AlexEvans

washingtonpost.com

From the Washington Post:

The leaker was Armitage, one of Powell's people, but the disclosure of Plame's CIA employ was made inevitable by Wilson's lies. Not only did he lie about the yellow-cake - which Iraq did try to buy - but he also claimed that Cheney chose him for the mission, a claim that besides being untrue never made any sense. From that point it was a matter of time before somebody found out the truth.

It's just too bad that it took this long for the truth to be accepted. Except for Armitage's role, all of this has been known for quite some time. But at least the Washington Post has written a fairly clear editorial on the issue.

And Iraq did try to buy yellow-cake, of course.

jalapeno_wildchild

interesting info.

ceilirose

Fred Hiatt, who wrote this editorial, leans conservative. Anything he says (and this is an editorial - not a news article) should be taken with a grain of salt. Certainly it shouldn't be taken verbatim. Editorials are never cold, hard facts but always contain some sort of spin. That goes for either side of the politcal spectrum.

Wilson never said that Cheney sent him to Niger. Here is the relevant section of his op-ed piece in the NYT -

times.com/2003/07/06/opinion/06WILS.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5007&en=6c6aeb1ce960dec0&ex=1372824000&partner=USERLAND

Cheney's office wanted someone to investigate the charges. The CIA sent Wilson. I've never found anything anywhere that says that Cheney specifically sent Wilson. I'd love to see something in Wilson's own words that says that. Please give me a link to that.

From what I remember the Italian Intelligence Agency refuted the claim that Iraq was trying to buy Yellow Cake from Niger. The contact that was giving that information was unreliable. That information was given to the CIA and who knows how it was spun after that.

I think it's still fairly clear if you still believe that the Iraq War was waged because of the threat of WMD. Otherwise no.

Also the criminal charges against Libby still stand and the civil charges brought by the Wilsons have not been thrown out. I doubt this editorial will do much to damage those cases. Plamegate is still alive..much to the chagrin of some.

ceilirose

It's getting more involved. Robert Novak who leaked Plame's name is saying that Armitage didn't tell him her identity in a casual manner but urged him to write about it in his column.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/...n2007325.shtml

Who is telling the truth here?

The civil trial should be interesting since it could potentially involve major players in the Bush Administration.