The Politics of Truth Inside the Lies That Put the White House on Trial and Betrayed My Wife's CIA Identity

by Wilson, Joseph

• ISBN13: 9780786715510
• ISBN10: 0786715510
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-05-11
• Publisher: PublicAffairs

Summary

With a new investigative epilogue by a prominent Washington journalist and a new foreword by the author. Ambassador Joseph Wilson recounts more than two decades of foreign service to our country in this unprecedented look at the life of an American diplomat and an unabashed account of policies that sometimes succeeded and sometimes failed. As the last American official to meet with Saddam before Desert Storm, Wilson successfully parried the dictator's threats to use American hostages as human shields against U.S. bombing. Yet today he finds himself battling threats from his own government because he called a lie a lie. When President Bush alleged that Iraq had pursued uranium from Africa for its nuclear weapons program, Wilson could not stand silent. He had traveled to Niger the previous year and found no evidence to support the president's claim. To intimidate Wilson, senior administration officials disclosed the undercover status of Wilson's wife, CIA operative Valerie Plame, to the press, putting her life in danger. Rather than backing down, Wilson persistently criticized the way the administration misled the nation into war. Now he continues his fight in this groundbreaking book by revealing the perils bred by the war-hungry regime in the White House.

Author Biography

Joseph Wilson, a political centrist, was a career United States diplomat from 1976 to 1998. During Democratic and Republican administrations he served in various diplomatic posts throughout Africa and eventually as ambassador to Gabon. He was the acting ambassador to Baghdad when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. In February 2002, as special envoy to Niger he investigated reports of Iraq's attempt to buy nuclear material there. In October 2003, Wilson received the Ron Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling from the Fertel Foundation and the Nation Institute. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Table of Contents

Foreword The Niger Affair: The Investigation that Won't Go Away Russ Hoyle	xiii
Preface Anatomy of a Smear Ambassador Joseph Wilson	li
Maps	lxxi
Chapter One The Sixteen Words	1	(30)
Chapter Two Getting Started in a Diplomatic Career	31	(20)
Chapter Three Back to Africa with Twins	51	(26)
Chapter Four Coming to Baghdad	77	(30)
Chapter Five How to Shake Hands with a Dictator	107	(22)
Chapter Six Of Hostages and Convoys	129	(20)
Chapter Seven A Noose for a Necktie	149	(26)
Chapter Eight Watching the War from a Distance	175	(10)
Chapter Nine All in a Diplomat's Life-from Gabon to Albania	185	(26)
Chapter Ten Diplomats and Generals	211	(18)
Chapter Eleven US. Peacekeeping in Bosnia	229	(10)
Chapter Twelve Coming Home for Good	239	(22)
Chapter Thirteen Taking President Clinton to Africa	261	(14)
Chapter Fourteen Private Citizen	275	(30)
Chapter Fifteen The Road to the Second Gulf War	305	(20)
Chapter Sixteen What I Didn't Find in Africa	325	(18)
Chapter Seventeen A Strange Encounter with Robert Novak	343	(22)
Chapter Eighteen Frog-Marching	365	(16)
Chapter Nineteen A Criminal Investigation	381	(18)
Chapter Twenty A Family Photo	399	(18)
Chapter Twenty-One A Long Strange Trip	417	(34)
Timelines	451	(4)
Acknowledgments	455	(6)
Newspaper commentaries published by Ambassador Joseph Wilson before and after the United States invasion of Iraq in 2003	461	(26)
Bibliography	487	(10)
Index	497	(21)
About the Author	518