Plame Game

This year's “State of the Union Address” showed Bush’s swash-buckling swagger had, for a moment, been abandoned for an affected humility. There was, however, a rare morsel (mistakenly included?) from this speech concerning the War that smelled surprisingly like Truth: “This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we're in”. Come, dear reader. Take the hem of my robe as I, the Ghost of State of the Union Past, amble down to the address of 2003 Memory Lane a.k.a. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

"The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of Uranium, from Africa.”
-W., 2003 State of the Union.

What Bush neglected to mention when presenting this hysteria inducing tidbit to the American Public was that these infamous ‘16 words’ heard ‘round the world had been debunked before he spoke them. A minor detail to Bush’s speechwriter’s, perhaps, but one that would affix a hoax to the deployment of US troops to Iraq. The following July the New York Times published ‘What I Didn’t Find In Iraq’ a first-hand account by Joseph Wilson describing his investigation into the matter at Dick Cheney's request. What he ‘didn’t find’ was evidence of a transaction of yellowcake purchased by Iraq from Niger, the case alluded to in Bush’s speech. Wilson was rewarded for his service to his country by those closest to (and including?) the president outing his wife, Valerie Plame, a CIA operative. This act of savage vengeance breached national security, likely violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 and reeks of Treason .

While erroneous claims are a staple of political rhetoric seldom are they injected into legislation. Once again, dear reader, take the hem of my robe as we corrupt the laws of physics and travel through time. Destination: 2002. The Authorization For Use Of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution lists as an excuse for invasion that Iraq was “actively seeking a nuclear weapons capability”. If Bush's reference to Niger is what is being alluded to (no other "evidence" has been given to explain its inclusion) then the hasty 107th Congress voted on a resolution that was constructed, in part, with misinformation. Democrats have mysteriously omitted this fact from their explanations for giving a ‘yeh’ to the vote for this piece of plastic legislation. Mass Media has also conspicuously neglected to acknowledge this behemoth detail.

In his now historic article Wilson observes that “America's foreign policy depends on the sanctity of its information”. A War that has cost more than 3,000 American lives has been, in part, justified by an invention of the Bush Cabal. Domestically, the version of the ‘16 words’ that found its way into legislation has repercussions which will likely effect elections to come. The most significant piece of evidence contradicting the White House's claims of yellowcake in Iraq is the one that doesn’t exist; since the occupation of Iraq no Weapons of Mass Destruction have been found in Iraq. “This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we're in.” Indeed, George. Indeed.