If Cheney sent Wilson to Niger then doesn't that undercut the theory

[Quixote1818]

that the Administration was trying to squash Wilson because they were afraid he was going to expose a plan to fix Iraq WMD intelligence?

Do we know for sure Cheney sent Wilson? Rhodes keeps saying this but I thought Cheney denied this and it was discovered that Mid level CIA agents dispatched Wilson?

Man, I am having a hard time keeping up with the facts on this story. Their are so many different articles that say things so many different ways. It's very confusing. Someone help me out here. What is accepted factual view on who sent Wilson to Niger?

I do know for a FACT that it was NOT Valerie Plame as Rove said and those on the Right keep saying even today.

[rzemanfl]

1. From what I have read, Cheney did not send Wilson, nor did

Wilson ever say he did. This is a Repuke lie and distraction to make the "Angry Left" angrier and to confuse the dumbasses who still believe a thing BushCo says.

[pinkpops]

4. Yep - one of their official talking points

[Quixote1818]

6. Why does Randy Rhodes keep saying that then?

When she said that today I started scratching my head wondering what the hell she was talking about because I was sure that I heard Cheney didn't send Wilson.

[seabeyond]

15. this is the best i have heard thus far, off a timeline post if you want

Late 2001, early 2002: Phony Niger doc suggests Iraq bought or wanted to buy 550 metric tons of yellowcake uranium from Niger in 1999.

Early 2002: Cheney's office makes it known it wants to check the authenticity of the doc.

Feb 2002: Wilson is enlisted by CIA to check out whether Niger officials had any contact with Iraqis.

on edit: i read a better one that put this together/ i started saving plame stuff today/ let me see if i can find it

[seabeyond]

17. try this

Hersh's book "Chain of Command" boiled down to this:

Just as robertpaulsen quotes page 226:

Fall 2001: CIA receives intelligence report from SISMI, from Italy about the public visit of Wissam al-Zahawie to Niger in 1999.
CIA finds the report to be not credible
(Note: This visit was so not newsworthy that the papers only ran a photo.)

Cheney does not like the analysis

Libby, Wolfowitz and Bolton bacame increasingly sectretive regarding Iraq's WMD intelligence, "there was a reluctance to let the military and civilian analysts on the staff of intelligence."

February 2002 CIA send Mr. Wilson to Niger. "He was known as an idependent diplomat who had put himself in harm's way to help American citizens abroad."
Mr. Wilson was not shown any documents, but was told "of a purported memorandum of agreement"

adding now:
"Wilson told me he was informed at the time that the mission had come about because the Vice President's office was interested in the Itallian intelligence report." (p229)

[Eric J in MN]

2. Maybe there were doubts about the documents, and

Cheney (or his office) wanted someone to look into it hoping that the documents would be verified.

No one is claiming Cheney chose Joe Wilson to go, as far as I know.

[Quixote1818]

9. That basically clears it up for me. Thanks

It sounds like Cheney OKed the mission but as you said he didn't DIRECTLY chose Wilson. So when Wilson came back with information that was contrary to what they wanted and started giving his info to the press and speaking out then they wanted to squash him. That would seem illegal. Trying to suppress information that would undercut the reason to go to war. What a bunch of scumbags.

[skids]

3. Look here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1925615

...everyone, please stop speculating for a half hour and take the time to read this material. Otherwise the "what if's" will never end.

[Jack Rabbit]

5. Somebody in Cheney's office requested the CIA check it out

Somebody in Cheney's office requested the CIA check out a monorandum of agreement between Niger and Iraq for the sale of yellowcake to Iraq. As we know, there was nothing to it.

In response to that, the CIA sent Wilson.

[Quixote1818]

10. Thats what I thought. Thanks

Randi Rhodes needs to be more specific because she is making it sound like Cheney directly sent Wilson.

[JanMichael]

11. That's the most believable version yet of how it started.

The VP office requested a looksy and got bapped on the head by someone in the CIA that sent a free-thinker and not a "Yes" man.

[autorank]

7. Here's the good news. It doesn't matter. Who exposed the agent?

That's the question. It is of interest though. I'd heard Cheney sent him way back.

On that issue, I think it's timing: Cheney sent him; he went; reported back that there was nothing; then, disgusted with * administration actions, he writes the column for the NYT; then * retaliates by going after his wife...and btw, she's a high level top secret agent.

Even the mob left wives and children alone, or tried to. These guys see it as a natural response; lets trash the wife. They want us to believe that "she" sent him since it looks like nepotism or worse and in their sick minds, it justifies going after her.

It's hard to follow the * administration logic since it's so twisted and convoluted unless you're one of them.

Who knows? The shadow knows!

[Jack Rabbit]

20. Here's the lowdown, Autorank

Cheney (or someone working for him) got wind of a memorandum of agreement between Niger and Iraq to sell yellowcake to the former. If this was genuine, it might fit in to their war plans; and even if they weren't planning a war, it would be nice to know more about this.

Somebody in Cheney's office requested the CIA look into it. They sent Joe Wilson. Here is Wilson's version (subscription or day pass required) of the selection process. In any case, Wilson served as a diplomat in Niger many years ago, was the acting ambassador to Iraq during the run up to the 1991 war (when he at one point sheltered American citizens in the embassy and dared Saddam to hang him for it), a former ambassador to Gabon and considered an expert on uranium mining in Africa. He was a good choice for the position.

Wilson spent eight days in Niger and reported his findings to the ambassador. His findings, which were consistent with the ambassador's, was that there was nothing to the story. These findings were communicated orally to the ambassador and her staff. Wilson never filed a written report.

It was only after Bush 2003 SOTU speech, ten months after his mission to Niger, that Wilson suspected something was amiss. Bush's infamous sixteen words contradicted Wilson's findings, although Wilson at first thought Bush was either talking about an African state other than Niger or had information about it that he did not. Later, Wilson came to realize that Bush was talking Niger and the purported yellowcake deal that he was sent to investigate. That is when Wilson decided to write his version of the story in The New York Times. By that time (July 2003), the invasion was an accomplished fact.

[Jack Rabbit]

22. Correction

Cheney (or someone working for him) got wind of a memorandum of agreement between Niger and Iraq to sell yellowcake to the former.

Of course, that should read:

Cheney (or someone working for him) got wind of a memorandum of agreement between Niger and Iraq to sell yellowcake to the latter.

[MichiganVote]

8. Wilsons trip to Niger was encouraged by Cheney through the CIA.

Neither Cheney or the CIA have confirmed that. Plame has denied sending Wilson to Niger. Rove, on the other hand, tried to tell Cooper (Time reporter) that it was Plame who suggested that Wilson go to Niger. Wilson went, established that Niger had committed its uranium to other countries for years on end. Wilson came back, reported that Niger had neither given Iraq uranium, yellowcake, nor had Iraq tried to get it from Niger. The Bush admin. later lied in a speech by Bush that the opposite was true despite being warned by the Brit's and Wilson that the so called "16 words" in Bush's speech were false. Wilson later wrote an article about these and other matters pertaining to the Bush speech assertions.

Rove is reported by McClellan to have said that he was not involved in the Plame business. Both Rove's testimony and Cooper's clearly indicate that Rove lied to McClellan and that he was involved in this story.

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. They thought he would play ball

[Quixote1818]

14. When he did want to play by their rules then they took their ball away

from him and tried to ruin his life, screw his wife over and compromise our National Security. And we thought kids were spoiled!

[spanone]

13. Here's the story from Joe Wilson....

~snip~ In February 2002, I was informed by officials at the Central Intelligence Agency that Vice President Dick Cheney's office had questions about a particular intelligence report. While I never saw the report, I was told that it referred to a memorandum of agreement that documented the sale of uranium yellowcake — a form of lightly processed ore — by Niger to Iraq in the late 1990's. The agency officials asked if I would travel to Niger to check out the story so they could provide a response to the vice president's office.
~snip~

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4020.htm

[H2O Man]

16. Cheney didn't send Wilson.

That's nonsense. We don't have time for nonsense right now.

[wakeme2008]

19. We do not KNOW if it was Cheney that sent him..

ALL Wilson knows is Cheney's Office and that what he has always said.

Could it have been Dickie yes. Probably not but one of his neocons.

[H2O Man]

23. Not at all.

The CIA sent Wilson. No one thinks Cheney sent him. This is a distraction, without value.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

18. As others on this thread have said... What if Cheney expected him to be a

"team player", understanding that the yellowcake story was consistent with the administration party line? Maybe dropped a hint or two?

Wilson saw that it was bogus and couldn't report any other way, and went public because he knew it would be buried by shrubco and was too important to let go.

So Cheney and the rest of shrubco get pissed and decide to hold a necktie party with Wilson and Plame as the honorary guests.

Where is that scenario "undercut"? :shrug:

[Quixote1818]

21. You are probably right

I was thinking the Bush Administration knew it was bogus before Wilson was sent or even if they werent sure, why would Cheney take a chance on the outcome being something they werent going to listen to anyway? Your explination as well as others makes sense.

This administration is so cocky they think they are always right even when they are proved wrong.