Wilson: Well, I Think We’re Fucked
Ambassador Joseph Wilson, of Nigerian yellowcake fame, did an interview with Josh Micah Marshall of Talking Points Memo on September 16. The first part of the interview appeared last week, the second part appeared yesterday, and it’s all pretty fascinating, at least for a politics junkie like me. Long, but very much worth it. And it certainly starts with a bang. Anyway: Part 1, Part 2.
Update: A shorter version of Wilson’s views is available in this opinion piece he wrote that appeared last week, but which I overlooked at the time: Seeking honesty in US policy.
September 24th, 2003 at 4:01 am
How anyone can quote a lightweight like Wilson is beyond me. An alcholic without any knowledge of or training in WMD or nuclear materials (he was an administrative officer) who never served in that area of Africa is a rather amazing choice to make to investigate the illegal transaction of nuclear materials. What is important is that Clinton destroyed the CIA presence in the area and was so interested in this story he sent someone as well qualified as Wilson.
September 24th, 2003 at 6:24 am
TJ, I think you need to get out more.
From the “I’m feeling lucky” Google link for “Joseph Wilson biography”:
[begin quotation]
Ambassador Wilson served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council from June 1997 until July 1998. In that capacity he was responsible for the coordination of U.S. policy to the 48 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. He was one of the principal architects of President Clinton’s historic trip to Africa in March 1998.
Ambassador Wilson was the Political Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of United States Armed Forces, Europe, 1995-1997. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Gabonese Republic and to the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe from 1992 to 1995. From 1988 to 1991, Ambassador Wilson served in Baghdad, Iraq as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy. During “Desert Shield” he was the acting Ambassador and was responsible for the negotiations that resulted in the release of several hundred American hostages. He was the last official American to meet with Saddam Hussein before the launching of “Desert Storm.”
Ambassador Wilson was a member of the U.S. Diplomatic Service from 1976 until 1998. His early assignments included Niamey, Niger, 1976-1978; Lome, Togo, 1978-79; the State Department Bureau of African Affairs, 1979-1981; and Pretoria, South Africa, 1981-1982.
In 1982, he was appointed Deputy Chief of Mission in Bujumbura, Burundi. In 1985-1986, he served in the offices of Senator Albert Gore and the House Majority Whip, Representative Thomas Foley, as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow. He was Deputy Chief of Mission in Brazzaville, Congo, 1986-88, prior to his assignment to Baghdad.
[end quotation]
Presumably you support Bush. In the other comment you posted just now, you defended Bush’s accomplishments, writing, “But what have you accomplished in life to smirk about compared to the president?”
So, let’s see: Someone like Bush, who actually _has_ a documented history of alcoholism (including a wide reputation for hard partying in college, that fun wedding-reception videotape of him in a “well lubricated” state, and that little run-in where he drove his car through a hedge); who received one of the most expensive educations it’s possible to receive in this country, yet who displays a disdain for book larnin’ that boggles the mind; and who owes his every “success” to the fact that he’s the eldest son of a well-connected former president — _he’s_ the one whose accomplishments I should be standing in mute awe of. Meanwhile, Wilson, who served under Pappy Bush, and who was chosen by Junior’s own CIA to investigate the yellowcake allegations precisely _because_ he _had_ served diplomatically in that area, who _did_ have plenty of WMD expertise, and _not_ as an “administrative officer”, but as the top diplomatic officer in Iraq in the run-up to Iraq War I; he’s the guy I’m supposed to dismiss as a “lightweight”.
I’m curious: did you make this shit up on your own? Because it really sounds like Limbaugh to me. But I guess it isn’t that hard to come up with; you just have to be willing to adopt a tone of righteous indignation while loudly asserting that up is down, black is white, and the earth is flat.
Weak.
September 24th, 2003 at 1:34 pm
I would characterize it as pathetic as well (TJ not John)
October 7th, 2003 at 1:50 pm
> you just have to be willing to adopt a tone of righteous indignation while loudly asserting that up is down, black is white, and the earth is flat.
Thanks for the rebuttal, John!
I think TJ is in danger of being run over at the next zebra crossing. (apologies to Douglas Adams)