niger novak

* it's always fun to go back and revisit old articles (i wish i had a mind like emptywheel where i had everything in RAM, permanently). here's novak's original plame article. there are actually quite a few odd statements in there.

in the first para he says:

"The CIA's decision to send retired diplomat Joseph C. Wilson to Africa in February 2002 to investigate possible Iraqi purchases of uranium was made routinely at a low level without Director George Tenet's knowledge."

was wilson a 'retired diplomat' or an ex-diplomat? (not that this is particularly significant - but we can presume this article was vetted multiple times)

he also says that the decision to send wilson was made 'routinely' - which is quite an odd term in retrospect. note also that he spins Tenet away from the story, twice.

2nd para:

"Wilson's report that an Iraqi purchase of uranium yellowcake from Niger was highly unlikely was regarded by the CIA as less than definitive, and it is doubtful Tenet ever saw it. "

note that he spins tenet away again. and note the line that the CIA apparently considered it 'less than definitive' - i've always boggled at the idea that they didnt stick to that line. that was always the smartest line they could have taken (vis the official story) - wilson even said that he was taking his mint teas during the trip - the perfect opportunity for emasculation (more on this later)

2nd para (cont):

Certainly, President Bush did not (see Wilson's report), prior to his 2003 State of the Union address, when he attributed reports of attempted uranium purchases to the British government.

this is odd for a few reasons. firstly the 'certainty' that PreznitBlinky hadn't seen it. secondly that he provides a timeline (bush hadnt seen it 'prior to SOTU' vis tenet 'never saw it'). thirdly, novak seems to hedge and note that Blinky attributed it to the brits. we know, for example, that tenet pulled the claim from the ohio speech in october, and we know that powell knew that it shouldnt have been in sotu. and hadley, and cambone etc etc

2nd para (cont):

That the British relied on forged documents made Wilson's mission, nearly a year earlier, the basis of furious Democratic accusations of burying intelligence though the report was forgotten by the time the president spoke.

the brits were still standing by their position that they had separate intelligence at this time (i think they still are?) - and wilson's report certainly hadnt been 'forgotten' - tenet had recently pulled it, and the americans had first hand knowledge of the niger documents - forged or otherwise - so the brit attribution was certainly a head-fake - rather than a reflection that wilson's report had been 'forgotten'

para3:

"Reluctance at the White House to admit a mistake has led Democrats ever closer to saying the president lied the country into war."

i can hardly think of a single dem saying that bush LIED - why do we have to rely on conservatives to use that word? even today. sheesh.

para3(cont):

Even after a belated admission of error last Monday, finger-pointing between Bush administration agencies continued.

this is libby's defense, today.

para3(cont):

Messages between Washington and the presidential entourage traveling in Africa hashed over the mission to Niger.

that's just an odd sentence

para4:

"Wilson's mission was created after an early 2002 report by the Italian intelligence service about attempted uranium purchases from Niger, derived from forged documents prepared by what the CIA calls a "con man.""

i dont know to this day who 'prepared' the documents - was the CIA really calling him a 'con man' at the time? is 'prepared' a really odd verb to use in this sentence?

para4(cont):

This misinformation, peddled by Italian journalists, spread through the U.S. government. The White House, State Department and Pentagon, and not just Vice President Dick Cheney, asked the CIA to look into it.

'misinformation' is an oddly benign word. 'peddled by Italian journalists' is an odd expression (i cant really cast my mind back to the time)

para4(cont):

The White House, State Department and Pentagon, and not just Vice President Dick Cheney, asked the CIA to look into it.

more oddness. he is saying that the Veep and everyone else wanted the cia to investigate. remember the subsequent brouhaha about whether the veep did it - or the ovp - and WILSONS A LIAR and all that? did everyone - White House, State Department and Pentagon - also ask the CIA? who are novaks sources on this? presumably the same sources that leaked 'plame' - that's certainly very interesting in retrospect, right?

para5:

Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction.

yeah yeah - we know all about this sentence - although it's somewhat interesting that he gratuitously added WMD in there

para5(cont):

"Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him."

it's kinda odd that novak goes out of his way to note that 'counter-proliferation officials' made the decision

para6:

After eight days in the Niger capital of Niamey (where he once served), Wilson made an oral report in Langley that an Iraqi uranium purchase was "highly unlikely," though he also mentioned in passing that a 1988 Iraqi delegation tried to establish commercial contacts. CIA officials did not regard Wilson's intelligence as definitive, being based primarily on what the Niger officials told him and probably would have claimed under any circumstances.

not definitive, and not surprising anyway. why didnt the egadministration stick to this line? its the same trick they pull with every other issue. not this one. i'm also surprised that these contacts go back to 1988 (probably cos i dont know much). i'd always assumed that this was cover for the 1998 efforts by iran to get uranium from niger - but this was actually a decade earlier.

final para:

"After the White House admitted error, Wilson declined all television and radio interviews. "The story was never me," he told me, "it was always the statement in (Bush's) speech." The story, actually, is whether the administration deliberately ignored Wilson's advice, and that requires scrutinizing the CIA summary of what their envoy reported. The Agency never before has declassified that kind of information, but the White House would like it to do just that now -- in its and in the public's interest."

that's quite a powerful para. he is right to ask "whether the administration deliberately ignored Wilson's advice" - but that last sentence is really quite perplexing. let's assume, just say, for current purposes, that novak is a whitehouse shill. why was he goading the cia to disclose that report? was he just pretending that it was in the public's interest, knowing that the CIA wouldnt do that? or did he, and the whitehouse, want the public to know the information about iran attempting to procure uranium from niger?

separate to that - look at the very odd sentence construction (from a fifty-year-journo): "The Agency never before has declassified ..." - that sort of thing would get you thrown out of journalism 101 - it looks like it was written by commitee- if so, why?

more questions, fewer answers, later