1 Boring Old Man

eriposte is on fire! His posts are complex and this one’s no exception:

The "Scooter" Libby Trial and Uranium from Africa
Part 4: The Under-Reported War on Joseph Wilson

…

To summarize: A series of events – one of which was entirely made up – in which no Iraqi or Iraqi proxy uttered the word "uranium" or mentioned "uranium" in any document are somehow considered by Libby, his lawyer and their pals in the Bush administration as shomehow supportive of the premise that Iraq was recently seeking significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Indeed, the CIA and DIA did not really consider Wilson’s trip as supporting the "sought uranium" allegation. Despite this, the Bush administration continued – and Libby and his lawyer still continue – to peddle the fiction that Wilson’s trip provided support for the uranium claim.

You’re on your own with this one. His logic is complicated, but worth the effort. The gist of it is that Administration not only ignored Joseph Wilson’s report of his trip to Niger, they actually used it as evidence that Niger and Iraq were dealing with each other about Yellowcake Uranium when they submitted information to the International Atomic Energy Agency – the opposite of his conclusion! It’s proof of volitional deceit, planned lying, conscious manipulation – whatever you want to call what Joseph Wilson said in the first place on July 6, 2003:

What I Didn’t Find in Africa
by Joseph C. Wilson 4th

Did the Bush administration manipulate intelligence about Saddam Hussein’s weapons programs to justify an invasion of Iraq?

Based on my experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war, I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq’s nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.

…