Valerie Plame Said Her Husband Could Go To Niger

[Me.]

She didn't say he SHOULD be the one to go. This makes a difference to the spin which has it she was responsible for sending him.

“Up until now, the only knowledge we’ve had of what was contained in the analyst’s report came from fragments in the SSCI report. The document is quoted on Page 40:

An INR analyst’s notes indicate that the meeting was "apparently convened by wife who had the idea to dispatch to use his contacts to sort out the Iraq-Niger uranium issue."

But over at The Next Hurrah, commenters Jeff and pollyusa note that this is not the language used in the actual memo itself:

Meeting apparently convened by Valerie Wilson, a CIA WMD managerial typ and the wife of Amb. Joe Wilson, with the idea that the agency and the larger USG could dispatch Joe to Niger to use his contacts there to sort out the Niger/Iraq uranium sale question.

In the actual memo it says that Valerie Wilson had the idea that "the agency and the larger USG could dispatch Joe to Niger." The SSCI version removes the references to the involvement of these entities and distorts the paragraph to make it look like it was all on Valerie Wilson to send her husband on the trip.” Cont…

http://www.firedoglake.com/

[H2O Man]

1. Right.

The analysts at the Agency picked Wilson, because he had done a quality job in the late 1990s. It wasn't because Valerie wanted him to enjoy all of the pleasures associated with a vacation in Niger.

[stellanoir]

6. That he paid for on his own. BTW

A fun filled trip to Niger to check out collapsed and flooded uranium mines. WooHoo. . . Everybody's dream vacation.

She didn't have the authority to send him. She did however have the clout to recommend him based on both of their past superlative service. Big diff but far too subtle for the sensibilities of the dittoheads.

[H2O Man]

8. I get a laugh

out of the republicans and other assorted creatures (Christophen Hitchens) who still focus on Wilson's having drank mint tea there. Mint tea? How can we possibly trust a man who drinks mint tea with issues of national security?

In a short time, I think the attacks on Wilson, his wife, and Fitzgerald will be taken to another level in the media. I note the NY Sun had come out in favor of its readers donating to the Scooter Libby Defense Trust .... I think there will be a Rove Fund very soon.

[stellanoir]

12. ooooooo I missed the mint tea part of the scandal

Yikes I drink that too. So will I soon be outed ??? Egads.

I take it you aren't kidding about the NY Sun. Unfriggingbelievable.

[babylonsister]

2. It wasn't her decision to make anyway, right? nt

[LSK]

3. Right

She brought him into CIA for a meeting and wasnt even at the meeting.

[Canuckistanian]

4. And so what if she did?

Joseph Wilson was the perfect choice to go anyways.

He was the last Deputy Chief of Mission in Iraq. He worked in Africa for years, including the embassy in Gabon. He helped Clinton develop an Africa policy for the NSC.

G.H.W. Bush called him "courageous" and "truly inspiring".

He was fully versed in African and Iraqi politics. He regularly worked with US intelligence agencies. There was no one who had more qualifications.

And so what, exactly, is the big deal about Plame recommending him?

[LSK]

5. exactly, he was the most qualified person for the job

[Me.]

7. Quite

However the lie that came out of Robert's committee was that she chose him to go and which they hammered calling the whole thing a boondoggle. This memo is proof that once again they flat out lied, just like the rez lied when he said that he didn't know any thing about leaks

[peacetalksforall]

9. Wilson told us on radio - the CIA approached her about Wilson going.

He agreed to talk. She walked him into meeting and left.

He conducted the search pro bono and was only reimbursed for costs of the trip.

Paraphrased. Correct me if I got it wrong - but, based on what he told us - not Victoria Toensing or Joe DeGenova's version of the story.

[Peace Patriot]

10. The whole thing is a side-track--deliberate crumbs placed down the

wrong path, in order to mislead. All it had to be was somewhat plausible, as the sort of thing that Rove or Libby might blurt out in their irritation at Joe Wilson. It's misdirection--to make a political motive for outing Plame seem likely. OF COURSE the truth of the matter is that BOTH Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame were eminently qualified to be involved in investigation the Niger claim. She was the head of a covert counter-proliferation project. He had distinguished himself as amassador in both Iraq and Niger. And, in fact, his marriage to Plame ENHANCED his qualifications and his chances of success on the mission. That was never the point of the story (to somehow allege nepotism). The point was to hide the real reason for outing Plame and her entire WMD counter-proliferation network--the excuse for destroying that network and putting all of its covert agents and contacts at risk of getting killed. As to that, there are several possibilities, including: Cheney/Bush Cartel illicit arms dealings or other crimes that the network was getting onto, or (my bet), a specific plan, by the Bushites, to plant nukes in Iraq after the invasion, to be "found" by the US troops who were "hunting" for them (egged on by embedded NYT war propagandist Judith Miller)--a plan that was foiled by the Plame/Brewster-Jennings counter-proliferation network (and possibly involving the Brits' chief WMD expert David Kelly, who was suicided the same week that Plame and Brewster-Jennings were outed).

Plame being married to Wilson has nothing to do with anything. The Bushites used it--and continue to use it--as a ruse.

[Disturbed]

11. The exposure of Brewster Jennings was...

Treason. Fitz knows this but cannot prove that Bush, Cheney, Rove, Libby and others commited Treason, yet. Many former members of the CIA and most of the rank and file know this, as well.

[SeaBob]

13. Valerie Plame

lets get the record straight. Valerie plame was not in a position to authorize her husband to travel anywhere on behalf of the CIA. Travel authorizations come from a different department of the government