The diplomat and his spy

2005-11-01 14:45

Washington - Joseph Wilson is a former United States diplomat who personally took on Saddam Hussein and later wed a glamourous CIA spy, but who angered the White House after challenging President George W Bush's rationale for the Iraq War.

The flamboyant Wilson was already a hero after he stood up to Saddam before the 1991 Gulf War.

As charge d'affaires in Baghdad, he defied the Iraqi leader and harboured hundreds of Americans - and later appeared at a news conference with a hangman's noose around his neck - warning Saddam "if you want to execute me, I'll bring my own (expletive) rope".

Wilson, a former US ambassador to Gabon and national security council expert on Africa, was sent to Niger in February 2002 to investigate claims Saddam tried to buy uranium for nuclear bombs.

On a mission in Africa

The mission grew out of doubts expressed by vice-president Dick Cheney's office in CIA intelligence on the alleged shipments, which if proven, would have been powerful evidence against Iraq.

Wilson concluded it was highly doubtful such transfers took place. But the claim still found its way into Bush's annual state of the union address a year later.

The former diplomat hit back with a New York Times article headlined: "What I Didn't Find in Africa."

"If information was ignored because it did not fit certain preconceptions about Iraq, then a legitimate argument can be made that we went to war under false pretences," he wrote.

A day later, on July 7 2003, the White House admitted the Niger claim rested on flawed intelligence, and should never have made it into the speech.

Political crossfire

Conservative columnist Robert Novak then reported that "two senior administration officials" told him that Wilson's wife Valerie Plame was a CIA operative working on weapons of mass destruction and had suggested his mission.

Wilson later accused top White House officials of deliberately sabotaging his wife's cover, and said Rove was worthy of "frog marching" out of the presidential mansion in handcuffs.

While his claims won widespread attention, Wilson was soon consumed in Washington's political crossfire.

His photo shoot with his wife for glamorous Vanity Fair magazine and numerous media spots to promote a book, caused critics to question his motives.

Republicans seized upon his past contributions for Democratic candidates and lambasted him for appearing in a Capitol Hill news conference with Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer.

Plame spent 20 years at the CIA, at some stage as a covert agent.

A former CIA agent said she had worked as a "non-official covert operative" which meant she operated abroad without protection of a diplomatic passport, meaning she could have been executed if caught.

- AFP