ok - does anyone know who EXACTLY sent wilson to Niger?

[ourbluenation]

Was it his wife or did she make that recommendation to someone else? freep debate...thx

[Im with Rosey]

1. It remains a mystery to me

I may have missed something when Wilson spoke of it himself, I never did see a single interview with him start to finish.

[laureloak]

2. Fitz does, and that's all that matters.

[tridim]

3. The one thing we do know is Plame didn't have the authority

to send her husband to Niger. That said, it doesn't matter who sent him.. What matters is he discovered that Iraq was not buying yellowcake from Niger and the WH ignored that fact.

[understandinglife]

4. "First conclusion: “The plan to send the former ambassador to Niger was

... suggested by the former ambassador’s wife, a CIA employee.”

That is not true. The conclusion is apparently based on one anodyne quote from a memo Valerie Plame, my wife sent to her superiors that says “my husband has good relations with the PM (prime minister) and the former Minister of Mines, (not to mention lots of French contacts) both of whom could possibly shed light on this sort of activity.” There is no suggestion or recommendation in that statement that I be sent on the trip. Indeed it is little more than a recitation of my contacts and bona fides. The conclusion is reinforced by comments in the body of the report that a CPD reports officer stated the “the former ambassador’s wife ‘offered up his name’” (page 39) and a State Department Intelligence and Research officer that the “meeting was ‘apparently convened by wife who had the idea to dispatch him to use his contacts to sort out the Iraq-Niger uranium issue.”

In fact, Valerie was not in the meeting at which the subject of my trip was raised. Neither was the CPD Reports officer. After having escorted me into the room, she departed the meeting to avoid even the appearance of conflict of interest. It was at that meeting where the question of my traveling to Niger was broached with me for the first time and came only after a thorough discussion of what the participants did and did not know about the subject. My bona fides justifying the invitation to the meeting were the trip I had previously taken to Niger to look at other uranium related questions as well as 20 years living and working in Africa, and personal contacts throughout the Niger government. Neither the CPD reports officer nor the State analyst were in the chain of command to know who, or how, the decision was made. The interpretations attributed to them are not the full story. In fact, it is my understanding that the Reports Officer has a different conclusion about Valerie’s role than the one offered in the “additional comments”. I urge the committee to reinterview the officer and publicly publish his statement.

It is unfortunate that the report failed to include the CIA’s position on this matter. If the staff had done so it would undoubtedly have been given the same evidence as provided to Newsday reporters Tim Phelps and Knut Royce in July, 2003. They reported on July 22 that:

“A senior intelligence officer confirmed that Plame was a Directorate of Operations undercover officer who worked ‘alongside’ the operations officers who asked her husband to travel to Niger. “But he said she did not recommend her husband to undertake the Niger assignment. ‘They (the officers who did ask Wilson to check the uranium story) were aware of who she was married to, which is not surprising,’ he said. ‘There are people elsewhere in government who are trying to make her look like she was the one who was cooking this up, for some reason,’ he said. ‘I can’t figure out what it could be.’ “We paid his (Wilson’s) airfare. But to go to Niger is not exactly a benefit. Most people you’d have to pay big bucks to go there,’ the senior intelligence official said. Wilson said. he was reimbursed only for expenses.” (Newsday article Columnist blows CIA Agent’s cover, dated July 22, 2003).

In fact, on July 13 of this year (2004), David Ensor, the CNN correspondent, did call the CIA for a statement of its position and reported that a senior CIA official confirmed my account that Valerie did not propose me for the trip:

“’She did not propose me’, he said--others at the CIA did so. A senior CIA official said that is his understanding too.’”

Much more at the link:

http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2005/10/update_on_the_l.html

Peace.

[Blaze Diem]

5. Not sure about this either..many stories..I do know, however, that

..Wilson was originally appointed Ambassador to IRAQ by none other than (daddy) GHW Bush in his limited years as President.
He was already involved in that part of the world when Dick Cheney was slithering his way through our hollowed halls via Pres George Bush Sr.

Therefore: Cheney did it.

[karlrschneider]

6. Probably some mid-level CIA bureaucrat, but why does it matter?

Even IF his wife "sent" him (which is a preposterous claim since she obviously didn't have that kind of task in her job description)...or even SUGGESTED it, SO FUCKING WHAT? Who would know better than her about his obvious qualifications and ability to do the errand? He wasn't even paid for it!

[MadisonProgressive]

7. and the bottom line is

it is irrelevant who suggested, or sent him to Niger, nor is it relevant why he was sent or what his motives were. This is all irrelevant to the outing of a CIA agent. If people can't or won't get past this obvious point, I would question THEIR motives.

[Canuckistanian]

9. What a farce

A seasoned covert agent who specializes in WMD's recommends (or even sends) a diplomat with many years of experience in Africa and Iraq to investigate the Niger claims.

What a scandal!

[AlCzervik]

12. and Cheney damn well knew he was going, he was at the cia all the time

around and putting the aqueeze on people.

[Canuckistanian]

16. Yeah, an "unprecedented" number of trips for a VP

He got a daily briefing every day, why did he need to make all those trips?

[damntexdem]

8. Yes, someone in the CIA.

And they have made it clear that it was not his wife who sent him, nor who recommended him. She was asked about him.

[Stevepol]

10. I heard it explained by Larry Johnson I believe that Cheney suggested

while talking to somebody from the CIA that he wanted to know for sure about the Niger story. The CIA guy (Johnson?) took it on his own initiative to send somebody (who turned out to be Wilson) to Niger to ck on the story, thinking he was doing what Cheney wanted done.

So the things said are all true. Cheney didn't actually send Wilson, the CIA did, and it wasn't really Cheney's decision to send somebody, just his comment that spurred a CIA official to take it in hand to send somebody. And all Wilson knew was that Cheney's office had asked the CIA to do this and the CIA had asked him to undertake the jaunt to Niger.

I think the stuff from Larry Johnson, former CIA, probably explains it about as well as it can be explained. Just google something like: Wilson, Niger, Larry Johnson, yellow cake, etc. and see what pops up. Here's one link that could help:

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

[AlCzervik]

11. He was sent because of Cheney's inquiry.

[Ian David]

13. He and Valerie were in an episode of The Amazing Race

"Your next task is a detour. You can either harvest a field of yams, or you can find evidence of Iraq trying to buy yellow cake Uranium..."

[leftchick]

14. the CIA

no one Knows the name of the CIA Person in charge who sent him but is is acknowledged his wife, Valerie Wilson recommended him for the trip due to his expertise and the additional fact he had done a similar mission two years previously. End of that story.

[AngryAmish]

15. Cheney

Now he wants to shoot the messenger.

[EFerrari]

17. They want it both ways.

She was no big deal AND she was so powerful, she could send Wilson to Niger. Freep logic.

Do we know who sent Chimp to Arkansas? :)

[illflem]

18. The freepers are saying Wilson committed treason

by revealing CIA secrets in his first NY Times Op-Ed
Guess that means the CIA sent him