Robert Parry: Cheney and the Plame-Gate Cover-Up
[Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. His latest book, "Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush," was written with two of his sons, Sam and Nat, and can be ordered at neckdeepbook.com. His two previous books, "Secrecy & Privilege: The Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq" and "Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth'" are also available there. Or go to Amazon.com.]
If Dick Cheney is to be believed, he wasn't very upset that former US Ambassador Joseph Wilson criticized the Bush administration for having "twisted" intelligence to support its false pre-war claim that Iraq's Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium from Africa.
In a May 8, 2004, interview with federal investigators, the then-Vice President said he did raise a few internal questions about Wilson's 2002 fact-finding mission for the CIA, which checked out - and knocked down - Cheney's suspicion that Iraq was trying to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger.
But Cheney denied that he unleashed a retaliatory campaign to discredit this early Iraq War critic - nor told anyone to leak the fact that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, worked at the CIA and had a small role in recruiting her husband for the Niger mission...
... Yet, what is remarkable about Cheney's interview - beyond his inability to recall key facts - is that all the anti-Wilson complaints that Cheney cited, no matter how minor or contradictory, became the cornerstones of a sustained assault on Wilson by the Bush administration, congressional Republicans, and right-wing and neoconservative pundits.
It was as if Cheney had written the script not only for his Republican defenders but for the Washington Post's neocon editorial pages, which waged its own war of words against Wilson after he blew the whistle on President George W. Bush's false claims about Iraq seeking uranium.
Even Cheney's weakest points were amplified and exaggerated as they moved through the Republican-neocon echo chamber. For instance, a small point of misunderstanding - Wilson's belief that Cheney had been made aware of the Niger trip since it was Cheney's concern that prompted the mission - was transformed into an accusation that Wilson was a liar.
Wilson was painted as a liar again after Cheney transformed Wilson's accurate comment - about taking on the CIA assignment with the understanding that Cheney was interested in the Niger issue - into a suggestion that Wilson was claiming that Cheney personally picked him for the mission.
Another point made by Cheney - and picked up as an anti-Wilson attack line - was Wilson's remark to CIA debriefers that Niger's prime minister initially suspected that an Iraqi feeler about improved commercial relations might have related to uranium, though it turned out the Iraqis expressed no such interest.
According to the FBI summary, Cheney said he underlined this portion of a March 8, 2002, CIA report on Wilson's debriefing because "he believed it raised a 'red flag,' seeming to show that the former Niger Prime Minister [Ibrahim] Mayaki had been approached about commercial relations with Iraq which the former Prime Minister believed meant yellowcake uranium sales."
Even though it turned out that Mayaki's suspicion was baseless - and thus inconsequential - Cheney's "red flag" was raised repeatedly by Republicans and neocons in their attacks on Wilson, including by the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee which cited this irrelevant point to suggest that Wilson's report had actually supported the Bush/Cheney case for war...
... Overall, the 28-page FBI report on the Cheney interview recalled the anything-goes hostility that the Bush administration and its media acolytes directed at anyone who dared criticize the Iraq War in its early days. Besides Wilson, others on the White House enemies list included former United Nations weapons inspector Scott Ritter and even the Dixie Chicks whose lead singer had spoken out against the war.
If Washington circa 2002-2004 had been a normal place, Wilson would have been praised for his service to the United States. Not only did he take on a difficult government assignment pro bono, he reached the accurate conclusion that Iraq was not seeking uranium from Niger and so informed the CIA...
Read entire article at Truthout
If Dick Cheney is to be believed, he wasn't very upset that former US Ambassador Joseph Wilson criticized the Bush administration for having "twisted" intelligence to support its false pre-war claim that Iraq's Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium from Africa.
In a May 8, 2004, interview with federal investigators, the then-Vice President said he did raise a few internal questions about Wilson's 2002 fact-finding mission for the CIA, which checked out - and knocked down - Cheney's suspicion that Iraq was trying to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger.
But Cheney denied that he unleashed a retaliatory campaign to discredit this early Iraq War critic - nor told anyone to leak the fact that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, worked at the CIA and had a small role in recruiting her husband for the Niger mission...
... Yet, what is remarkable about Cheney's interview - beyond his inability to recall key facts - is that all the anti-Wilson complaints that Cheney cited, no matter how minor or contradictory, became the cornerstones of a sustained assault on Wilson by the Bush administration, congressional Republicans, and right-wing and neoconservative pundits.
It was as if Cheney had written the script not only for his Republican defenders but for the Washington Post's neocon editorial pages, which waged its own war of words against Wilson after he blew the whistle on President George W. Bush's false claims about Iraq seeking uranium.
Even Cheney's weakest points were amplified and exaggerated as they moved through the Republican-neocon echo chamber. For instance, a small point of misunderstanding - Wilson's belief that Cheney had been made aware of the Niger trip since it was Cheney's concern that prompted the mission - was transformed into an accusation that Wilson was a liar.
Wilson was painted as a liar again after Cheney transformed Wilson's accurate comment - about taking on the CIA assignment with the understanding that Cheney was interested in the Niger issue - into a suggestion that Wilson was claiming that Cheney personally picked him for the mission.
Another point made by Cheney - and picked up as an anti-Wilson attack line - was Wilson's remark to CIA debriefers that Niger's prime minister initially suspected that an Iraqi feeler about improved commercial relations might have related to uranium, though it turned out the Iraqis expressed no such interest.
According to the FBI summary, Cheney said he underlined this portion of a March 8, 2002, CIA report on Wilson's debriefing because "he believed it raised a 'red flag,' seeming to show that the former Niger Prime Minister [Ibrahim] Mayaki had been approached about commercial relations with Iraq which the former Prime Minister believed meant yellowcake uranium sales."
Even though it turned out that Mayaki's suspicion was baseless - and thus inconsequential - Cheney's "red flag" was raised repeatedly by Republicans and neocons in their attacks on Wilson, including by the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee which cited this irrelevant point to suggest that Wilson's report had actually supported the Bush/Cheney case for war...
... Overall, the 28-page FBI report on the Cheney interview recalled the anything-goes hostility that the Bush administration and its media acolytes directed at anyone who dared criticize the Iraq War in its early days. Besides Wilson, others on the White House enemies list included former United Nations weapons inspector Scott Ritter and even the Dixie Chicks whose lead singer had spoken out against the war.
If Washington circa 2002-2004 had been a normal place, Wilson would have been praised for his service to the United States. Not only did he take on a difficult government assignment pro bono, he reached the accurate conclusion that Iraq was not seeking uranium from Niger and so informed the CIA...