Salon: "A True American Hero" (Joseph Wilson)

[kskiska]

Joseph Wilson stood up to Saddam -- then to the Bush administration. The man who exposed the president's bogus uranium claim talks about why he spoke out and the White House's ugly "revenge" against him and his wife.

In 1991, President George Bush introduced Joseph Wilson to his war Cabinet, calling the veteran diplomat "a true American hero." By any standard, Wilson deserved such praise. As the senior U.S. diplomat in Iraq during Operation Desert Shield, the massive U.S. military buildup in Saudi Arabia after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, Wilson was responsible for freeing 150 American hostages seized by the Iraqi dictator. Indeed, he was the last U.S. diplomat to meet with Saddam Hussein, in August 1990, following Saddam's notorious July 25 meeting with U.S. ambassador April Glaspie, who failed to warn Saddam not to invade Kuwait. Wilson advocated a muscular response to Saddam's aggression, and though he sought a diplomatic solution, supported Operation Desert Storm. During his highly decorated 23-year career, Wilson also held the position of political advisor to the commander in chief of the U.S. Armed Forces in Europe and was ambassador to Gabon.

(snip)

On July 14, two senior administration officials told syndicated columnist Robert Novak, a reliably pro-GOP journalist, that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA operative and had been responsible for sending him to Niger. The message sent by the administration leakers was about as subtle as a Tony Soprano neck massage: Mess with us and we'll destroy you -- or your wife's career.

The political firestorm that erupted exposed a moral tawdriness in the White House and the national GOP that not even the president's most ardent supporters could deny. Revealing the name of a CIA agent is an extremely grave offense, and the leak undeniably came from the White House. Yet rather than expressing moral outrage and demanding the head of the guilty party or parties, the head of the Republican National Committee, Ed Gillespie, actually went on a smear campaign against Wilson, telling talk shows that he was a Democrat with a partisan agenda who had given money to Al Gore's presidential campaign. (Gillespie failed to say that Wilson had also given money to George W. Bush's campaign, which Wilson supported for a time.) It was a shocking example of arrogance and moral myopia: Had the head of the Democratic Party during the Clinton years sunk to this level, it's almost impossible to even imagine the outraged reaction.

more…
http://salon.com/news/feature/2003/10/10/wilson/index.html

[Cha]

1. Kick

:kick:

[Pallas180]

2. the chimp is covering for his "brain", Rove. Together with all the rest of

his lies and deceptions, Nixon's fate should be meeting up with him. It's
hard to see how he would stay in office to November 2004 without impeachment
hearings beginning.

[pfitz59]

3. Criminal offense....

Treason in a time of 'war' is capitol offense. Failure to prosecute is obstruction of justice. Cover-up is accessory after the fact. Heads must roll!

[izzie]

4. It does not seem that you can be in the GOP unlss you .....

do just as they wish and they seemed to have gone so far to the right it is hardly the party that I once was in.