Joseph C. Wilson IV was a United States career foreign service officer and later a diplomat between 1976 and 1998. He served as ambassador to Gabon and São Tomé and Príncipe under President George H. W. Bush, and helped direct Africa policy for the National Security Council under President Bill Clinton. In 1990, he also became the last American diplomat to meet with Saddam Hussein (Wilson, 2003).

Wilson achieved wide notoriety due to his involvement in the verification of intelligence regarding Iraq. In 2002 he was sent to Niger to investigate the possibility that uranium-enriched yellowcake had been sold to Iraq. Wilson concluded that since yellowcake mining is managed by an international consortium and supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency, this was unlikely (Wilson, 2003).

Controversy ensued when the British government issued a white paper asserting an imminent threat from Iraq, on the basis of intelligence that later proved to be a forgery. In his 2003 State of the Union Address, President Bush referred to attempts by Iraq to acquire uranium from Africa. The Bush Administration explicitly affirmed (Fleischer, 2003) this was based on a reference to Niger, but the later Butler Report confirmed the existence of what they found to be credible intelligence that Iraq was attempting to acquire uranium from Niger, see Yellowcake Forgery, and less certain intelligence that Iraq was attempting to acquire uranium from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Wilson criticized the President over the Niger claims, and shortly thereafter an anonymous source leaked his wife's identity (Valerie Plame — a CIA analyst) to columnist Robert Novak. Wilson accused the Bush administration of attempting to discredit and intimidate him. The U.S. Congress has set up an inquiry to determine who was involved with the leak, headed by U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald.

Several months after the scandal broke, the Senate Intelligence Committee elaborated the results of its investigation in its Report of Pre-war Intelligence on Iraq declaring, in the separate opinion of the Chair, Senator Pat Roberts, "there was no dispute [among Committee members] with the underlying facts" of the conclusion that Wilson had misled the public and the media about his wife's recommending him for the assignment and the validity of his opinions concerning the Bush Administration's use of his investigation. (Schmidt, Novak, 2004) Wilson denies having lied.

In the imagination of partisans and others, Wilson became both a hero and a villain, depending on their opinions of the Bush administration and the nature of the evidence provided by Wilson and his detractors. Bush opponents and others claim Wilson is a brave man who spoke truth to power, a meme that is played up in the title of Wilson's website ('RestoreHonesty.com', which now redirects visitors to JohnKerry.com) and his book ('The Politics of Truth'). Bush supporters and others consider subsequent revelations both to have ironically reversed evaluations of Wilson’s professions of seeking truth-telling and to have portrayed Wilson as opportunistically pursuing political influence himself (as well as personal fame) at the expense of the credibility of a U.S. President during a time of war. They see the two considerations together--and joining in this opinion with those who think of Wilson as merely an angry partisan--as discrediting his conclusions concerning the administration's use of intelligence data concerning Iraq’s dealings with Niger as well as his claims of victimization (May, Schmidt, 2004).

References

• Wilson, Joseph (July 6, 2003). What I didn't find in Africa (http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0706-02.htm). New York Times reprinted at Common Dreams News Center
• Bedard, Paul (October 20, 2003). Wilson adds ammo to hit war credibility gap. USNews.com “Washington Whispers” [not found in on-line archive]
• Fleischer, Ari (July 7, 2003). Press gaggle (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/07/20030707-5.html#10). The White House.
• May, Clifford D. (July 12, 2004). Our man in Niger (http://www.nationalreview.com/may/may200407121105.asp). National Review Online.
• Novak, Robert (July 15, 2004). Errant former ambassador (http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20040715.shtml). Townhall.com
• Schmidt, Susan (July 9, 2004). Plame's input is cited on Niger mission (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39834-2004Jul9.html?referrer=emailarticle). washingtonpost.com, p. A09 [registration required]

External links

• Wilson, Joseph (September 14, 2003). Seeking honesty in U.S. policy (http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0915-12.htm). San Jose Mercury News reprinted at Common Dreams News Center.
• Wilson, Joseph (May 2, 2004). 'Administration went after me and my wife' (http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0502-06.htm). Miami Herald reprinted at Common Dreams News Center.
• Wilson, Joseph (July 21, 2004). A right-wing smear is gathering steam (http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0721-06.htm). Los Angeles Times reprinted at Common Dreams News Center.
• Continetti, Matthew (July 26, 2004). “A little literary flair” (http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/337paflu.asp). Weekly Standard reviews the claims (sometimes misleading, sometimes contradicted by sworn testimony) that punctuated Wilson’s declarations of his findings in Niger and the U.S. Government’s use of them, providing evidence that Wilson was deliberately trying to paint a false picture of the Bush Administration.

For other individuals with similar names, see Joe Wilson.