It is on the basis of the al-Zahawie mission that British intelligence continues to stand behind its conclusion – validated by two independent commissions – that Saddam did indeed seek uranium in Africa. That is what President Bush asserted in his 2003 State of the Union address. Wilson responded with his New York Times op-ed: “What I Didn’t Find in Africa,” which in turn led Bob Novak and other reporters to try to figure out who Wilson was and why the CIA had chosen him as their man in Niger. Yes, some administration officials attempted to provide truthful answers to the reporters’ questions. To see a scandal in that, one has to be a fool or a hyper-partisan. (Washington lacks for neither.)
The CIA’s errors and misjudgments in this and other matters should be investigated by a panel that would propose to the President and the Congressional committees overseeing intelligence ways to fix what is broken.
As for Libby, he did not contribute to the dysfunction at the CIA. If he lied about anything, for any reason, that is wrong. But he has lost his job, his reputation has been soiled, his personal finances and family life devastated. Is that not punishment enough? Is it not time to “move on”?
As a matter of equity, consider that former Clinton National Security Advisor Sandy Berger stole classified documents, stuffed them in his pants and hid them on a construction site. He will serve not a day in prison. President Clinton also lied to a grand jury. He kept his job, did no jail time and has been treated with respect by his successor in the White House.
Meanwhile, Valerie Plame, who persuaded her superiors to send her husband on a mission for which he was unqualified and from which he brought back misinformation that he marketed to the public through credulous journalists, is to receive $2.5 million for her “story.” It will, I’ll wager, be more akin to a fable, omitting all of the pertinent facts noted above.