Joseph Wilson and the Truth
by Vincent Fiore

Memo to the people: When you see the words "misspoken," "erred," and "confused," in relation to former ambassador Joseph Wilson, know this. These words are typical Washington beltway qualifiers that seek to say in essence that "I lied," without ever having to say the word "lied."

But as surely as the sun rises and sets upon another Democratic chapter of "The conspiracies of President Bush," Joe Wilson has broken the hearts of many a Democrat this week in Washington -- not by lying, no, but by getting caught.

It seems like ages ago that columnist Robert Novak first alerted the public to the doings of the relatively unknown Wilson. But in a column written on July 14, 2003, Novak wrote of Wilson's trip to Africa in February of 2002 to see if Saddam Hussein's Iraq was trying to buy uranium, or "yellowcake," from Niger.

Fast forward to January 28, 2003 and the president's State of the Union address: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa," said President Bush.

It is here in these now-famous 16 words that Democrats in Congress then and now talk themselves into near apoplexy, saying Bush "misled" the country about pre-war intelligence. But until Wilson went public with a 1400-word op-ed titled "What I Didn't Find in Iraq" in the New York Times on July 6, his findings regarding Iraq trying to purchase uranium went little noticed. In his op-ed, Wilson declared: "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." (www.commondreams.org/views03/0706-02.htm)

But as the Senate Intelligence Committee's July 9 report of this year shows, it is Wilson who twisted intelligence to actually downplay Iraq's nuclear threat. Consider the Senate committee's findings:

• The panel found that Wilson's report, "rather than debunking intelligence about purported uranium sales to Iraq, actually bolstered the case for most intelligence analysis." (www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A39834-2004Jul9)
  
• To this day, British intelligence maintains that Saddam Hussein sought uranium in Africa, recently underlined by a report from The Financial Times of London. The British government states "European intelligence officers have now revealed… human and electronic intelligence sources from a number of countries picked up repeated discussion of an illicit trade in uranium from Niger." The New York Times paraphrased the above with a clear-cut story titled: "Intelligence Backs Claim Iraq Tried to Buy Uranium" The essay leaves no doubt as to the claim of Bush in January 2003 that Saddam Hussein was not only was trying to procure uranium, but had been for years. (www.nytimes.com/financialtimes/business/FT1087373295002.html)
  
• Ambassador Wilson's wife, CIA employee Valerie Plame, "specifically recommended" Wilson for the trip to Africa. In a memo from Plame dated February 12, 2002 to the deputy chief of the Counterproliferation Division (CPD) from Plame, the Senate report concludes that according to the CIA testimony, Plame "offered up his (Wilson) name. (www.gopusa.com/news/2004/july/0713_wilson_plame_intel.shtml)
  
• Wilson misled the Washington Post in June of 2003, when he told the paper that the Niger intelligence was based on documents that had clearly been forged because "the dates were wrong and the names were wrong." In fact, Wilson had never seen the reports. When the Senate committee staff asked Wilson how he could have come to that conclusion, Wilson replied he may have "misspoken" (See first paragraph) to reporters. (www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A39834-2004Jul9)
  
• Contrary to Wilson's claim's that the Bush Administration was knowingly passing along questionable information to the American public, the Senate committee found in its investigations that it was the CIA that did not tell the White House it had its own doubts about an Iraq/Niger connection for the procuring of uranium.

Joseph Wilson has had extensive ties to the Democratic Party throughout much of his time in Washington. Wilson is an unabashed supporter and donor to the Kerry/Edwards campaign for the presidency. In 2000, he donated to Vice President Gore's election, as has his wife, Valerie Plame. In the mid-eighties, Wilson worked for Gore as a congressional staffer. He has donated money to such liberal stalwarts as Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy. He has in the recent past spoken to liberal "527" groups like Win Without War, which is a part of MoveOn.org, the premiere liberal hate group that is renowned for its coarse and hate-inspired political sloganeering.

The architect Frank Lloyd Wright once said, "The truth is more important than the facts." I would amend his words to say "The truth is that much more important because of the facts." In the case of Joseph Wilson, the facts speak for themselves.

Vincent Fiore is a freelance political writer who lives in New York City.