An interview with Joseph Wilson - The Nation, David Corn

[TacticalPeek]

But in your book you speculate about the source of the leak--

It's not so much that I'm voicing my speculation. It is more that I am sharing with people outside
the Beltway what credible sources here in Washington have shared with me. And what they
have gleaned is that as early as March there was a meeting in the offices of the Vice President at
which the decision was made to do a workup on me. The cause of this was my appearance on
CNN when I was asked about forged documents (that contained the allegation about Iraqi
uranium-shopping in Niger) and about the State Department spokesman's statement that the
United States had simply fallen for these forgeries. I said that I believed that if the U.S.
government looked into its files it would find that it knew far more about the Niger business than
the State Department spokesman was letting on. And I went further and said that I thought that
the State Department spokesman was either being disingenuous or else was so far out of the
loop he didn't deserve to pick up the meager salary that they pay those guys. Typical hyperbole
from me.

So you believe this signaled to the White House that you knew--because of your trip to Niger a
year earlier--that the we-were-duped cover story was false? And that because of this, White
House officials felt threatened by you and ordered a so-called "workup" on Joe Wilson?

Which I interpreted to mean they basically mounted an intelligence operation to find out
everything they could on me and my habits and everything else. Which in and of itself I find
rather appalling. Who's responsible for running intelligence operations or doing investigations
on people? It certainly isn't the White House.

Maybe in the Nixon administration.

Maybe that's where these guys learned.



more
http://www.thenation.com/capitalgames/index.mhtml?bid=3&pid=1413

[G_j]

1. Helen Thomas

said on Democracy Now that she believes that members of the WH press core KNOW who outed Plame.