John M. Tomaszewski – 11/7/05

This page was last updated on November 7, 2005.

More of the same from Bush; John M. Tomaszewski; Beaver County Times; November 7, 2005.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“The indictment of Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s Chief of staff, by a grand jury investigating the leak of Valerie Plame’s secret work for the CIA is another sign that unethical and dishonest methods are used by Bush and his people to bolster their position.”

[RWC] I guess Mr. Tomaszewski considers an indictment the equivalent of conviction. Regarding the alleged outing of Ms. Plame by Mr. Libby, consider the following exchange during the October 3, 2003, episode of the Capital Report on CNBC.

Alan Murray (host): “Do we have any idea how widely known it was in Washington that Joe Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA?”

Andrea Mitchell (NBC reporter): “It was widely known among those of us who cover the intelligence community and who were actively engaged in trying to track down who among the foreign service community was the envoy to Niger. So a number of us began to pick up on that. But frankly I wasn’t aware of her actual role at the CIA and the fact that she had a covert role involving weapons of mass destruction, not until Bob Novak wrote it.”¹

As a side note, Bob Novak’s column didn’t allege Ms. Plame was covert, as Ms. Mitchell seemed to imply.

“Plame is the wife of former Ambassador Joe Wilson. In a speech before Congress before the Iraq War, Bush claimed that Iraq was buying nuclear material from an African nation to make atomic bombs.”

[RWC] This is a lie propagated by folks like Mr. Tomaszewski. Here’s what President Bush said in his 2003 State of the Union speech. “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” As you can see, President Bush alleged Iraq was trying to purchase uranium, not that it had been successful. To this day, the British stand by their assessment.

“Wilson, a former ambassador to that African nation, said Iraq was not buying any nuclear material from that African nation.”

[RWC] As I noted above, President Bush never claimed Iraq was successful in its attempt. Mr. Tomaszewski fails to note that Mr. Wilson’s debriefing by the CIA in 2002 bolstered the CIA’s belief that Iraq was trying to buy uranium. That comes from the “Report on the U.S Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq” issued by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on July 7, 2004.

“As in the last Presidential election, Bush’s people made false statements about Kerry’s Vietnam service whereas Bush himself avoided the Vietnam War by having his father, the 41st president, use his influence to serve in the National Guard, thus avoiding serving in the Vietnam War.”

[RWC] This last paragraph is a combination of lies and unproven allegations. While some fellow Vietnam veterans went after Mr. Kerry’s claims about his service, no one in the Bush campaign said anything bad about Kerry’s service. In fact, everyone in the Bush campaign said only complimentary things about Kerry’s service. Go here for a discussion of President Bush’s National Guard service. What’s “funny” about these attacks on President Bush’s service is they ultimately attack the validity of National Guard service, as if it were some kind of summer camp.

1. Best of the web today; James Taranto; The Wall Street Journal; November 1, 2005.