Puerile Reid throws tantrum ...

Senate Emerges From Closed Session on Iraq

WASHINGTON - Democrats forced the Republican-controlled Senate into an unusual closed session Tuesday, questioning intelligence that President Bush used in the run-up to the war in Iraq and accusing Republicans of ignoring the issue.

"They have repeatedly chosen to protect the Republican administration rather than get to the bottom of what happened and why," Democratic leader Harry Reid said.

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"The Libby indictment provides a window into what this is really all about, how this administration manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to sell the war in Iraq and attempted to destroy those who dared to challenge its actions," Reid said before invoking Senate rules that led to the closed session.[emphasis ours]

Libby resigned from his White House post after being indicted on charges of obstruction of justice, making false statements and perjury.

Democrats contend that the unmasking of Valerie Plame was retribution for her husband, Joseph Wilson, publicly challenging the Bush administration's contention that Iraq was seeking to purchase uranium from Africa. That claim was part of the White House's justification for going to war.

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Poor 'ol pixilated Harry musta doubled up on the Metamucil today. Indeed the fellow who indicted Libby had quite a different take when asked about the implications:

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"This indictment is not about the war," Fitzgerald said. "This indictment's not about the propriety of the war. And people who believe fervently in the war effort, people who oppose it, people who have mixed feelings about it, should not look to this indictment for any resolution of how they feel or any vindication of how they feel."
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Perhaps Reid could use some of the time he spends NOT reading Justice Thomas' opinions to brush up on the already completed report by the Senate Intelligence Committee.

In this case, it is common knowledge -- because Joe Wilson has told anyone that would listen -- that his trip "debunked" the Administration's claim (via British intelligence) that Iraq had attempted to buy uranium from Niger. Page 43 of the Senate report calls Wilson's assessment into question:

[Wilson's] intelligence report indicated that former Nigerien Prime Minister Ibrahim Mayaki was unaware of any contracts that had been signed between Niger and any rogue states for the sale of yellowcake while he was Prime Minister (1997-1999) or Foreign Minister (1996-1997). Mayaki said that if there had been any such contract during his tenure, he would have been aware of it. Mayaki said, however, that in June 1999,(REDACTED) businessman, approached him and insisted that Mayaki meet with an Iraqi delegation to discuss "expanding commercial relations" between Niger and Iraq. The intelligence report said that Mayaki interpreted "expanding commercial relations" to mean that the delegation wanted to discuss uranium yellowcake sales. The intelligence report also said that "although the meeting took place, Mayaki let the matter drop due to the UN sanctions on Iraq." [emphasis ours]

We should note that Niger's main exports are livestock, cowpeas, onions -- and uranium ore. Maybe Udai had a hankering for cowpeas?

Then there's Joey's denial that wifey promoted him for the Niger trip, a denial undercut on page 39:

Some CPD officials could not recall how the office decided to contact the former ambassador, however, interviews and documents provided to the Committee indicate that his wife, a CPD employee, suggested his name for the trip. The CPD reports officer told Committee staff that the former ambassador's wife "offered up his name" and a memorandum to the Deputy Chief of the CPD on February 12, 2002, from the former ambassador's wife says, "my husband has good relations with both the PM [prime minister] 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." This was just one day before CPD sent a cable DELETED requesting concurrence with CPD's idea to send the former ambassador to Niger and requesting any additional information from the foreign government service on their uranium reports. The former ambassador's wife told Committee staff that when CPD decided it would like to send the former ambassador to Niger, she approached her husband on behalf of the CIA and told him "there's this crazy report" on a purported deal for Niger to sell uranium to Iraq. The former ambassador was selected for the 1999 trip after his wife mentioned to her supervisors that her husband was planning a business trip to Niger in the near future and might be willing to use his contacts in the region ...
On February 19, 2002, CPD hosted a meeting with the former ambassador, intelligence analysts from both the CIA and INR, and several individuals from the DO's Africa and CPD divisions. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the merits of the former ambassador traveling to Niger. An INR analyst's notes indicate that the meeting was "apparently convened by [the former ambassador's] wife who had the idea to dispatch [him] to use his contacts to sort out the Iraq-Niger uranium issue." The former ambassador's wife told Committee staff that she only attended the meeting to introduce her husband and left after about three minutes.

Finally, this bit in a "conclusion" section on page 73 stresses that Wilson's findings actually bolstered the notion that Iraq had sought Uranium from Niger:
page 73.

"For Most Analysts, The Information In The Report Lent More Credibility To The Original Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Report On The Uranium Deal, But State Department Bureau Of Intelligence And Research (INR) Analysts Believed That The Report Supported Their Assessments That Niger Was Unlikely To Be Willing Or Able To Sell Uranium."

We suspect that Reid, like most who proffer or subscribe to the "Bush lied" narrative knows only what the MSM has reported and has never bothered delving into this report nor the Kay or Duelfer reports. He might find them eye-opening.

Then again, he might use them to swat at the pixies he sometimes sees circling his head.

The Wilson story is a huge one, but not for the reasons Reid states. Rather, it is the story of a CIA in disarray, on the one hand offering up faulty intelligence while on the other constantly undermining the Administration with leaks -- which, oddly, are never investigated -- "tell-all" books and, in this case, the tabbing of the foppish dandy husband of an employee to go over to Niger, where he spent several days sipping sweet tea then returned to lie all over the media about his "findings".

Sounds like CIA CYA.

That the Wilson-Plames should play the victim card when the Administration -- rather feebly -- attempted to set the record straight is laughable.

That Reid would use the affair as a chance to play to the kids at MoveOn.org further illustrates that he and his party are ill-equipped to deal with the very grown-up matter of the War Against Jihadistan.

Update

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The committee worked on the second phase of the review, Roberts said, but it has not been finished. He blamed Democrats for the delays and said his staff had informed their Democratic counterparts on Monday that the committee hoped to work on and complete the second phase next week.

"Now we have this ... stunt 24 hours after their staff was informed that we were moving to closure next week," a clearly angry Roberts told reporters. "If that's not politics, I'm not standing here."
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