The Cult That's Running the Country, By Joseph Wilson

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Mon May-03-04 06:57 PM
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The Cult That's Running the Country, By Joseph Wilson

Edited on Mon May-03-04 06:59 PM by G_j

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/050404B.shtml

The Cult That's Running the Country
By Joseph Wilson
Salon.com

Monday 03 May 2004

Joseph Wilson blasts the secretive neoconservative cabal that plunged America into a disastrous war, in this excerpt from his new book.
After making the Sunday rites of passage on the big television news shows, I began cutting back such appearances. I had answered all the questions that were being asked and had nothing else to offer on the subject. It did not matter, as the Right renewed its attack: I was a publicity seeker. The president lied and the White House had attacked my wife, but I was a publicity seeker. Of course, if it was publicity I was after, my campaign was a flop. Prior to Novak's article, I was still known as the last American diplomat to have met with Saddam Hussein. Now I had become Mr. Valerie Plame. "Welcome to the Dennis Thatcher club," a husband of a well-known woman said to me, a reference to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's spouse.

The press coverage was very positive toward Valerie and me. So was the outpouring of support from across the political spectrum, from Pat Buchanan on the right to Jesse Jackson on the left. Serious people understood what had happened. It was only a small cadre of right-wing zealots and the White House itself that continued trying to spin the story and make of it something it was not. I was particularly offended when President Bush, asked about the leak on October 7, claimed, "I want to know the truth." However, eager to place the responsibility upon journalists rather than shoulder it himself, he added, "You tell me: How many sources have you had that's leaked information, that you've exposed or had been exposed?" He added, "Probably none," making it clear that his question had been only a rhetorical one. Bush capped off his comments that day with a statement that infuriated me, and many people whom I later heard from: "This is a large administration and there's a lot of senior officials ... I have no idea whether we'll find out who the leaker is, partially because, in all due respect to your profession, you do a very good job of protecting the leakers." His lack of genuine concern stunned and disappointed me.

More than four years earlier, on April 26, 1999, the president's father, not only a former president but also former Director of CIA, spoke at the ceremonial rededication of CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, which would be known henceforth as the George Bush Center for Intelligence. Referring to those who would expose clandestine officers, he said, "I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors." For his son to pretend he was a mere onlooker in his own administration was dishonorable.

As of this writing, in February 2004, two years have passed since I traveled to Niger. Who could have imagined that journey would lead through such a maze of intrigue, so much deceit on the part of a presidential administration, and such enormous harm to my wife? It has been an existential rollercoaster ride, and the wheels have not yet come to rest. Even so, there are lessons the experience has taught me, and some lessons that I believe the country can learn, from this tragic war of choice that should never have been undertaken, and from the unprecedented disclosure that my wife was an undercover CIA officer.
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Wilson's Turn
by Ambassador Joseph Wilson

An interview with the diplomat who exposed the truth behind the White House allegation that Iraq sought to purchase significant quantities of uranium from Niger:

"...I responded to what I felt was a lie in the President's State of the Union Address that needed to be corrected. I did my civic duty and held my government to account for statements it had made. The government acknowledged that the 16 words about Iraq purchasing uranium from Niger did not rise to the level of inclusion in the State of the Union Address. And then the administration went out to savage my family and myself.

"... what I have to say to people who might come forward is that one of the great things about our democracy is freedom of the press. And if we don't exercise that, we run the risk of losing it. One must always keep one's government under control. The government serves the people-not vice-versa."

http://tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/10327