I have kept my eye on a little noticed Wilson-Niger story from Knight Ridder that came out on June 12th, 2003. The source of this story may now be very clear. This story is so unknown it is not listed on the gold standard timeline reference at Tom Maguire’s JOM site. What is important to note is how it fits into the new timeline. On May 6th, 2003 Joe Wilson made his anonymous debut in a Nicholos Kristof story slamming Bush and Co. for knowingly using faked documents to lead America to war. On June 12th, Walter Pincus writes a story addressing the anonymous Wilson – a story which Pincus has claimed was not sourced by Wilson. On June 13th, 2003, Kristof did a follow up story on the still anonymous Ambassador who had debunked the forged documents in Feb-March 2002.

The first break in the timeline and contacts comes from Joe Wilson himself, who states in his own words on June 14, 2003 that he is the source for the Post and Times articles and he will be coming out in public soon. So much for the Pincus claim. But before we go farther lets also recall that on June 13th Richard Armitage hosts Bob Woodward and conveniently leaks information supposedly in an INR memo dated June 10th. Problem is, on June 10th, the only article out there is the Kristof article. But simultaneous to the Woodward leak come the Pincus and Kristof stories – and this Knight-Ridder article (now McClacthy) which appeared June 12th.

Remember that stories do not get printed overnight. Especially one where you are accusing the President of knowingly using forged documents to fake the country into a war. So in a span of a few days we have three articles and a leak from Armitage to Woodward. Before I go into the article (which is clearly also source by Wilson as can now be shown) let’s look what happened next. It is not until June 23 that LIbby has his meeting with Judith Miller (also of the NY Times), but it seems Libby did not bring up Valerie – Miller did. She also knew of Wilson (and had his phone number) before meeting Libby. The next meeting with Libby was on July 8th, which marks another round of simultaneous activity now involving an invitation by Armitage to meet Novak – the second person Armitage details Wilson’s wife’s details to. I deal with this part of the timeline in this post. But now back to the Knight Ridder story.

It is clear Wilson was on a planned media blitz in early June, which did not take off, and then again in early July, which did take off per his expectations he expressed in that June 14th convention at EPIC. Let’s review this little known article and identify some sources.

A senior CIA official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the intelligence agency informed the White House on March 9, 2002 – 10 months before Bush’s nationally televised speech – that an agency source who had traveled to Niger couldn’t confirm European intelligence reports that Iraq was attempting to buy uranium from the West African country.

Who is the only senior CIA official to claim Joe Wilson debunked the idea of Iraqi overtures to Niger? Valerie. We know now she was the head of the CIA’s Iraq group and later the Joint Task Force on Iraq. And she was with Joe Wilson at his debrief at their home (according to the Senate Iraq Report). And this is consistent with the spin Joe Wilson was pushing at this time that the WH and Cheney knew about Wilson’s report.

Three senior administration officials said Vice President Dick Cheney and some officials on the National Security Council staff and at the Pentagon ignored the CIA’s reservations and argued that the president and others should include the allegation in their case against Saddam.

The claim later turned out to be based on crude forgeries that an African diplomat had sold to Italian intelligence officials.

We know have three ‘administrative source’ prior to June 12th (Mr Fitzgerald – where are you on this?) who had information on the trip. And it is clear everyone with accurate information on the trip knew about Valerie’s role. And only a handfull would push the Niger line. Is this Grossman and Armitage and Fingar??? It is NOT Rove or Libby or Cheney. None of them would take the anti-war stance with the media. More from the source for this story – which has to be Valerie Plame:

The CIA’s March 2002 warning about Iraq’s alleged uranium-shopping expedition in Niger was sent to the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Justice Department and the FBI the same day it went to the White House, the senior CIA official said.

Much later Wilson would adopt this line of argument to spin his claim Bush and Cheney must have known about his report. But at this time this CIA source is very knowledgeable about where the report went. Recall Valerie introduced Joe to her joint task force or another one, and therefore she knew were the results would go. But anyone on the up and up would know Wilson did not make a report. He was verbally debriefed in front of Val by two DO agents (who worked for Val???).

n the months before Bush’s State of the Union speech, the senior CIA official said, agency officials also told the State Department, National Security Council staffers and members of Congress that they doubted that Iraq had been trying to buy uranium from Niger.

One senior administration official, also speaking on the condition of anonymity because the intelligence reports remain classified, said the CIA’s doubts were well known and widely shared throughout the government before Bush’s speech.

The INR memo came out in its first form TWO DAYS prior to this article. How close are the two documents? They only differ with regard to Joe’s spin about false intel. The Carl Ford INR memo is dated June 10th to Marc Grossman – life long Wilson friend. Same time comes this story. Is this only coincidence? Only someone who knows about the initial INR memo would have these facts outside the CIA. And this story includes such sources. That senior administration official who is confirming the CIA source? Sounds like Grossman confirming Plame (who could have used an alias or the Plame name for this story). Finally, we know these sources are planning a false story because their claims of fraud have been proven wrong:

The use of the false evidence despite the CIA warning raises questions about why some officials chose to believe the story despite the widespread skepticism in the intelligence community.

This is all pure fiction. The fact is the the IC felt there was a strong case for Iraw overtures – including Wilson’s report from Niger. The forgeries did not show up until very late and they were leaked from the CIA to the IAEA (and not to the US IC). Finally, more details in this story that only a few would know about (like Valerie, Grossman and Armitage):

The senior CIA official said the agency first heard about an alleged Iraq-Niger uranium deal in reports from unidentified European intelligence services in late 2001 and early 2002.

“There were people who had questions about the overall story. It didn’t make sense. It was sketchy information that was not validated by other means,” he said.

Nevertheless, continued interest in Cheney’s office, the NSC, the State Department and other agencies prompted the CIA to ask a retired U.S. ambassador to Niger to go there in February 2002 to inquire into the alleged deal, he said.

The CIA kept any reference to the former diplomat’s identity out of its March 2002 message to the White House.

The message quoted a CIA “source” as saying he had spoken to people close to the Niger government, former senior officials and people involved in the country’s mining industry, who all rejected the reports that Iraq was trying to buy uranium. The former ambassador said he believed what they were telling him.

The message contained the names of people to whom the source spoke, said the senior CIA official.

Who else knew Wilson’s name was held from the report? The four people at the debriefing of course. But these details have always amazed me at this time during events. This story is more detailed than the INR which came out two days prior, but is also highly consistent with the INR (minus the Valerie Plame role). This to me tells me the Wilsons were working to make a media splash together, and its failure to draw headlines caused their friends at State to help them in the second round of media blitz which included Novak. One final note:

It wasn’t until February 2003 that the CIA obtained the original Iraq-Niger documents on which the uranium story was based, he said.

This is in fact wrong. The CIA (Plame’s area in the CIA) obtained the forgeries in Oct 2002. They stayed in a safe until they were found at the IAEA. This is reported in the Senate report. I don’t think this is accidentally wrong. I think this is deliberately misleading. If Valerie is the source for this story as I suspect she is, this obvious attempt to clear the CIA of any connection to the forgeries is too obvious. Who cares when the CIA learned of the forgeries? Why add this completely wrong data item (but which also conveniently clearing Plame’s CIA group)? I think it is time the government counter sue the Wilsons and investigate them for publicizing classified material. Because, as the sources in this story note, what is reported here was classified at the time of this story.

Addendum: I should be clear here because this article has multiple sources. There is the CIA source (which I think is Valerie and not and outsider like a VIP), then three supportive administration sources and then when administration source who is tending to defend the administration. One of the administration sources is probably Joe Wilson. When I list other possible pro-Wilson sources like Armitage or Grossman they round out the remaining two sources in the article. There are clear phasings to the story. The initial media attempt with the Kristof article, to give the story a debut (who knows, maybe the Wilson’s targetted Kristof when they ‘ran into him’ at a Democrat party get-together). Then there is the second media round in early June with Pincus, Kristof, this article and one in The Gaurdian (which Joe also admits to being the source). We know Joe is doing the Guardian, NY Times and WaPo – we have audio with him saying this. He also does the EPIC conference at this time and, as TM points out, there is the Andrea Mitchell quote. Not to mention Woodward getting the tip from Armitage. This second flury ativity doesn’t get the national attention yet. So Armitage invites Novak to come by around this time frame, before round three of the media plan. Round three is Wilson’s NY Times Op-Ed, the simultaneous second Pincus article (with Joe as the source) and the Andrea Mitchell Meet the Press interview. All staged together with the well timed leak by Armitage to Novak.

Three distinct phases with well layed out steps in a clear media staged event. So why wouldn’t any reasonably skeptical person see Armitage’s leaks timed right with these phases as an element of the plan? Who did Wilson talk to prior to his media event in State? Did Val talk to the media? We can find out fron government phone records which are public records. Someone in the State and CIA need to review phone logs. Wilson calls people at state prior to all this, then memo’s magically appear in the office of Grossman to supply cover priot to both of Armitage’s well timed leaks? How all very convenient!