It was once said that history is a lie agreed upon. Joe
Wilson has told enough lies. He doesn't need any help
from the media.
Joe Wilson: Stop Me Before I Lie Again!
Posted by John Hudock
Common Sense and Wonder
Here is a good, short summary of the Joe Wilson case presenting the facts rather than the fantasy increasingly spun by much of the MSM.
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In an analysis of Joe Wilson's credibility, The Washington Post claims his charge that President Bush lied about Iraq seeking uranium in Niger "has been validated." It hasn't — and Bush never said that.
There it was, on Page A3 of Tuesday's edition, an analysis by Post staff writers Dana Milbank and Walter Pincus, claiming:
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"Wilson's central assertion — disputing President Bush's 2003 State of the Union claim that Iraq was seeking nuclear material in Niger — has been validated by postwar inspections."
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What Bush actually said was:
"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein
recently sought significant quantities of uranium from
Africa."
Africa, not Niger. The "claim" was not made by Bush, but by British intelligence, and Bush said Hussein had only sought yellowcake, not that he had succeeded.
Both a bipartisan report of the U.S. Senate Committee on Intelligence and a British investigation of prewar intelligence have confirmed that when Bush uttered those famous 16 words in a 5,400-word State of the Union, his statement was "well-founded" based on intelligence that was then, and is now, credible.
Not only that, but it is former Ambassador Wilson, whose statements have been cited as "proof" Bush lied us into war, who has been found to have contradicted himself and possibly given false testimony to Congress. In an addendum to the report, Sen. Pat Roberts and two other Republicans said Wilson provided "inaccurate, unsubstantiated and misleading" information.
We know now that Wilson himself reported that former Prime Minister Ibrahim Mayaki of Niger told him of a 1999 visit by the Iraqis to discuss "commercial relations" with a country whose major export was uranium.
Wilson's debriefing upon his return from Africa, according to the report, provided "some confirmation of foreign government service reporting" that Iraq had sought uranium in Niger.
The Senate report states that British and French intelligence reported separately to the CIA about Iraqi procurement efforts in Niger, with the committee citing separate reports received from foreign intelligence services on Oct. 15, 2001; Feb. 5, 2002; and March 25, 2002, that Iraq was indeed seeking to purchase yellowcake.
As Robin Butler, head of the British investigation, says in his report:
"It is accepted by all parties that Iraqi officials
visited Niger in 1999. The British government had
intelligence from several different sources indicating
that this visit was for the purpose of acquiring
uranium. Since uranium comprises almost three-quarters of
Niger's exports, the intelligence was credible."
Like the Senate findings, the Butler report vindicates Bush:
"We conclude also that the statement in President Bush's
State of the Union Address of 28 January 2003 that 'The
British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein sought
significant quantities of uranium from Africa' was well-
founded."
Was Prime Minister Tony Blair also lying when he told the British Parliament in 2003:
"In the 1980s, Iraq purchased somewhere in the region of
200 or more tons of uranium from Niger. The evidence that
we had that the Iraq government had gone back to try to
purchase further amounts of uranium from Niger did not
come from so-called forged documents; they came from
separate intelligence."
It was once said that history is a lie agreed upon. Joe Wilson has told enough lies. He doesn't need any help from the media.
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