What I want to know about the Plame outing and her appearance:

[HardWorkingDem]

Was it ever answered who decided on sending Joe Wilson and who did he report to when he came back?

[eleny]

1. I didn't hear anything about who JW reported to

But she said that someone came to her and discussed their getting a call from the VP's office about Iraq, yellowcake and Niger. Someone else passed bye and hearing the conversation suggested Plame send an email to higher-ups about sending Joe since he had so much experience in Africa. So, she sent the email. Now that mail is taken out of context.

She asserted under oath that she was not the one to suggest that Joe go on the trip. She said there was no nepotism involved and that she didn't have the authority to send him.

[havocmom]

2. It wasn't Valerie

http://video.msn.com/v/us/fv/msnbc/fv.htm??g=66b89a29-e4dc-4b03-9e4e-f7b6592628a4&f=00&fg=copy

[librechik]

3. not really, except that emphatically it was not Valerie

she said she didn't do it and she wouldn't have had the power to do it if she had wanted to, which she didn't since she had 2 year old twins at home, and it was a sacrifice to send her husband away so she had to handle the twins alone at bedtime.

I think she can't really say who it was, becasue that person's identity is secret.

He reported to somebody in Counter Proliferation at the CIA, someone senior to Valerie.

[havocmom]

6. Emphasis: she can't really say who it was, because that person's identity is secret

The RW talking points try to convince us that Plame sent him herself, since SHE won't announce who it was that made the decision. The RW spinners can't or WON'T grasp the concept of CLASSIFIED.

Just because someone won't blab something does not mean it is not so.

Repeating what librechik said: "she can't really say who it was, because that person's identity is secret"

The spinners and their puppets will keep asking Who? Who? and ignore the fact that law abiding public servants who know CAN'T tell!

[MadMaddie]

8. And in their sick twisted minds the Rethugs will out this

secret individual. They will try to justify it as Executive Privilege.

[emulatorloo]

4. PLEASE READ TRANSCRIPT OF HER ANSWER HERE -- SHE DID NOT SUGGEST OR SEND

Her only involvement was to pass along a message to him asking if he would attend a meeting. Basically. paraphrasing, one of her supervisors asked. "are you willing to give him a message when you get home from work???? Ask him if he will come in next week to talk" She said ok. She had no authority to recommend, or send.

I mean c'mon-- Don't we all know by now that Dick Cheney is a PATHOLOGICAL LIAR.

00000
Plame hearing transcript
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Plame_hearing_transcript_0316.html

))))))

REP. LYNCH: That was my next question, if you would. You know, I sort of doubted this. If I was going to send my wife somewhere, it wouldn't be Niger, but -- (laughter) -- nothing against Niger, but -- you know.

Please, if you could lay out -- walk us through everything you did that may have been related around the time of the decision to send Ambassador Wilson to Niger.

MS. PLAME WILSON: Thank you, Congressman. I'm delighted as well that I am under oath as I reply to you.

In February of 2002, a young junior officer who worked for me -- came to me very upset. She had just received a telephone call on her desk from someone -- I don't know who -- in the office of the vice- president asking about this report of this alleged sale of yellow cake uranium from Niger to Iraq. She came to me, and as she was telling me this -- what had just happened, someone passed by -- another officer heard this. He knew that Joe had already -- my husband -- had already gone on some CIA mission previously do deal with other nuclear matters. And he suggested, "Well why don't we send Joe?" He knew that Joe had many years of experience on the African continent. He also knew that he had served -- and served well and heroically in the Baghdad Embassy -- our embassy in Baghdad during the first Gulf War. And I will be honest. I had -- was somewhat ambivalent at the time. We had 2-year-old twins as home, and all I could envision was me by myself at bedtime with a couple of 2-year-olds. So I wasn't overjoyed with this idea. Nevertheless --

REP. LYNCH: I get it

MS. PLAME WILSON: We went to my branch chief, or supervisor. My colleague suggested this idea, and my supervisor turned to me and said, "Well, when you go home this evening, would you be willing to speak to your husband, ask him to come into headquarters next week and we'll discuss the options? See if this -- what we could do" Of course. And as I was leaving, he asked me to draft a quick e-mail to the chief of our Counterproliferation Division, letting him know that this was -- might happen. I said, "Of course," and it was that e- mail, Congressman, that was taken out of context and -- a portion of which you see in the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Report of July 2004 that makes it seem as though I had suggested or recommended him.

))))))

[HardWorkingDem]

10. Okay, then part 2, who did he report back to?

This I think is the 2nd shoe that needs to be dropped. Who got Wilson's information and where did it go?

And I don't have an issue with Wilson going, his wife recommending him or any of that stuff. Frankly, who cares who went as long as they had expertise in the subject, country and contacts.

And to top that off...it's not like they ever disproved his findings, which to me is the largest overlooked point in all of this mess. And this is what has really, really stumped me. If he had came up with forged documents stating it WASN'T true, then they would be on to something.

Sadly, this crap should be on the six o'clock news every night for the despicable thing the Bushies did.

[emulatorloo]

11. that's not the right question IMHO -- instead Did Cheney get a report and if so what did he do with

it?

(I am guessing Cheney did get a report, and he ignored it)

Chris Matthews has stated several times that he asked George Tenet if Cheney got a report. Matthews says Tenet's answer was "Ask Him." Matthews uses a sarcastic tone on the "Ask Him" phrase and says it all sounds like High School.

So again I am guessing Cheney got a report and simply ignored it because it did not fit his scenario.

(As you say the white house admitted that the sixteen words should not have been in the SOTU)

[HardWorkingDem]

12. Then shouldn't Congress ask Wilson to step by?

Please correct me or point me to the place, but who did Wilson report back to and where did his information go? And if Cheney won't appear, then how about Wilson?

And if these people don't want the public to hear the answer because of national security, then do it in closed session.

Now here is what I believe: the real secret everyone on the cocktail circuit in Washington knows is who Wilson passed this information on to and where it went.

[emulatorloo]

13. He was debriefed by the CIA.

EOM

[Kagemusha]

5. The CIA decided to send him because the VP wouldn't shut up re: Niger.

So they sent someone who knew the lay of the land to look into the matter, on the VP's behalf, if not by his request.

It's not a complicated story, but manipulators of the press have made it so.

[peacetalksforall]

7. Two things: He did not get paid - NO FEE (pro bono) - except for expenses

transportation, etc.

Two: The U.S. State Dept had already investigated the claim about a Hussein-Niger sale of yellowcake and had sent back a 'nothing there' report. The Ambassador who knew about the result of the report and was involved in it was a Bush appointee.

Wilson had talked about the State Dept investigation on radio shows and in his book.

[Peace Patriot]

9. What does it matter--except that it's the "talking point" of stupids?

I have always thought that it ENHANCED his already awesome credentials for the mission, to have a wife who was an expert on WMD counter-proliferation. This BS about "nepotism" always struck me as absurd--a very fishy and hastily contrived cover story--because of this. So what if she picked him for this job? He was the perfect fit to the job. Former ambassador to Iraq. Former ambassador ALSO to Niger. Had done nuke investigations before. 20 years or so experience. A Republican, appointed by Republicans. Ambassador for GHW Bush. Married to an expert in counterproliferation.

When you argue with stupids, you can get stupid yourself. Sometimes it's a necessary risk, I know. But beware.

And, in fact, wondering about how lame this story was led me to look deeper. I've developed a whole theory about the haste and panic of the Bushites' actions during the weeks of July 7-22, that started with thinking "huh???" about this nepotism charge. It has to do with the presumption that they had just gotten word, on July 7 (day after Wilson's article) that David Kelly--the Brits' top WMD expert who had been whistleblowing to the BBC during the same period, on the same subject--knew about their scheme to plant nukes in Iraq. They were panicked because they weren't sure how far the story had gotten. They had whistleblowers on both sides of the Atlantic, both in positions to know. They outed Plame (July 14). Four days later, Kelly was found dead, under highly suspicious circumstances; his office and computers were searched. And, four days after that, they additionally outed the entire Brewster-Jennings network. Then they started making up lame shit, like this "nepotism" thing--hastily contrived cover stories and "talking points." They were panicked. That's why the story is so...crazy...that, somehow, Wilson being married to Plame is a DISadvantage for such a mission, rather than a plus.

Don't know if the theory is true, but it's an interesting and useful theory of the crime, that explains a lot of puzzles, like, why the stupid story about nepotism?