FirmhandKY
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Here is a timeline that discusses the series of events that led Joe Wilson's comments and finally to the outing of his wife Valerie Plame. It is what it is. If others have more reliable sources than this to ascertain facts.. fine.
I am basically trying to cut through the bullshit regarding why he said what he did, why his wife ended up outed, his motivations behind his comments, and whether or not he and his wife being a democrats had anything to do with their decision to alter the history of the importance about his trip to Niger and his conclusions about the importance of the Iraq efforts to produce atomic weapons.
quote:
1. February 26, 2002 – Wilson arrives in Niger . He concludes, after a few days of interviews, that “it was highly unlikely that anything was going on.” (Senate Intelligence Cmte., Iraq 42, July 2004).
2.March 5, 2002 –Wilson reports back to two CIA officers at his home. Valerie Wilson is present but does not participate. (Senate Intelligence Cmte., Iraq 43, July 2004).
3. January 28, 2003 – Bush’s State of the Union Address includes this 16-word sentence: “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. ” (Transcript of “ State of the Union" ).
4. February 6th, 2003 A "Big Cat" With Nothing to Lose (from Wilson's website) By Joseph Wilson Originally Published on Feb. 6, 2003 by the Los Angeles Times
There is now no incentive for Hussein to comply with the inspectors or to refrain from using weapons of mass destruction to defend himself if the United States comes after him.
And he will use them; we should be under no illusion about that.
5. February 28th, 2003 NOW with Bill Moyers Transcript. Bill Moyers Talks with Joseph C. Wilson
MOYERS: President Bush's recent speech to the American Enterprise Institute, he said, let me quote it to you. "The danger posed by Saddam Hussein and his weapons cannot be ignored or wished away." You agree with that?
WILSON: I agree with that. Sure. I…
MOYERS: "The danger must be confronted." You agree with that? "We would hope that the Iraqi regime will meet the demands of the United Nations and disarm fully and peacefully. If it does not, we are prepared to disarm Iraq by force. Either way, this danger will be removed. The safety of the American people depends on ending this direct and growing threat." You agree with that?
WILSON: I agree with that. Sure. The President goes on to say in that speech as he did in the State of the Union Address is we will liberate Iraq from a brutal dictator. All of which is true. But the only thing Saddam Hussein hears in this speech or the State of the Union Address is, "He's coming to kill me. He doesn't care if I have weapons of mass destruction or not. His objective is to come and overthrow my regime and to kill me." And that then does not provide any incentive whatsoever to disarm.
6. March 8th, 2003 CNN SATURDAY Interview With Joseph Wilson Aired March 8, 2003
WILSON: Well, the report I saw said that the Brits were involved. Maybe it was the British that passed this report on. I don’t know who else might have been involved, but I can tell you this: The report in "The Washington Post" today said — quoted a U.S. official as saying, "we just fell for it."
That’s just not good enough. Either he’s being disingenuous, or he shouldn’t be drawing a government paycheck.
SAN MIGUEL: So how do you play this, then? I mean, what, do you admit it, do you just move on? Do you try to get these things verified if you do believe, indeed, that Iraq was trying to buy this material from Niger? I mean, how do you handle this? What’s the damage control on this?
WILSON: I have no idea. I’m not in the government. I would not want to be doing damage control on this. I think you probably just fess up and try to move on and say there’s sufficient other evidence to convict Saddam of being involved in the nuclear arms trade. But Dr. ElBaradei yesterday was pretty clear. He doesn’t see that this is happening.
SAN MIGUEL: We’ll have to leave it there. Joseph Wilson, former acting ambassador to Iraq for the U.S., thank you very much for your time.
7. March 19, 2003 – President Bush announces the start of the Iraq war in a televised address, saying it is “to disarm Iraq , to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.” (Bush, “ Addresses the Nation" ).
8. May 2nd, 2003 Senate Democratic Policy Committee Conference (from the Vanity Fair profile):
In early May, Wilson and Plame attended a conference sponsored by the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, at which Wilson spoke about Iraq; one of the other panelists was the New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof. Over breakfast the next morning with Kristof and his wife, Wilson told about his trip to Niger and said Kristof could write about it
9. May 6, 2003 – A New York Times columnist (Nicholas Kristof) writes the first account of Wilson' s trip, but not naming him: “I'm told by a person involved in the Niger caper that more than a year ago the vice president's office asked for an investigation of the uranium deal, so a former U.S. ambassador to Africa was dispatched to Niger . In February 2002, according to someone present at the meetings, that envoy reported to the C.I.A. and State Department that the information was unequivocally wrong.” (" Missing In Action: Truth, ” New York Times, Op-ed, May 2003).
10. May 2003 – Joseph Wilson begins advising the Kerry campaign on foreign policy issues. ( White House expects calls… ,” USA Today, October 2003)
He advises for at least 6 months, campaigns for Kerry in at least 6 states, and even assists in speech writing. (Spouse of Outed CIA officer signs on with Kerry, Washington Times)
11. June 12, 2003 – A Washington Post article quotes an “envoy” (Wilson ) as saying that the “dates were wrong and the names were wrong” on the Italian document determined to be forged by the IAEA. (" CIA Did Not Share Doubt…, ” Washington Post, June 2003). Wilson later tells the Senate Intelligence Committee that he may have “misspoken” to reporters, thinking he had seen the documents himself, rather than reading about them secondhand. (Senate Intelligence Cmte ., Iraq 44).
12. July 6, 2003 – Wilson publishes " What I didn’t find in Africa" in The New York Times, identifying himself for the first time as the unnamed “envoy.” He writes:
Based on my experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war, I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.
...
I thought the Niger matter was settled and went back to my life. (I did take part in the Iraq debate, arguing that a strict containment regime backed by the threat of force was preferable to an invasion.)
...
The question now is how that answer was or was not used by our political leadership. If my information was deemed inaccurate, I understand (though I would be very interested to know why). If, however, the information was ignored because it did not fit certain preconceptions about Iraq, then a legitimate argument can be made that we went to war under false pretenses.
...
I was convinced before the war that the threat of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of Saddam Hussein required a vigorous and sustained international response to disarm him. Iraq possessed and had used chemical weapons; it had an active biological weapons program and quite possibly a nuclear research program — all of which were in violation of United Nations resolutions. Having encountered Mr. Hussein and his thugs in the run-up to the Persian Gulf war of 1991, I was only too aware of the dangers he posed.
But were these dangers the same ones the administration told us about?
13. July 2003 - Joseph Wilson "Restore Honesty" portion of the John Kerry website (taken from the July 26th version from www.waybackmachine.com):
But I wasn't ready to keep quiet when this President misled the nation in his State of the Union Address.
Because of that, leakers in the Bush White House illegally revealed that my wife worked in the CIA - endangering her life and that of my family. They tried to intimidate me and others who were willing to speak up and tell the truth.
...
But let me tell you, what I have done doesn't hold a candle to the courage that John Kerry showed as a young man and throughout his political career. I am supporting him for President because he has been willing to tell the truth no matter what the pressure. He is ready to restore truth and honor to the White House. And I hope that everyone else who is outraged by this Administration and who wants to change America will join me in doing all you can to make John Kerry our next President.
...
To speak out against bad policies after a career of accomplishments, as I recently did, is a civic duty.
...
George Bush's Administration has betrayed our trust - I know that personally. I am honored to endorse John Kerry and to commit myself to his campaign to wrest our democracy back from those who have so squandered the public trust.
14. January 2004 Vanity Fair profile - Wilson's comments about his CNN interview with Renay San Miguel mentioned in item 6:
On the weekend of March 8, a U.S. official admitted, "We fell for it," about the Niger documents. A signature on one letter, dated October 10, 2000, was that of a foreign minister who hadn't been in office for nearly 11 years. Wilson appeared on CNN and told news anchor Renay San Miguel that he believed that if the U.S. government looked into its files it would find it had known a lot more about the Niger uranium story than it was now letting on.
There is much more, but I did not want to do all the work here. The last point I put emphasis on because I wanted to point out that the media makes a stink out of the Plame outing, not of her husband;s apparent partisanship and twisting of the truth to favor whatever version of events he thinks will best suit his agenda.
It is a bit of a misnomer to say that Wilson didn't go after the Bush Admin, when any objective person can easily see how he has operated.
FirmKY
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Some people are just idiots.
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RE: Fact Check and Valerie Plame - 
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