How many Americans have actually followed the story about the Valerie Plame, Joe Wilson, Yellowcake, Niger, Iraq, uranium purchase attempts, CIA leak scandal? I mean really know what's going on and not just the media's constant drooling over the possibility of indictments against Senior White House officials? With Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald coming to the close of his investigation, speculation on top of speculation rampages through the MSM and the blogosphere. As democrats salivate at the prospect of destroying one of the President's closest aids, Karl Rove, Republicans are left wondering what really happened. I admit that I am one who has only kept up with this story through the headlines and I wasn't really too interested one way or the other. Perhaps it is being naive, but I just didn't see the big deal or why the media thought this was more important than the really important things this country faces every day. But, now that the investigation is winding down and more of the story and the timeline is being published, I'm playing catch up. I'm no more convinced now about the rightful legs of this story. From what I can tell, every one and his brother knew Valerie Plame was Joe Wilson's wife, the fact was even published in his public bio. (Note: based on my own working knowledge of Washington from my days as a lowly Congressional staffer, I'm betting that it'll turn out that it was Joe Wilson's own big mouth that brought the attention to the fact that his wife was CIA. Although, I'm sure this fact was probably already so well known, it probably wasn't even considered significant. Washington is really nothing more than one big gossip soup.)
The following article by Stephen F. Hayes details the sequence of events as well as some of the outright lies of Joe Wilson and some doozy misrepresentations by the various players including the media. I highly recommend it to all who want to bring themselves up to speed about this whole subject or those who just love a good "whodunnit?"
The White House, the CIA, and the Wilsons
The chain of events that gave rise to a grand jury investigation.
by Stephen F. Hayes
10/24/2005, Volume 011, Issue 06FOR TWO YEARS, THE political class in Washington has followed with intense interest the story of Joseph Wilson and the events that led to the compromising of his wife's identity and undercover status as a CIA operative. The rest of the country seems to have responded with a collective yawn. That will soon change if special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald issues indictments of senior White House aides in his investigation of the alleged leaking of Mrs. Wilson's name.
The narrative constructed to date by the mainstream media is uncomplicated: The White House exaggerated claims of Iraq's efforts to obtain uranium from Niger despite objections from the CIA and the broader U.S. intelligence community. In the late spring of 2003, Joseph Wilson laid bare this White House deception with firsthand accounts of his involvement in the intelligence-gathering. Bush administration officials quickly became obsessed with Wilson, and their anger drove them to retaliate, exposing Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, by leaking her identity to reporters.
Think this is oversimplified? Here is a Washington Post summary of the events leading up to the investigation, from July 27, 2005:
[Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald] began his probe in December 2003 to determine whether any government official knowingly leaked Plame's identity as a CIA employee to the media. Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, has said his wife's career was ruined in retaliation for his public criticism of Bush. In a 2002 trip to Niger at the request of the CIA, Wilson found no evidence to support allegations that Iraq
was seeking uranium from that African country and reported back to the agency in February 2002. But nearly a year later, Bush asserted in his State of the Union speech that Iraq had sought uranium from Africa, attributing it to British, not U.S., intelligence.
Simple. Clean. And very misleading. The real story is considerably more complicated.
ON OCTOBER 15, 2001, the CIA received a report from a foreign government service that the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein had struck a deal with the government of Niger to purchase several tons of partially processed uranium, known as "yellowcake." The first report was met with some skepticism. The CIA found the substance of the report plausible but expressed concern about its sourcing. The State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) was more dubious. INR thought it unlikely that the government of Niger would take the substantial risks involved in doing illicit business with a rogue regime. INR analysts also expressed doubt that the transaction could have taken place because the uranium mines in Niger are controlled by a French consortium, which would be reluctant to work with Saddam Hussein--an objection that seems naive with the benefit of hindsight.
On October 18, 2001, the CIA published a Senior Executive Intelligence Bulletin that discussed the finding. "According to a foreign government service, Niger as of early this year planned to send several tons of uranium to Iraq under an agreement concluded late last year." The report noted the sourcing: "There is no corroboration from other sources that such an agreement was reached or that uranium was transferred." ... CONTINUE READING
UPDATE: Lively discussion in the "comments" section here. More amateur analysis here and at Powerline here.
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