Joseph Wilson: A Diplomats Memoir: Inside the Lies that Led to War and the betrayal of my wife’s CIA Identity.

 

(From the Archives:2005)

Ambassador Wilson's The Politics of Truth is a lucid account of his long and distinguished career in the American Foreign Service, and a detailed and at times shocking description of the infamous so-called Niger-Iraq Uranium Deal that mysteriously was included in President Bush's State of the Union Address. Wilson also tells the story of his wife's betrayal by the Bush administration, revealing her identity as a covert CIA Operative, knowing full well that this revelation would put her and other operatives in harms way. This is an appalling story of an administration that will stoop to anything, including treason, to cover their web of deception to the Senate, the U.S. Congress, and the American people. 

Ambassador Wilson's career in the U.S. Foreign Service makes compelling reading. His diplomatic postings included Niger, Togo, South Africa, Burundi, the Congo, Iraq and finally Washington as an advisor for African affairs to President Clinton. One has a stereotypical image of ambassadors, wearing expensive suits, attending cocktail parties in lush palaces discussing the fate of entire nations. To a small extent this romantic image may be true, but most Foreign Service is demanding work, balancing the diplomatic line. 

Wilson worked for the first Bush administration during Desert Storm, heroically negotiating the release of American prisoners in Iraq. Wilson has great admiration for George H. W. Bush and has nothing but praise for his handling of Saddam Hussein during the first Gulf War. In fact, Wilson was the last American representative that spoke with Saddam before the American invasion of Kuwait. Wilson's career in the Foreign Service is an example of loyal service to one's country, which makes the subsequent events in his life under the current Bush administration that much more diabolical. 

The Bush administration alleged that Iraq was in the midst of developing nuclear weapons based on spurious intelligence reports, which justified to congress and the American people the invasion and occupation of Iraq. On CIA request, Wilson was asked to visit Niger and investigate the alleged sale of "yellow cake" to Iraq. His investigation proved no such exchange occurred, and reported this information back to the CIA. Despite this intelligence, the Bush administration forged ahead, using this false information to persuade the international community and the American people to go to war. Ambassador Wilson was outraged that the Bush administration would out-right lie to justify war and wrote an OP-ED piece in the New York Times exposing the falsehood. It was now on for young and old. 

Suddenly the neocons and the right-wing press launched a smear campaign on Ambassador Wilson's character, and when that was not working, someone high up in the Bush administration leaked the identity of Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, as a CIA covert operative, risking her life and the lives of many others. This action cannot be categorized as simply "the game of Washington politics" as certain individuals in the administration have attempted to propose as a tool of mitigation. The stark reality is that the U.S. is at war, and during wartime, to expose covert operatives is an act of treason, punishable by death. What is overwhelming is that the investigation into this act of treason has been dragging on for several months without a resolution in sight.  

Those in the Bush administration that leaked Plame's identity should be brought to justice in a timely manner, especially during wartime. But as usual, the Bush neocons continue to finger point, duck and weave, and shrug-off the situation as if it were below them. Thirty years ago, President Clinton was impeached for twisting the truth about a sexual impropriety, and here we have an administration out-right lying to congress, sending American men and women to their deaths, spending billions of dollars on war reparations that could have been avoided, and committing treason during wartime. Does this administration have so much power that the wheels of justice cannot touch them? Are people too scared to stand up to these men? 

Politics of Truth is a remarkable text, revealing corruption in the highest echelons of government. Finally, we have an individual with enough guts and sense of civic duty to hold a position against the machinations of a dishonest administration.