Why did Joe Wilson lie?

[DesertFox]

...

When Wilson went public with his column in the New York Times, he had to know that such an article would lead to scrutiny of his wife. Equally significant, it might lead to scrutiny of her role in arranging his trip, in violation of federal nepotism laws. Therefore, he had to try to get his wife off the hook. That's why he absolved her of any role in arranging his mission in his book. The media initially accepted what he had to say with no questions asked. Eventually, however, his cover-up fell apart when the Senate Intelligence Committee uncovered evidence that Plame had a role in her husband's mission.

Some news organizations noted this evidence at the time but because Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald had begun investigating the issue of who leaked information about her identity, the nepotism issue was simply shunted aside, even though that is the critical matter and gets to the heart of what the Wilson affair is all about. Columnist Robert Novak's naming of Plame as a CIA employee is a sideshow that only draws attention to a fact that isn't of any consequence.

In retrospect, it's clear the Plame and Wilson pulled off a monumental deception, with the help of the media. The facts suggest that Plame and her husband were determined to undermine the Administration's Iraq policy and were prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to accomplish that. Together with their media allies, they created such a firestorm over the naming of Plame that the White House panicked into seeking a special prosecutor.

More (http://www.aim.org/media_monitor/3879_0_2_0_C/)

[DesertFox]

Why did Joe Wilson lie? Because he's a liberal. That's what they do.

[TempestTossed]

Valerie Plame did not have the authority to approve Wilson's trip. All she did, according to congress, was suggest him. I would be very much surprised if that violated nepotism laws.

Why did Wilson lie about it? It is possible that he didn't even know about her role in it. It is possible that he did, and that would make him overly aggressive toward the White House and in defense of his himself and his wife. Karl Rove lied about leaking Plame's identity, but that isn't because he's a conservative.

[UnkHiram]

Why did Wilson lie about it? It is possible that he didn't even know about her role in it.

That is naive at best.

It is possible that he did, and that would make him overly aggressive toward the White House

He is "Overly Agressive" towards the White House because he is a liberal. A staunch supporter of the likes of Gore and Kerry.

and in defense of his himself and his wife.


Translation: trying to cover his and his wife's lying butts.


Karl Rove lied about leaking Plame's identity,

an Unproven accusation that almost on a daily basis looks less and less likely. Reporters asked ROVE about Plame not the other way around.

but that isn't because he's a conservative.

If he was a liberal this story would never have survived the first weekend. Does anyone remember Sandy Berger and classified documents "Falling" into h is pants?

[Warlady]

Tempest, you can't be serious? You think husband and wife didn't plan this entire fiasco? I sure do. And so do most people.

Here is the meat of the article:

In retrospect, it's clear the Plame and Wilson pulled off a monumental deception, with the help of the media. The facts suggest that Plame and her husband were determined to undermine the Administration's Iraq policy and were prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to accomplish that. Together with their media allies, they created such a firestorm over the naming of Plame that the White House panicked into seeking a special prosecutor.

When Bush official Karl Rove warned Matt Cooper of Time away from the story, on the ground that Plame had arranged the trip by her husband, he was on to the hard truth about this case. But the media were not really interested and the White House did not pursue this line of inquiry to its logical conclusion-a full-fledged investigation into the Plame-Wilson plot and who else in the CIA was behind it. Perhaps the White House was fearful of starting a war with the CIA.

Instead, as it now stands, White House officials could eventually be indicted not for disclosing the identity of a covert agent but for providing conflicting information to the special prosecutor about who knew what about Plame and when. On the other hand, because the information about her was recycled to and from the press, it may be hard for Fitzgerald to make any sense of it. The silence of jailed New York Times reporter Judith Miller complicates his problem. As for Plame, she's still at the CIA. So that problem remains.

[Naturalized-Texan]

Originally Posted by tempest
Karl Rove lied about leaking Plame's identity,
It was the other way around. Plame's identity was leaked TO Rove by Robert Novak.

[Warlady]

NT I thought it was Mr. Cooper.

[PaulRevere]

Perhaps the White House was fearful of starting a war with the CIA.

That speculation assumes that the CIA is operated by leftist defeatist traitors like Plame. They may start a civil war within the CIA in which the patriots, assuming there are many, must win. We can't afford another Alger Hiss leftist partisan traitor who thinks that his own government is worse than its enemies.

[Naturalized-Texan]

NT I thought it was Mr. Cooper.
No, it was Robert Novak (http://www.freeconservatives.com/vb/showthread.php?t=24888). When Novak told Karl Rove Plame's name and the fact that she had recommended her husband for the Niger mission, Rove replied, "Oh, you know about it."