Everyone recalls the fact that Valerie Plame offered her husbands services up to her superiors to go to Niger and investigate the uranium story, and we all recall she denied this charge. She stated during her testimony that the email in question was taken out of context.
Now we have the whole email courtesy of the Vice-Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee:
The report forwarded below has prompted me to send this on to you and request your comments and opinion. Briefly, it seems that Niger has signed a contract with Iraq to sell them uranium. The IC [Intelligence Community] is getting spun up about this for obvious reasons. The embassy in Niamey has taken the position that this report can’t be true — they have such cozy relations with the GON [Government of Niger] that they would know if something like this transpired.
So where do I fit in? As you may recall, [redacted] of CP/[office 2] recently approached my husband to possibly use his contacts in Niger to investigate [a separate Niger matter]. After many fits and starts, [redacted] finally advised that the station wished to pursue this with liaison. My husband is willing to help, if it makes sense, but no problem if not. End of story.
Now, with this report, it is clear that the IC is still wondering what is going on… my husband has good relations with both the PM and the former minister of mines, not to mention lots of French contacts, both of whom could possibly shed light on this sort of activity. To be frank with you, I was somewhat embarrassed by the agency’s sloppy work last go-round, and I am hesitant to suggest anything again. However, [my husband] may be in a position to assist. Therefore, request your thoughts on what, if anything, to pursue here. Thank you for your time on this.
Dated Feb 12th, the day BEFORE Cheney called about the Niger deal.
Byron York:
The memo seems to show that Mrs. Wilson did indeed suggest her husband for the Niger mission. And it sheds new light on why Mrs. Wilson was involved in the Niger uranium matter to begin with. The conventional wisdom has always been that she suggested her husband’s name in response to an inquiry from Vice President Dick Cheney about the Iraq Niger uranium story. But her memo, written on February 12, seems to show that she suggested her husband’s name before the vice president asked his question on February 13.
Recall she testified under oath. Will she be charged with the same crime that Libby was charged with? Here’s the other Bryan from Hot Air:
Plame’s action–recommending her husband for the trip–led to the trip itself. Wilson’s inaccurate statements after the trip, both about Iraq’s interest in Niger and on his wife’s role in recommending him for the trip, led to the “outing” of Plame. That led to the investigation that has put Libby on trial for perjury, but not for outing Plame. The man who actually outed Plame to Novak, Richard Armitage, isn’t now and apparently never was in any kind of legal jeopardy. Plame’s perjury regarding her role in recommending Wilson for the trip, if perjury is what it was, would have been an attempt to cover up her role in the affair once she had been named by Bob Novak. But it didn’t lead to the investigation. It may have obstructed the investigation, though.
Damn right it obstructed the investigation and unless the Democrat show-trial ringmaster Waxman goes after Plame we will know for certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that these trials are nothing but partisan idiocy. I know, we already know this. But this will just add more fuel to the fire.
Check out JustOneMinute and JunkYardBlog for more.
UPDATE
It’s funny how the media play up all the “inconsistencies” they can find in testimony from Alberto Gonzales and the DoJ gang, but when Valerie Plame comes up with a brand new story to tell Congress that she never told them before, conveniently buttressing the Wilsons’ preferred storyline, no one cares.
It would be like if Gonzales came up with some inane story about how an invisible eagle floated into his office when Sampson and McNulty were there to discuss the USAs, distracting him from the matter at hand and so he has no recollection of what happened.
Not funny, very sad….and transparent.
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I cannot believe no one-NO ONE in the entire DOJ will charge her with this. I don’t care if it reopens a political debate, if it is bad PR for an admin hanging on to 30 in the polls, or if it’s socially unpopular in DC. Charge the professional liar and let justice be served though the heavens may fall!
Is there ANYONE inside the Beltway who believes in truth, justice, and the rights of man anymore?
Well Scott we all know by now that there are two sets of rules: one for Republicans where both the letter and spirit of the law are enforced with zeal and another for Democrats where we look the other way and try not to rock the boat.
There’s just no stomach to hold Plame and Wilson accountable for perpetrating one of the most massive political frauds in our nation’s history. Democrats have been too succesful with the “big lie” about “Bush Lied” and those infamous 16 words.
That big lie has been extended to foster anti-Bush prejudices and the delusions which Democrats cling to in order to avoid accountability for their actions during the war.
I’ve got a moonbat in my comments section right now who insists that there is no connection between Al Queda and Saddam and that going after Zarqawi had nothing to do with Al Queda and the war on terror.
I can cite the UNANIMOUS 9/11 Commission Report and Senate Intell Reports all day long detailing those linkages but the moonbats will refuse to even hear facts which might chink away at the armor of willful ignorance which which they wrap themselves.
I’m afraid it is too late for the Bush Dept. of Justice to do anything about any of these matters, whether it’s Plame/Wilson or leaks of National Security. DOJ is now totally neutered by Senate Democrats and might as well all resign and let Democrats just take over.