The Wilson-Plame-Rove Sideshow, Part I
By Greg Petty
August 2005

Like the rest of us I have tried to follow the story of what really transpired between Joseph Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame, actions of Bush Administration officials, the invasion of Iraq and the “war on terrorism.” What lessons does it hold for our decision to preemptively attack Iraq. Did we act under false pretenses? Post invasion, how did the exposure of a CIA agent serving our government occur? Were any laws broken? If not laws, was our basic decency degraded and an agent of our government exposed to needless scrutiny and any future role in intelligence gathering? What is the bigger story here?

After reading many sources and reconstructing the timeline, the misgivings I have for the actions of our current government have only intensified.

The Main Players
George Bush, Dick Cheney, his Chief of Staff Scooter Libby, George Tenet, Joseph Wilson, Karl Rove, Robert Novak, Michael Cooper, Judith Miller.

An Abbreviated Timeline
On November 21, 2002 George Bush pulled Don Rumsfeld into a private office off of the Oval room and asked him about the war plan for Iraq. Rumsfeld’s response was that it was out of date and he had no confidence in it or any other plans for other areas. In fact he was in the process of reformulating all of the plans. George asked him to continue and not to speak to anyone about updating the Iraq plan specifically. The cover in case of a leak was that we were updating all of our plans. The lead up to the war had begun.

Late 2001 Dick Cheney then orders his Chief of Staff and the CIA to look into reports by Italian and British reports concerning Iraqi attempts to buy uranium yellowcake from Niger.

February 19, 2002 CIA experts meet to discuss the uranium reports. Valerie Plame introduces Wilson and then leaves the meeting. She spends all of three minutes in the room. Officials raise the possibility to Wilson of traveling to Niger. Wilson, a career Foreign Service officer and former Ambassador, is an expert on Africa and has extensive contacts in Niger.

February 20, 2002 CIA asks Joseph Wilson to visit Niger and report his findings.

February 21, 2002 Wilson leaves for Niger. He meets with the Ambassador Owens-Kirkpatrick who asks him to proceed independently. He meets extensively with current and former Nigerian officials.

March 2002 Wilson delivers his report. There is no evidence to support the claim that a contract for purchase existed or any transfer of uranium took place. The other reports, one by Ambassador Owens-Kirkpatrick and another by Marine Gen. Carlton Fulford, were provided to the Administration with the same conclusions. Three reports, no transfer took place.

October 2002 CIA memos and personal meetings between Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and George Tenet with White House officials. The result is that the language regarding the Niger claim is removed form a speech Bush was to give October 7th.

January 2003 George Bush, in his State of the Union speech utters the 16 words that he knows to be unfounded. “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”

February 5, 2003 Colin Powell makes his case about WMD’s to the United Nations.

March 7, 2003 The IAEA and Mohammed ElBaradei, provide proof that the Niger-Iraqi contract papers were forgeries.

March 8, 2003 State Department admits falling for forged documents.
Wilson speaks on CNN and is later informed that the decision to “out” his wife and to produce a “workup” (a campaign to discredit him) is made by Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby and others.

March 19, 2005 Invasion of Iraq begins

July 6, 2003 The New York Times publishes an Op-Ed article by Joseph Wilson entitles “What I didn’t Find in Africa”. The article criticizes Bush’s remarks and the CIA had provided this intelligence to the Administration.

July 7, 2003 White House retracts the Niger allegation. It is the only admission to date of any error in judgment or the “missing” weapons of mass destruction that were the justification for war against Iraq.

July 8, 2003 Novak admits to a person he only slightly knows that he knows Wilson was sent to Niger because his wife is a CIA agent who is a ‘weapons of mass destruction’ expert. Little does he know he is speaking to a friend of Joseph Wilson’s. Novak goes on to further exclaim that Wilson is an asshole and he only went to Niger because his wife sent him. Wilson’s friend goes directly to Wilson’s office and informs him what transpired.

The Wilson-Plame-Rove Sideshow will be concluded in the September issue of Fifty Plus Lifestyle Magazine of the Triangle.