news for the Left.

Vallely and McInerney controversies

See also: Alternate theories regarding the Plame affair

On 3 November 2005, retired U.S. Army Major General Paul E. Vallely appeared on the John Batchelor Show on ABC Radio, claiming, according to Art Moore, in an "exclusive" posting on WorldNetDaily, that

the man at the center of the CIA leak controversy, Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, revealed his wife Valerie Plame's employment with the agency in a casual conversation more than a year before she allegedly was "outed" by the White House through a columnist [Robert Novak]. Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely told WorldNetDaily that Wilson mentioned Plame's status as a CIA employee over the course of at least three, possibly five, conversations in 2002 in the Fox News Channel's "green room" in Washington, D.C., as they waited to appear on air as analysts. . . . Vallely said, citing CIA colleagues, that in addition to his conversations with Wilson, the ambassador was proud to introduce Plame at cocktail parties and other social events around Washington as his CIA wife.

"That was pretty common knowledge," he said. "She's been out there on the Washington scene many years."

If Plame were a covert agent at the time, Vallely said, "he would not have paraded her around as he did."

Wilson's response

According to another "exclusive" posted on the blog WorldNetDaily––which appears as a featured link on the John Batchelor Show website––Wilson demanded through his lawyer that Vallely retract these allegations, calling them "patently false":

Ambassador Joseph Wilson's attorney is demanding Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely retract a statement he made to WND that the man at the center of the CIA leak case "outed" his own wife as a CIA employee in conversations more than a year before her identity was revealed in a syndicated column.

A demand letter was sent by Christopher Wolf, partner at Proskauer Rose LLP and counsel for Wilson, to both Vallely and WND tonight.

It disputes Vallely's claim that Wilson mentioned Valerie Plame's status with the CIA in conversations in 2002 in the Fox News Channel's "green room" in Washington as they waited to appear as analysts.

"As you know, that assertion and the claim that Ambassador Wilson revealed to you or to anyone that his wife worked for the CIA is patently false, and subjects you and anyone publishing your statements to legal liability," states the letter.

It continues: "We are writing to demand that you immediately retract the assertion attributed to you and to insist that you stop making the false allegation. In addition, we request that you identify all persons or entitites (sic) to whom you made any claim that Ambassador Wilson revealed his wife's employment at the CIA to you."

According to Farah and Moore, "The e-mail received by WND included earlier comments by Wilson to his attorney:

"This is slanderous," Wilson wrote. "I never appeared on tv before at least July 2002 and only saw him maybe twice in the green room at FOX. Vallely is a retired general and this is a bald faced lie. Can we sue? This is not he said/he said, since I never laid eyes on him till several months after he alleges I spoke to him about my wife."

Subsequently, in subsequent media appearances and via online posts by Art Moore in WorldNetDaily, General Vallely revised the number of times that he claimed to have met and spoken with Wilson specifically about his wife's "employment" for the CIA (yet still not her status as a covert operative) to "one occasion." Wilson vigorously disputed the General's claims regarding any such conversation touching on his wife's "employment."

According to John Batchelor's own post on the blog RedState on November 6, 2005, Lt. General Tom McInerney (USAF Retired) said that Joe Wilson also "boasted" about his wife's job with the CIA to him while they were waiting in the green room at FOX News. Wilson has also labeled these further claims "slanderous," while serving notice of possible legal repercussions on Vallely, McInerney, and WorldNetDaily. Again following Vallely's lead, after being threatened with legal action by Wilson's lawyer, in various later media appearances McInerney has also downsized his claims considerably.

Responses by others

• A compendium of the appearances by Wilson and Vallely on FOX posted on the blog Crooks and Liars reveals that there is only one possible date, September 12, 2002, during which the two would have been in the green room within hours of each other.

• According to Denver criminal defense attorney Jeralyn Merritt, who also scoured the FOX transcripts to compile this information independently and to present all of it and her related "conclusion" in her blog TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime:

My conclusion: Only September 12 is a possibility. That date, Wilson's segment was over 15 minutes before Vallely's began. The Fox green room in New York is very small and contains an even smaller makeup room that only has one guest chair. Guests are by themselves in the makeup room. I assume Wilson would have been having his makeup done before his segment, so Vallely wouldn't have been with him then. Even if they did overlap in the green room for a couple of minutes, it strains credulity to think the topic of Wilson's wife's employment with the CIA would have come up. There likely would have only time for mere pleasantries. [Add: If they were in D.C. instead of New York, ignore this last sentence.]

• Former CIA officer Larry C. Johnson strongly questions the credibility of both Generals, posting on his own blog No Quarter:

I too was a Fox News Contributor in 2002 and spent a lot of time in the Green Room with both Vallely and McInerney. I saw them but never saw Joe Wilson. What is really curious is that I know I spent more time with Vallely and McInerney than Joe Wilson ever did and the subject of my wife (or their wives) never came up.

• Similarly, former Naval intelligence officer and NSA analyst Wayne Madsen posts on his own blog rense.com:

As someone who spent a fair amount of time at Fox News' Washington green room, I can say that Vallely is full of crap. When you are booked by Fox to appear, a car is sent around to pick you up. The car arrives with enough time to transport you to the studios at 400 North Capitol Street, usually 15 minutes before air time. However, most of that time is spent checking in and sitting for makeup. If you happen upon another guest in the green room before sitting for makeup, they are likely only minutes from air time –– certainly not enough time to engage in a biographical rendition about your family with a total stranger. If two guests appeared at the same time at Fox in Washington, they were taken to different studios.

• Brit Hume, managing editor of FOX News, observes:

Liberal Websites say they have proof Vallely is lying, saying research service LexisNexis shows Vallely and Wilson never appeared on FOX on the same day. But in fact, Vallely and Wilson appeared on the same day nine times in 2002, and on the same show twice — on September 8 and September 12, when both men appeared within 15 minutes of one another."

That Vallely and Wilson crossed paths and conversed about Plame in the Green Room is simply not an established or verifiable fact, however. Even if Wilson had mentioned to Vallely that his wife worked for the CIA (which is still highly dubious), Vallely himself makes no verifiable assertion that they discussed her "status" as a "covert operative" of the CIA, which is the particular aspect of her "employment" at issue in any unauthorized disclosures of it relating to Novak's column and the later Grand Jury investigation of the "Plame leak" by Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald.

Support for Wilson

Independent journalists, later journalists in the mainstream media, and other skeptics of the George W. Bush administration vigorously dispute its frequently-repeated claims and the testimony of the CIA agents that the purchase of the aluminum tubes by Iraq constitutes proof of a renewed nuclear enrichment program for the eventual production of weapons of mass destruction. Such ongoing questioning of these still controversial and hotly-debated claims tends to support Wilson's arguments about such rationales for the 2003 invasion of Iraq being part of a "fabric of lies, distortions, and misinformation that it [the administration] had woven and fed the world to justify its war" in his 2004 book The Politics of Truth (414-15).

As Robert Parry observes:

Now, based on a new report about Armitage’s role in leaking Plame’s identity, the New York Times, the Washington Post and other leading U.S. news organizations are joining in a new campaign to disparage those who harbored suspicions about the Bush administration’s actions – from special prosecutor Fitzgerald to former Ambassador Wilson.

For these national journalists who act as if they are oblivious to all the evidence of a long-running White House smear campaign and cover-up, it might be time to pose the “Shawshank Redemption” question: “How can you be so obtuse?”

Of course, in the movie, the warden really wasn’t “obtuse.” He just wanted to keep benefiting from Dufrense’s financial skills and, most importantly, to protect his corrupt schemes. The motives of the Washington news media may be more of a mystery. ("How Obtuse Is the U.S. Press?")

And, as Ian Buruma argues, in his New York Times Book Review of Frank Rich's The Greatest Story Ever Sold:

Newspaper editors should not have to feel the need to prove their patriotism, or their absence of bias. Their job is to publish what they believe to be true, based on evidence and good judgment. As Rich points out, such journals as The Nation and The New York Review of Books were quicker to see through government shenanigans than the mainstream press. And reporters from Knight Ridder got the story about intelligence fixing right, before The New York Times caught on. “At Knight Ridder,” Rich says, “there was a clearer institutional grasp of the big picture.”

Intimidation is only part of the story, however. The changing nature of gathering and publishing information has made mainstream journalists unusually defensive. That more people than ever are now able to express their views, on radio shows and Web sites, is perhaps a form of democracy, but it has undermined the authority of editors, whose expertise was meant to act as a filter against nonsense or prejudice. And the deliberate confusion, on television, of news and entertainment has done further damage. ("Theater of War" 11, col. 1)

Accolades vs. Indifference

On 3 August 2005, Joseph C. Wilson, along with his wife Valerie Plame, received a "Wings of Justice Award" from BuzzFlash.

In the third interview with former Ambassador Wilson conducted by BuzzFlash, on 7 September 2006, they have the following exchange:

BuzzFlash: Reporters and pundits have used various terms -- Plamegate and Wilsongate, among others -- when talking about this administration's treatment of you and your wife, Valerie Plame. BuzzFlash and BuzzFlash readers see it as symbolic of the White House's willingness to betray the national security interests of the United States by seeking vengeance on individuals. We'd like to ask you for an update, on three different levels, to the degree that you can discuss the facts with us despite lawsuits and ongoing investigations.

First of all, there’s a lot of speculation about the Counsel for the Department of Justice and the status of his investigation. Is Patrick Fitzgerald done with his indictments, or is it possible that there will be further indictments?

Joseph Wilson: Let me tell you just as an overview of what this case has been about -- the other day, a friend of mine informed me that he had been in touch with a career Justice Department prosecutor who said that what was done in compromising Valerie’s identity was treason. I think that’s what it is. Betrayal of the national security of my country is an act of treason.

It’s entirely possible that Mr. Fitzgerald will penetrate the veil to get there. He made very clear in his press conference that he was unable to determine certain things about the underlying crimes because he alleged there had been obstruction of justice. I haven’t talked to Mr. Fitzgerald in a long time. I don’t really know what the status of the investigation is. But I have full confidence in Mr. Fitzgerald. He’s proven himself in this and other cases to be a valiant prosecutor, and not to be intimidated by the politically powerful. I fully expect that he can get to the bottom of it. But whatever crime was committed, was committed against the country, not against Joe Wilson, even though Valerie's and my name are associated with it.

BuzzFlash: From a technical standpoint, there’s confusion in the press, as there often is. Is he still continuing an investigation with a second grand jury?

Joseph Wilson: I have no idea where it stands. Mr. Fitzgerald only talks to me when he has questions to ask of me. He doesn’t share with me the yields of the investigation.

I will say this about the apparent confusion in the press: Where they’ve asked the question, they might well get an answer. The fact that they don’t ask indicates that they’re not terribly interested. If the press will continue to serve as apologists for an administration that has done this, then they are either willfully ignorant or complicit in this campaign to destroy the national security of the country, and to use political and official positions to seek personal revenge on people who they deem to be critics.

In the "October/November Preview" published in the American Journalism Review and aptly entitled "Whatever," AJR's editor and senior vice president Rem Rieder similarly observes the "collective yawn" with which the mainstream media appears to have greeted the disclosure that it was Richard Armitage who was Robert Novak's "primary source" in "Plamegate."

Citing "a column agreeing with readers that his paper had underplayed Armitage and that the story belonged out front," Rieder says that "Kansas City Star Readers' Representative Derek Donovan put it well: 'Questioning – even suspicion – of those in power is a dearly-held American tradition, and many critical eyes have long, and I think rightly, focused on Rove's political influence at the White House. 'But that's not the issue here. From a simple standpoint of reporting news equitably, I think the Armitage revelation merited more prominent play.'"

Rieder himself wonders rhetorically:

So why the lame response? The easy answer, and a popular one on the right, is that much-ballyhooed liberal bias of the media. And there's no doubt an episode like this gives great ammunition to those who see the press as a bunch of card-carrying, fire-breathing lefties.

But I'm not buying it. Is that the same bunch of pinkos who were so cowed after 9/11, so credulous in their coverage of WMD? The same ones who brought us the Monica Lewinsky circus? (OK, lying about sex under oath is bad, but worse than leading a nation into an optional war with a dubious rationale, far too few troops and no plans for what to do after the fighting stops?) Or, speaking of long-running, high-profile "scandals" about not so much, the ones who wallowed in Whitewater?

Maybe it's simply a matter of embarrassment. After so much breathless coverage of supposed White House character assassination, maybe the MSM just kind of hoped the whole thing would go away.

Whatever the reason, it was a curious and disappointing performance.

References

• "Action Alert: Intelligence Manipulation at the Washington Post: Paper's Editorial Page Ignores Facts to Back Bush." Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting April 13, 2006.
• "Activism Update: Washington Post Responds to Critics: 'Two Views' of the Truth?" Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting April 19, 2006.
• Bedard, Paul. "Washington Whispers: Wilson adds ammo to hit war credibility gap." US News & World Reports October 20, 2003. [not found in on-line archive]
• Burns, John F. "Iraq Backs Off Its Threat to Execute Diplomats Who Hide Civilians." New York Times September 28, 1990: A6.
• Bush, George W. State of the Union Address whitehouse.gov January 28, 2003.
• Continetti, Matthew. "'A Little Literary Flair': Joe Wilson Wasn't a Truth-teller." The Weekly Standard July 26, 2004.
• Corn, David. "Novak vs. Armitage: Was the Plame Leak Deliberate?" The Nation September 13, 2006.
• "End of an Affair: It Turns Out That the Person Who Exposed CIA Agent Valerie Plame Was Not Out to Punish Her Husband" (Editorial). Washington Post, (September 1, 2006).
• Fleischer, Ari. Press gaggle news release. whitehouse.gov July 7, 2003.
• A Good Leak: President Bush declassified some of the intelligence he used to decide on war in Iraq. Is that a scandal?" (Editorial). Washington Post April 9, 2006.
• Hitchens, Christopher. "Plame's Lame Game: What Ambassador Joseph Wilson and His Wife Forgot to Tell Us about the Yellow-cake Scandal." Slate July 13, 2004.
• Kennedy, Ted. "The Neverending Saga of Phase II." kennedy.senate.gov. Rpt. from The Nation August 9, 2006.
• Leiby, Richard. "Man Behind the Furor: Wilson: Envoy With an Independent Streak." Washington Post October 1, 2003, A01. Rpt. in Biography posted at u-r-next.com n.d. Accessed September 17, 2006.
• May, Clifford D. "Our Man in Niger: Exposed and Discredited, Joe Wilson Might Consider Going Back." National Review Online July 12, 2004. Accessed September 17, 2006.
• Novak, Robert. "Armitage's Leak." TownHall.com September 14, 2006. Accessed September 17, 2006.
• –––. "Errant Former Ambassador." CNN July 15, 2004. Accessed September 17, 2006.
• Parry, Robert. "U.S. Press Bigwigs Screw Up, Again." ConsortiumNews.com (The Consortium for Independent Journalism, Inc) September 14, 2006. Accessed September 17, 2006.
• –––. "How Obtuse Is the U.S. Press?" ConsortiumNews.com (The Consortium for Independent Journalism, Inc) September 3, 2006. Accessed September 17, 2006.
• Powell, Colin. "Defending Claims." Transcript from the Online NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. PBS July 7, 2003. Accessed September 17, 2006.
• Rich, Frank. The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina. New York: Penguin Press, 2006. ISBN 159420098X. Rev. by Ian Buruma, "Theater of War." New York Times September 17, 2006, sec. 7 (Book Rev.): 1, 10.
• Roberts, Pat. "Additional Views of Chairman Pat Roberts joined by Senator Christopher S. Bond, Senator Orrin G. Hatch" on the Senate Intelligence Report. July 9, 2004. Rpt. on GlobalSecurity.org. (No longer archived at original location on Roberts' Senate website. Such press releases are posted on the website of the Senate Intelligence Committee.) Related press releases rpt. on UK site Acronym. [See comments by Matthew Continetti, Susan Schmidt, Clifford May, Robert Novak, and Joseph Wilson also listed herein.]
• –––. "Statement on Niger." Press release of July 11, 2003.
• Rupert, James. "Diplomats Struggle On In Saddam's Capital: Main Task Is Aiding U.S. Hostages." Washington Post (3 October 1990) p. A25.
• Schmidt, Susan. "Plame's Input Is Cited on Niger Mssion." Washington Post. July 9, 2004: A09. [Online registration required.]
• U.S. Senate Select Committee. Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community's Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq. intelligence.senate.gov July 7, 2004. Cf. Version of Report with "Additional Views" July 9, 2004. Template:Pdflink Accessed September 13, 2006.
• Wilson, Joseph C., IV. 'Administration Went After Me and My Wife'. Miami Herald May 2, 2004. Rpt. in the Common Dreams NewsCenter.
• –––. "Debunking Distortions about My Trip to Niger." Washington Post July 17, 2004. Accessed September 19, 2006.
• –––. "Joseph Wilson's Letter to the Senate: The former Ambassador Responds to Allegations by Republican Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee Report Challenging His Credibility. " AlterNet July 19, 2004. [Reply to Senators Roberts, Bond, and Hatch.]
• –––. The Politics of Truth: Inside the Lies that Led to War and Betrayed my Wife's CIA Identity: A Diplomat's Memoir. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2004. Paperback ed., 2005. ISBN 0786715510.
• –––. "A Right-Wing Smear Is Gathering Steam: Ex-envoy Says the GOP Has Targeted Him and His Wife." Los Angeles Times July 21, 2004. Rpt. in the Common Dreams NewsCenter. Accessed September 17, 2006.
• –––. Seeking honesty in U.S. policy. San Jose Mercury News September 14, 2003. Rpt. in the Common Dreams NewsCenter.
• –––. "What I Didn't Find in Africa." New York Times July 6, 2003. Rpt. "What I Didn't Find in Africa." Common Dreams NewsCenter. Both accessed September 17, 2006.

See also

• Alternate theories regarding the Plame affair
• Downing Street memo
• Plame affair
• Plame scandal timeline
• Yellowcake
• Yellowcake forgery

External links

• Biography of Joseph C. Wilson IV on the website of the Corporate and Public Strategy Advisory Group (CPSAG)
• Biography of Joseph Wilson as listed on the website of Greater Talent Network
• Office of Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald