Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Profile: Joe Wilson
The Washington Post has an excellent profile of Ambassador Joseph Wilson. He comes across as an iconoclast (one with an evolved sense of humour at that) whose defiance of Saddam Hussein in 1990 won him the respect of George H.W. Bush.
In 1990, while sheltering more than a hundred Americans at the U.S. Embassy and diplomatic residences, he briefed reporters while wearing a hangman's noose instead of a necktie -- a symbol of defiance after Hussein threatened to execute anyone who didn't turn over foreigners. The message, Wilson said: "If you want to execute me, I'll bring my own [expletive] rope."
This toughness impressed President George H.W. Bush, who called Wilson a "truly inspiring" diplomat who exhibited "courageous leadership" by facing down Hussein and helping to gain freedom for the Americans before the 1991 war began.
The Post story states his wife's age as 40. Now that contradicts what Larry Johnson says.
I worked with this woman. She started training with me. She has been undercover for three decades, she is not as Bob Novak suggested a CIA analyst.
This would mean either that the Post got its facts wrong, or Larry Johnson exaggerated in the heat of the moment or Valerie Plame actually went undercover for the CIA at age 10. OR what Larry Johnson meant was that she has been working during 3 decades -- the 1980's, the 1990's and the 2000's. Oh well, guess who's gonna use this as ammo to tear him down?
In 1990, while sheltering more than a hundred Americans at the U.S. Embassy and diplomatic residences, he briefed reporters while wearing a hangman's noose instead of a necktie -- a symbol of defiance after Hussein threatened to execute anyone who didn't turn over foreigners. The message, Wilson said: "If you want to execute me, I'll bring my own [expletive] rope."
This toughness impressed President George H.W. Bush, who called Wilson a "truly inspiring" diplomat who exhibited "courageous leadership" by facing down Hussein and helping to gain freedom for the Americans before the 1991 war began.
The Post story states his wife's age as 40. Now that contradicts what Larry Johnson says.
I worked with this woman. She started training with me. She has been undercover for three decades, she is not as Bob Novak suggested a CIA analyst.
This would mean either that the Post got its facts wrong, or Larry Johnson exaggerated in the heat of the moment or Valerie Plame actually went undercover for the CIA at age 10. OR what Larry Johnson meant was that she has been working during 3 decades -- the 1980's, the 1990's and the 2000's. Oh well, guess who's gonna use this as ammo to tear him down?
