I want to make sure I understand the chronology of Plame gate right, and then I have a few questions:
The way I understand the chronology of Plame gate is this (and correct me if I am wrong):
- There is suspicion that when the Iraqi ambassador to Italy visited Niger with his large complement of intelligence agents, that his secret agenda was to obtain enriched uranium for a nuclear program that would be advanced once the sanctions withered away (see Kenneth Pollack’s book "The Threatening Storm).
- British intelligence produced documents, which later turned out to be forgeries, which seemed so to substantiate that claim.
- Cheney wanted validation of the claim, so he asked the CIA to investigate.
- Valerie Plame either volunteered or was assigned the job, she decided to send her husband, Joe Wilson, who went to Niger in early 2002.
- Joe Wilson could find no evidence for the claim, and reported as such. We assume this was reported not only to Cheney, but also to Defense, State, and and to Bush
- Bush uses the British assessment (which they have never retracted), ignoring, as far as we can tell, Wilson’s report, as part of his rationale for invading Iraq.
Wilson hears Bush’s claim in January 2003, but doesn’t not speak up until July 2003. If Wilson knew that Bush was using discredited information, why didn’t he write his NY Times article in February, when it could have been used as part of the argument against the invasion? Here is my question:
Why did he wait? I have friends who have met Wilson, and describe him as an honorable patriot, who only wanted to expose the lies. They can’t tell me why he waited until it was too late to use his knowledge to prevent the war. Any theories out there?
And Libby’s motivation for outing Plame: what it that the administration felt that Plame took on this mission and sent her husband because they were already against the war? In other words, is Bush via his proxy Cheney/Libby, saying that Wilson/Plame were on a mission to discredit the adminstation, and not really just to gather intelligence? Are they claiming that within the CIA there was a plot to undermine the administration?