"ROTUICPIA - Iraq": CIA Intelligence Report Does Not Really Discredit Joe Wilson - But It Contains a Frightening Sentence

I have downloaded and am in the process of reading the much-referred to CIA Intelligence Committee Report that -- according to John Fund of the Wall Street Journal -- reveals former Ambassador Joe Wilson -- husband of "outed" CIA Agent Valerie Plame -- to be a liar regarding her CIA status. It's called "Report On The US Intelligence Community's Prewar Intelligence Assessment on Iraq" - or what I will call "ROTUICPIA - Iraq." (Pronounced "Roo-Took-Pee-Ah" -- Yes, I coined this term for the record!)

Well, I did go right to the Page 46 he referred to on CNN Personality Paula Zahn's show this night, and for good measure kept reading.

ROTUICPIA - Iraq says that the "former US Ambassador's report" was "good" on a scale of "excellent" "good" "bad" and "poor." And it does state in detail that there was little reason to believe that there was a uranium deal between Iraq and Niger (the source of the statement President Bush made in his 2003 State of The Union address when he said that the administration had reason to believe that Iraq was receiving the material to make nuclear weapons from African -- Niger is in Africa). But it also details that there seemed to be counter-intelligence reports on the deal. Specifically one report that has been pointed to as "forged" -- in other words faked.

ROTUICPIA - Iraq states that Wilson's analysis "didn't provide any new information" and so the CIA representative didn't tell the Vice President's Office about it. This, even though they grade the report as "good" -- and even though it claims that there was no deal between the Iraqi's and Niger's government for weapons-grade uranium.

ROTUICPIA - Iraq continues and details how the Director's Office of the CIA evolved from receiving information that there was no deal between Iraq and Niger to fashioning a belief that there was a deal at least in the works. In this, it reads that there seemed to be an attempt to promote the deal as real, and bury any information that would give pause to any policy leading to invading Iraq on this basis.

I don't know what John Fund was reading, but it's apparent he didn't do his homework. The Bush Administration's in a fine mess, and much of the structure of the puzzle that must be solved is contained in ROTUICPIA - Iraq

Read it carefully.

In closing, I don't think Wilson was interested in revealing his wife's identify or coming close to it, so he may have sought not to mention her but still achieve the objective of explaining the Bush Administration's ignorance of the truth regarding any Iraq / Niger deal.

I think what the WSJ writer forgot was that Wilson would be outing not only his own wife, but a CIA agent. So, he may have lied, but it was to protect an American Agent and to avoid breaking the law. That's far different than the reason for the investigation that has -- so far-- snagged I. L. "Scooter" Libby.

It also may be -- and I think -- that he got wind of the fact that his report was never shared with Vice President Cheney and hit the ceiling.

I certainly would have done so.

I Lewis "Scooter" Libby Resigns - First Piece of The Downing Street Memo Controversy Obtained

According to the article on MTV that can be seen with a click on the title, "Scooter" Libby resigned and is under indictment for perjury, obtruction of justice, and false statements. Also, Karl Rove is still under investigation.

The Special Council, Patrick Fitzgerald, said that any action revealing the identity of a CIA operative at a time when we (the USA) need to have more agents, is not in itself acceptable. I personally believe that Mr. Libby knew that he was "outing" a CIA operative, but was trying to skirt the law -- he was caught.

I write this because no seasoned public official at so high a level would make an obvious breach of the law regarding revealing the identify of an American Agent.

There's also no comparison betweeen this and the President Clinton / Monica Lewinsky Affair. That was a case of marital infidelity -- this is a case of alledged treason against a covert agent of the United States of America.

Moreover, this seems to be the first break in the effort to gather information to prove The Downing Street Memo, the document written by a Brit policy advisor to the PM which claimed rather matter-of-factly that the Bush Adminstration was attempting to fix the available intelligence to their policy rationale for invading Iraq.