Declassifying National Intelligence Estimate
Just a reminder to those that may be confused by what they read in the liberal newspapers, Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald has charged Scooter Libby with perjury and not with disclosing the identity of a covert CIA agent. I know this fact bothers the hate-Bush crowd, but it is a fact. Also, the perjury that Mr. Libby is alleged to have committed is that he "lied" about the day he told the truth.
Below I produce excerpts of the May 6, 2003 op-ed piece by New York Times columnist, Nicholas D. Kristof. Note the date of the piece, May 6, 2003. This is over two months before Robert Novak's July 2003 column that stated Valerie Plame Wilson was a CIA analyst. The envoy listed in Kristof's column is Joseph Wilson; I suspect some of what Mr. Wilson shared with Mr. Kristof was classified but let's not concern ourselves with that! Also, Mr. Wilson apparently shared this information with Mr. Kristof over a breakfast attended by just three people: Mr. Kristof, Mr. Wilson and Mrs. Plame Wilson. Do ya think Mr. Kristof didn't know Plame Wilson's job prior to May 6, 2003? If he didn't, he should have his journalism license revoked. Anyway, the excerpted piece (italics mine for emphasis):
Why truth matters, Nicholas D. Kristof, May 6, 2003
When I raised the Mystery of the Missing W.M.D. recently, hawks fired barrages of reproachful e-mail at me. The gist was: "You *&#*! Who cares if we never find weapons of mass destruction, because we've liberated the Iraqi people from a murderous tyrant."
But it does matter, enormously, for American credibility. After all, as Ari Fleischer said on April 10 about W.M.D.: "That is what this war was about."
I rejoice in the newfound freedoms in Iraq. But there are indications that the U.S. government souped up intelligence, leaned on spooks to change their conclusions and concealed contrary information to deceive people at home and around the world.
Let's fervently hope that tomorrow we find an Iraqi superdome filled with 500 tons of mustard gas and nerve gas, 25,000 liters of anthrax, 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin, 29,984 prohibited munitions capable of delivering chemical agents, several dozen Scud missiles, gas centrifuges to enrich uranium, 18 mobile biological warfare factories, long-range unmanned aerial vehicles to dispense anthrax, and proof of close ties with Al Qaeda. Those are the things that President Bush or his aides suggested Iraq might have, and I don't want to believe that top administration officials tried to win support for the war with a campaign of wholesale deceit.
Consider the now-disproved claims by President Bush and Colin Powell that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger so it could build nuclear weapons. As Seymour Hersh noted in The New Yorker, the claims were based on documents that had been forged so amateurishly that they should never have been taken seriously.
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 (Blogger's Note: In no report to the CIA does Mr. Wilson use this phrase or anything remotely close; some 7 months after his visit to Niger, Mr. Wilson cautioned in a war with Iraq, Saddam Hussein would "fight dirty") and that the documents had been forged (Blogger's Note: Mr. Wilson is on record as saying he never saw the "forged" documents; Mr. Kristof doesn't bother making this clear; why would he, it harms his and Mr. Wilson's agenda).
The envoy reported, for example, that a Niger minister whose signature was on one of the documents had in fact been out of office for more than a decade. In addition, the Niger mining program was structured so that the uranium diversion had been impossible. The envoy's debunking of the forgery was passed around the administration and seemed to be accepted except that President Bush and the State Department kept citing it anyway . . . . (End of excerpt)
So, basically, Mr. Wilson can share whatever he wants with the liberal media and the President of the United States cannot. I guess if critics of President Bush are allowed to cherry-pick information, leak it to the media and shape the spin and the President is not allowed to respond then his poll numbers just might fall.
Just a reminder to those that may be confused by what they read in the liberal newspapers, Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald has charged Scooter Libby with perjury and not with disclosing the identity of a covert CIA agent. I know this fact bothers the hate-Bush crowd, but it is a fact. Also, the perjury that Mr. Libby is alleged to have committed is that he "lied" about the day he told the truth.
Below I produce excerpts of the May 6, 2003 op-ed piece by New York Times columnist, Nicholas D. Kristof. Note the date of the piece, May 6, 2003. This is over two months before Robert Novak's July 2003 column that stated Valerie Plame Wilson was a CIA analyst. The envoy listed in Kristof's column is Joseph Wilson; I suspect some of what Mr. Wilson shared with Mr. Kristof was classified but let's not concern ourselves with that! Also, Mr. Wilson apparently shared this information with Mr. Kristof over a breakfast attended by just three people: Mr. Kristof, Mr. Wilson and Mrs. Plame Wilson. Do ya think Mr. Kristof didn't know Plame Wilson's job prior to May 6, 2003? If he didn't, he should have his journalism license revoked. Anyway, the excerpted piece (italics mine for emphasis):
Why truth matters, Nicholas D. Kristof, May 6, 2003
When I raised the Mystery of the Missing W.M.D. recently, hawks fired barrages of reproachful e-mail at me. The gist was: "You *&#*! Who cares if we never find weapons of mass destruction, because we've liberated the Iraqi people from a murderous tyrant."
But it does matter, enormously, for American credibility. After all, as Ari Fleischer said on April 10 about W.M.D.: "That is what this war was about."
I rejoice in the newfound freedoms in Iraq. But there are indications that the U.S. government souped up intelligence, leaned on spooks to change their conclusions and concealed contrary information to deceive people at home and around the world.
Let's fervently hope that tomorrow we find an Iraqi superdome filled with 500 tons of mustard gas and nerve gas, 25,000 liters of anthrax, 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin, 29,984 prohibited munitions capable of delivering chemical agents, several dozen Scud missiles, gas centrifuges to enrich uranium, 18 mobile biological warfare factories, long-range unmanned aerial vehicles to dispense anthrax, and proof of close ties with Al Qaeda. Those are the things that President Bush or his aides suggested Iraq might have, and I don't want to believe that top administration officials tried to win support for the war with a campaign of wholesale deceit.
Consider the now-disproved claims by President Bush and Colin Powell that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger so it could build nuclear weapons. As Seymour Hersh noted in The New Yorker, the claims were based on documents that had been forged so amateurishly that they should never have been taken seriously.
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 (Blogger's Note: In no report to the CIA does Mr. Wilson use this phrase or anything remotely close; some 7 months after his visit to Niger, Mr. Wilson cautioned in a war with Iraq, Saddam Hussein would "fight dirty") and that the documents had been forged (Blogger's Note: Mr. Wilson is on record as saying he never saw the "forged" documents; Mr. Kristof doesn't bother making this clear; why would he, it harms his and Mr. Wilson's agenda).
The envoy reported, for example, that a Niger minister whose signature was on one of the documents had in fact been out of office for more than a decade. In addition, the Niger mining program was structured so that the uranium diversion had been impossible. The envoy's debunking of the forgery was passed around the administration and seemed to be accepted except that President Bush and the State Department kept citing it anyway . . . . (End of excerpt)
So, basically, Mr. Wilson can share whatever he wants with the liberal media and the President of the United States cannot. I guess if critics of President Bush are allowed to cherry-pick information, leak it to the media and shape the spin and the President is not allowed to respond then his poll numbers just might fall.
posted by Zack at 9:17 AM
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