Letter from Ambassador Joseph Wilson To The Senate Select Committee On Intelligence

[kpete]

Letter from Ambassador Joseph Wilson

Ambassador Wilson sent the following letter today to the Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Atta boy Joe!

Joseph C. Wilson, IV

Santa Fe, New Mexico

June 1, 2007

The Honorable Jay Rockefeller
Chairman, Senate Select Committee On Intelligence
By Fax

Dear Senator Rockefeller:

I am dismayed that three Republican Senators (a minority of the minority) have again misused the occasion of the publication of an objective investigation by the whole Senate Select Committee on Intelligence of prewar Iraq intelligence to make erroneous assertions about issues unrelated to the Report and to attack improperly prior statements by my wife and me with essentially frivolous claims of purported inconsistency. The record demonstrates that no such inconsistencies exist and that partisan politics, not truth, is the basis for the “additional views” asserted by Senators Bond, Hatch and Burr (“Additional Views”). Moreover, with respect to the specific issue of who recommended my travel to Niger, the testimony of the Reports Officer in his interview in 2003(only just now released) plainly rebuts any possible basis for the Additional Views. That testimony states conclusively: “I recommended that he should go.”

The Reports Officer also stated in 2003:

“I’d like to state emphatically that, from what I’ve seen, Val Wilson has been the consummate professional through all this. From the very start, whenever she mentioned to me and some others that her husband had experience and was willing to travel but that she would have to step away from the operation because she couldn’t be involved in the decision making to send him, in (his) debriefing, (in) disseminating the report and those kinds of things, because it could appear as a conflict of interest.”

The State Department Intelligence and Research Bureau (INR) memo recounting the meeting of February 19, 2002, is clear that the issue of travel to Niger was not a foregone conclusion at the time of the meeting. In fact, I stated forcefully then that I saw no need for anybody to travel to Niger since there was in place a competent Ambassador and staff fully up to speed on uranium issues. I further made it clear in that meeting that if I were to be asked to go, I would have to clear any travel with the State Department and the Ambassador.

The core issue has never been anything the Wilsons have done. Instead, the issue has always been whether the administration misled the Congress and the American people about uranium yellowcake sales from Africa to Iraq. The answer to that question, extensively documented, is conclusive.

In sum, all of the evidence shows the Niger uranium story was never credible and the Administration knew it well before the 2003 State of the Union address. I believe this letter, on behalf of my wife and myself, addresses fully any issues requiring a response in the Additional Views, and also places in proper perspective the unfounded personal attacks in those Additional Views, which have no legitimate place in the Report.

Sincerely,

Joseph C. Wilson, IV

cc. Senator Kit Bond

Senator Orrin Hatch

Senator Richard Burr

http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/06/letter_from_amb.html

[speedoo]

1. Yeah, Joe..

Kick some ass.

K&R

[malaise]

2. K& R

then I M P E A C H

[Lugnut]

3. K&R n/t

:kick:

[L. Coyote]

4. K&R bears repeating ad nauseum "the administration misled the Congress" read LIED

The core issue has never been anything the Wilsons have done. Instead, the issue has always been whether the administration misled the Congress and the American people about uranium yellowcake sales from Africa to Iraq. The answer to that question, extensively documented, is conclusive.

In sum, all of the evidence shows the Niger uranium story was never credible and the Administration knew it well before the 2003 State of the Union address.

---------------
... the issue has always been whether the administration misled the Congress and the American people about uranium yellowcake sales from Africa to Iraq. The answer to that question, extensively documented, is conclusive.

...the evidence shows the Niger uranium story was never credible and the Administration knew it well before the 2003 State of the Union address.

--------------
............ the administration misled the Congress and the American people .......
...............the Administration knew it well before the 2003 State of the Union address..........

--------------
OR They lied to Congress.

[me b zola]

11. ...and now members of the rePublican congress are lying to cover-up the lies

Shouldn't there be a penalty for members of a committee to enter false and misleading statements into the record?

[Usrename]

12. I think it is another crime to add to the laundry list.

TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 47

CHAPTER 47—FRAUD AND FALSE STATEMENTS

§ 1001. Statements or entries generally
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and willfully—
(1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact;
(2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; or
(3) makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry;
shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years or, if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism (as defined in section 2331), imprisoned not more than 8 years, or both.
(b) Subsection (a) does not apply to a party to a judicial proceeding, or that party’s counsel, for statements, representations, writings or documents submitted by such party or counsel to a judge or magistrate in that proceeding.
(c) With respect to any matter within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch, subsection (a) shall apply only to—
(1) administrative matters, including a claim for payment, a matter related to the procurement of property or services, personnel or employment practices, or support services, or a document required by law, rule, or regulation to be submitted to the Congress or any office or officer within the legislative branch; or
(2) any investigation or review, conducted pursuant to the authority of any committee, subcommittee, commission or office of the Congress, consistent with applicable rules of the House or Senate.

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00001001----000-.html

Yep, it's a crime!

If I were handing out sentences, I would add on the extra terrorism penalty years because these monsters are intentionally smearing a person who was working in WMD proliferation. This should be viewed in the light that they are intentionally discouraging people who work in that field from doing their job!

[Peggy Day]

5. I hope he can again be Ambassador-as soon as the Democrats

are back in office-he is always so diplomatic.

[Faygo Kid]

16. Agreed - there should be a role for him in any Dem administration

For Valerie, too, but I suspect she has had enough publicity. Joe is a decent and gracious man who, along with Valerie, has experienced the full fury of the GOP/Fox/Talk radio smear machine. His pride and reputation are intact, thanks to his resolve.

[AnnieBW]

6. K&R for Valerie

For beautiful, brave Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband.

:kick:

[Oilwellian]

7. Hatch, Bond, and originally Roberts

3 snakes that helped this administration lie us into war. I'm so glad to see the Wilsons call them on their crap.

[Hissyspit]

8. K&R

[TacticalPeek]

9. K & R

:kick:

[orleans]

10. k&r nicely said joe (not that rockefeller gives a shit...) n/t

[Lindsey]

13. He's just so f'in gutsy...I hope he and Valerie are having a mellow time

in New Mexico - And her movie better get released!

[dEMOK]

14. R & K,,,

Thank you OP.

[MasonJar]

15. I love Joe. He never lets these partisans get away with anything

without calling them on it. With any normal human being that would slow him down a bit, but not these "morans," whom power has corrupted completely. Wilson is brilliant and the GOPers may as well quit trying to best him. They just do NOT have what it takes, especially when it comes to evidence.

[peacetalksforall]

17. And ... it's time to repeat = he was totally qualified to go on this

mission.

. He had been an Ambassador in the area where yellowcake is found.
. He has been the last State Dept official in Iraq before the Iraq War I - was charged with communicating with Hassein and was praised by Bush, Sr.
. He spoke French fluently - the official European language spoken in Niger.
. He met with the Bush Ambassador and they agreed on a plan that fit the investigation that the Bush Ambassador had already conducted and reported on.
. He admitted that he wasn't a scientist , but he knew plenty about yellowcake because that's the role of any Ambassador to that area - and that it doesn't take a scientist to know about wheeling and dealing or who the wheelers and dealers were.