What exactly did Joe Wilson lie about?

[Tony_FLADEM]

Joe Wilson said Iraq was not trying to purchase Uranium from Niger. Now, did they find Uranium in Iraq after the invasion? I don't think so. Why would Iraq try to purchase Uranium if they did not have an on-going Nuclear Weapons program. Under what circumstance would Niger refuse to sell Uranium to Iraq had they sought to buy it?

[indepat]

1. You'll just have to trust them if they say Wilson or anyone else lies

[thinkingwoman]

2. nothing

He didn't lie. Rove and the RNC are lying.

[dogday]

3. If they had proof of anything, they would not hesitate

to put it out there. They are just telling lies...

[KarenInMA]

4. If the RNC says you're a liar, chances are

you're a pretty honest man.

Decorated veteran=war criminal

Draft dodger= Strong on Defense.

Republican logic is not like our earth logic.

[madeline_con]

11. not like our earth logic.

:rofl:

[politicaholic]

5. That's the thing, they might as well have called him a "toaster"...

it would have made just as much sense.

[shraby]

6. I believe the lies are what is called a

coverup. Coverups are a great big no-no.

[boston bean]

7. I Don't know lol lol lol they won't tell us n/t

:spray:

[KC21304]

8. As far as I know, he has admitted he made a mistake

in the date he saw the forged document and that is all. The rest is all the parrot droppings the press is eager to pass on from the RNC.

[TheFarseer]

9. As far as I can tell

They are saying he lied when he said Dick Cheney sent him personally to Niger. This is a wild distortion of the truth. As best I can figure he *might* have said something to the effect of the VP wanted someone to go on this mission and THEY are taking that to mean he said the VP handpicked and sent him personally, when, as every Sean Hanitty listener knows, his wife sent him personally. There are so many things wrong with this I don't even know where to begin!

[applegrove]

10. I think Wilson may have implied that the person who said "Rove says

your wife is fair game" came from a friend of a friend rather than a direct phone call from Tweety. (If I remember correctly).

Nothing wrong with blowing a little smoke to hide the exact circle of information. Woodward did that with DT I think. Wilson had a source to hide. He had been attacked. Why should he have exposed himself or Tweety to be attacked again. Wilson was already a target. The Karl Rove WH was not deserving of 'good clear information' on how Wilson found out at that point.

[Synnical]

12. New York Post Editorial will tell ya all about it

Edit for a misspelling and to add comment.

Sorta - 'cause it's all hyperbole. (I found this via a link from the Washington Post - I don't visit the NY Post website!)

Use Bugmenot for registration info

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/editorial/25925.htm

ROVE RAGE: HE'S NOT THE VILLAIN

<snippage>

* Contrary to Wilson's claims, his presence on the mission was not authorized by CIA Director George Tenet or Vice President Cheney.

* Despite his insistence that Plame "had nothing to do with the trip," the Senate committee concluded that she had, indeed, "suggested his name" for the Africa mission.

* Wilson's original findings — far from discrediting evidence that Saddam was seeking uranium in Niger — actually "lent more credibility to the original CIA reports on the . . . deal," according to the Senate report.

* The official British investigation into prewar intelligence concluded that "it is accepted that Iraqi officials visited Niger in 1999" and that "the British government has intelligence from several different sources indicating that this visit was for the purpose of acquiring uranium." (French intelligence separately confirmed this information.)

Which is precisely what President Bush told the nation.

Which is why the British report declared conclusively that "the statement in President Bush's State of the Union Address . . . was well-founded."

Joseph Wilson, in other words, lied thoroughly and repeatedly.

Karl Rove knew that — and tried to warn Matt Cooper off those lies.

That's how administrations — espe cially those that regularly have to contend with a rabidly hostile press corps — defend themselves.

And the Bush administration needed defending from Joseph Wilson — who shopped his lies and found a willing buyer in The New York Times.

Frankly, we wish Karl Rove had explained all this long ago.

After all, he had done the right thing.

But by denying any involvement, Rove undercut himself and the administration — not the first tactical error this White House has made.

Still, the bottom line here is that Karl Rove acted to protect the president against a partisan, blatantly false smear on a matter with grave national security implications.

Again, for the record, Rove did the right thing.

It is simply outrageous that he is cast as the villain in this episode — while Joseph Wilson, a disgraceful liar, skates.

[wookie294]

17. Novak debunks some of the lies by GOP

Novak said Plame did not hire Wilson. Novak said: "At the CIA, the official designated to talk to me denied that Wilson's wife had inspired his selection but said she was delegated to request his help."

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20031001.shtml

Secondly, Wilson never said Cheney or Tenet hired him. Wilson said: "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 .... 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."

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0706-02.htm

[Synnical]

19. This is all easily debunked

Raw Story has the GOP Talking Points and Larry Thompson wrote about Valerie Plame's role at the CIA here:

http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/7/13/04720/9340

A few of my classmates, and Valerie was one of these, became a non-official cover officer. That meant she agreed to operate overseas without the protection of a diplomatic passport. If caught in that status she would have been executed.

The lies by people like Victoria Toensing, Representative Peter King, and P. J. O'Rourke insist that Valerie was nothing, just a desk jockey. Yet, until Robert Novak betrayed her she was still undercover and the company that was her front was still a secret to the world. When Novak outed Valerie he also compromised her company and every individual overseas who had been in contact with that company and with her.

The Republicans now want to hide behind the legalism that "no laws were broken". I don't know if a man made law was broken but an ethical and moral code was breached. For the first time a group of partisan political operatives publically identified a CIA NOC. They have set a precendent that the next group of political hacks may feel free to violate.

They try to hide behind the specious claim that Joe Wilson "lied". Although Joe did not lie let's follow that reasoning to the logical conclusion. Let's use the same standard for the Bush Administration. Here are the facts. Bush's lies have resulted in the deaths of almost 1800 American soldiers and the mutilation of 12,000. Joe Wilson has not killed anyone. He tried to prevent the needless death of Americans and the loss of American prestige in the world.

But don't take my word for it, read the biased Senate intelligence committee report. Even though it was slanted to try to portray Joe in the worst possible light this fact emerges on page 52 of the report: According to the US Ambassador to Niger (who was commenting on Joe's visit in February 2002), "Ambassador Wilson reached the same conclusion that the Embassy has reached that it was highly unlikely that anything between Iraq and Niger was going on." Joe's findings were consistent with those of the Deputy Commander of the European Command, Major General Fulford.

The Republicans insist on the lie that Val got her husband the job. She did not. She was not a division director, instead she was the equivalent of an Army major. Yes it is true she recommended her husband to do the job that needed to be done but the decision to send Joe Wilson on this mission was made by her bosses.

At the end of the day, Joe Wilson was right. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It was the Bush Administration that pushed that lie and because of that lie Americans are dying. Shame on those who continue to slander Joe Wilson while giving Bush and his pack of liars a pass. That's the true outrage.

The debunking is easy - and it's all been reported on various DU forums.

[wookie294]

20. So, Valerie's company was a foreign "covert agent"

Interesting! Releasing Valerie's name to the media meant that the name of the undercover FOREIGN agents in her company were also released and compromised. Since they were "foreign" and "covert," a crime occurred. This is huge!

[PowerToThePeople]

13. He lied about nothing.... n/t

[xray s]

14. he didn't lie

but the mere fact that you have to ask that question means the Rove spin machine is getting the job done, because most people won't even bother to ask your question

hell, just watch the morons on the "news" bobble their heads every time a BushWhore repeats "Joe Wilson lied" "Uh huh...ok"

[spanone]

15. N O T H I N G.....

[boston bean]

16. Actually

they are lying about what they say he lied about. ok?

[LSK]

18. Nothing

They say he claims Cheney sent him, but he NEVER has.

They also try to claim that the results of his trip were proven wrong, but no, they were not.

Read this for comic relief:
http://www.gop.org/News/Read.aspx?ID=5630

You will never see such spinning in all your life.