CIA leak linked to Niger/Iraq investigation

[WinkOsmosis]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/09/30/wilson.cia/index.html

Excerpt:

Alleged Niger connection

Wilson visited Niger in early 2002 on behalf of the CIA to investigate a British report alleging Iraq attempted to buy yellowcake -- uranium ore -- to develop nuclear weapons. Wilson reported finding no evidence to support the allegation.

Novak reported in his July column that Plame suggested her husband for the Niger visit, but officials told CNN Tuesday she had nothing to do with the decision. "She did not recommend him. It was not her idea to send him," said one official.

Bush cited the alleged Iraq-Niger uranium connection in his 2003 State of the Union address as part of the rationale for going to war with Iraq.

Wilson wrote about his Niger visit in an op-ed piece in July for The New York Times that cast further doubt on the British report, which had been discredited after U.N. weapons inspectors found it was based at least in part on forged documents. (Full story)

Although Bush has since backed off the State of the Union statement, Wilson's revelations helped fuel allegations the Bush administration exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq before the war.

Joseph Wilson said he believes the White House is behind the leak of the identity of his wife as a CIA operative.


A retired career diplomat, Wilson was acting U.S. ambassador to Iraq during the first Gulf War and later was ambassador to Gabon. One of his first postings as a diplomat was to Niger in 1976.

In the late 1990s, he was a special assistant to President Clinton and served on the National Security Council as an expert on African affairs.

Wilson has said he believes the White House is behind the leak of his wife's identity, an act of retribution for his revelations on the Niger report. (Full story)

According to the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, it is a federal crime to reveal the identity of a covert agent. Anyone convicted of doing so could be sentenced to as many as 10 years in prison and up to a $50,000 fine, depending upon how the source obtained the information.

:Q

 

I was reading about this yesterday, some messed up stuff....I hope they bust the SOB....