Wilson`s Tempest in a Sweet Mint Teapot

I was over at Gindy`s where I chimed in on a discussion about this whole Valerie Plame affair. It seems to me that there is a great deal of ignorance about this situation, and I did a quick rundown on what actually occured (and tried to straighten out some liberals who the brilliant but mannerly Gindy was too gentlemanly to browbeat.) I decided this would make a good post here at Birdblog.

Joe Wilson had been in the Foreign Service, reaching his peak immediately prior to Gulf War I when he was acting Ambassador to Iraq, and made a name for himself by getting people out before the bombs dropped. He was then appointed in `92 to be Ambassador to Gabon. Now, such plum positions as Ambassador to Gabon are usually reserved for high-powered diplomats who have previously worked as power brokers in such demanding positions as the mail room, the secretarial pool, and the janitorial staff. That Wilson could qualify for such duty speaks volumes about his competence and importance. Wilson served throughout the Clinton years, retiring from his Ambassadorship in 1995. (It`s interesting to note that he calls himself George Bush`s Ambassador despite serving during the Clinton years. Also, voluntary retirement is at age 50 in the CIA, and Wilson retired at age 48! hmmm..) After the election of George W. in 2000, Wilson dropped out of government service, living off of his status as former ambassador, and off of his wife Valerie Plame`s CIA salary.

Wilson was notorious for being politically partisan, and he hated the ``neocons`` whom he saw as subverting the government. He once stated that they had taken over the government and that he intended to do everything in his power to bring them down. He made the following statement in the left wing The Nation magazine:


Then what's the point of this new American imperialism? The neoconservatives with a stranglehold on the foreign policy of the Republican Party, a party that traditionally eschewed foreign military adventures, want to go beyond expanding US global influence to force revolutionary change on the region. American pre-eminence in the Gulf is necessary but not sufficient for the hawks. Nothing short of conquest, occupation and imposition of handpicked leaders on a vanquished population will suffice. Iraq is the linchpin for this broader assault on the region. The new imperialists will not rest until governments that ape our worldview are implanted throughout the region, a breathtakingly ambitious undertaking, smacking of hubris in the extreme. Arabs who complain about American-supported antidemocratic regimes today will find us in even more direct control tomorrow.

Ambassador Wilson can hardly be considered a non-biased or moderate voice, considering statements like that, yet he was constantly referred to in those terms by a media hell-bent on embarassing President Bush.

Wilson says he was approached by the CIA for his mission to Niger. What he failed to mention, and what he has vigorously denied, is that the person who approached him was his wife, Valerie Plame. Now, this is an important point. It proves that a.Wilson is a liar (according to Robert Novak.) and b.there is something fishy about this entire expedition. No one at CIA will admit to giving the go-ahead on Wilson`s big adventure. No one outside of the CIA has any recollection of suggesting Wilson go. The question arises-why would the CIA send a barely competent ambassador to conduct an investigation of this magnitude? Wilson had no investigative experience, no knowledge of investigative methods, and any people he knew in Niger in the `80`s were probably no longer in the loop. Yet, according to the Ambassador, his country needed him, and when the call came he heroically answered.

So what did Wilson actually do? He sat in a hotel lobby at tea-time and engaged anybody who passed in conversation. Gee! His approach smacks of genius! Those man-in-the-street interviews are guaranteed to get secret information! Wilson also mentions speaking to a couple of government officials, and insists that they said they were clean. I seem to remember James Carville and Paul Begala saying Clinton was clean when asked about Monica Lewinski, and they never really changed their answer despite a little stain...

So, our brave hero goes to Niger, sits around in Kaffeklatch with passing tourists, then returns home to write a report for the CIA. Ooops, wrong again! He (supposedly) delivers an oral report to the CIA (no one seems to remember talking to him) then immediately writes an Op-Ed claiming that President Bush made up the entire Yellowcake story to get us into war. He does not feel bound to maintain confidentiality (which a CIA agent would) but blabs to all and sundry the story of his ``mission`` and how those evil Neocons have hijacked the World.

Meanwhile, according to numerous reports both here and in Britain, shoeless Joe (he couldn`t do any legwork in Niger) turns out to be dead wrong and the accusations that Iraq tried to buy yellowcake uranium proved to be true! Do we hear a retraction, either from our hero, or from the mainstream press? Nooo! Instead, we are treated to a new line of attack.

Valerie Plame, Wilson`s dear sweet wife, had worked undercover at the CIA years before, but had been working as an analyst at Langley. (Analysts are not undercover.) Robert Novak, writing about the affair, chose the unfortunate term ``operative`` to describe Plame. This set off a firestorm in the media and with Democrats, both of whom were eager for any kind of scandal to use against the President. Clifford May, writing in National Review, explains this in better detail. For a crime to be committed, the leaker has to knowingly divulge the information against someone who is currently classed as ``covert``. Plame`s identity was common knowledge, and she was listed at Who`s Who in America as working for the CIA! This hardly warrants the hysterical reaction we have seen.

The Democrats and Media insisted on an investigation of the ``leak``, and now they think they have something with some innocuous comments from Karl Rove. This is the moment they have been waiting for! They think they can bring down Rove, and perhaps will have grounds for Impeaching the President! (They have been determined to find a way to pay back for Bill Clinton, and have been grasping at any hint of scandal in the hopes that they can stick something to Bush.) Now they think they have found something, and they will pursue this will all vigor. You doubt that? This is an old strategy from their moth-eaten playbook. Remember James Watt? He was Reagan`s Secretary of the Interior, and the Democrats and Media hounded him out of office. Remember the abuse Alexander Haig received? Remember the effort to bring down George H.W. Bush over Iran-Contra? We can go back even further; remember Spiro Agnew? Hillary Clinton and Richard Ben Venista worked to get Agnew removed and wanted the Democrats to not confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President, so the Democrat House Speaker would become President (in other words, they wanted a coup.) Baseless accusations of scandal and malfeasence are mother`s milk to them.

Consider the accusations of wrongdoing against President Bush. He was falsely accused of ducking his military service, of using war to promote profits for his ``oil buddies``, of being stupid and a puppet of Dick Cheney (just as Reagan was accused of being stupid and a puppet of Alex Haig), of using the 911 attacks to make himself emperor, of encouraging torture at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo, of lying to America to start a needless war. Cheney has been accused on the floor of the Senate (by Patrick Leahy) of starting the Iraq war to make money for his ``oil buddies`` (so much for Senatorial ``comity``; it only applies to Republicans.) How about the abuse of John Ashcroft.

Now the forces of darkness (Democrats and Media) are trying to use an off-handed comment to the Prince of Darkness (Robert Novak) to bring down President Bush`s chief political advisor. They believe Karl Rove is some sort of mad scientist, and in complete control of the stupid President, because, as John Kerry said, ``I can`t believe we are losing to this guy.`` Surely, Rove is engaged in some evil machinations which have been costing the pure and innocent Democrats elections. If only they can get rid of Rove...

They simply cannot accept that their day is past, and that, with the advent of the internet, talk radio, and Fox News, their stranglehold on the dissemination of information is broken, and with that their power. They are unwilling to face that their philosophy has been proven wrong by the forces of history, and that America knows it. They care more for their own power than for the security of the nation, and they can no longer hide that fact, so their options have dwindled to ankle-biting and mosquito buzzing.

What they don`t understand is that America is learning the truth about them, and that they can no longer tar and feather their enemies.

For more on information, check out this, and this from Clifford May.