The Saudis' Man In Washington
Here's something you won't hear on any network newscast. The intrepid
Mark Steyn offers a disturbing revelation about an "adjunct scholar" of "the pro-Saudi Middle East Institute", one Joe Wilson:
Remember him? He's the fellow at the center of the Bob-Novak-published-the-name-of-my-CIA-wife scandal. The agency sent him to look into the European intelligence stories about Saddam Hussein trying to buy uranium in Africa. He went to Niger, drank mint tea with government flacks, and then wrote a big whiny piece in the New York Times after the White House declined to accept his assurances there was nothing going on. He was never an intelligence specialist, he's no longer a "career diplomat," but he is, like so many other retired ambassadors, on the House of Saud's payroll. And the Saudis were vehemently opposed to war with Saddam.
Think about that. To investigate Saddam's attempted acquisition of uranium, the United States government sent a man in the pay of the Saudi government. The Saudis set up schools that turn out terrorists. They set up Islamic lobby groups that put spies in our military bases and terror recruiters in our prisons. They set up think tanks that buy up and neuter the U.S. diplomatic corps. And their ambassador's wife funnels charitable donations to the 9/11 hijackers.
But it's all just an unfortunate coincidence, isn't it? After all, the Saudis are our friends. Thank goodness.
Saudi Joe is also openly scheming on behalf of the presidential campaign of Mr. Teresa Heinz née Kerry. It would be more than naïve to assume that Wilson's recent shit-stirring in the press about his CIA-employed spouse was motivated by anything other than presidential campaign politics.
Let's hope that President Bush sees this mess for what it is: the consequence of his leaving Clinton appointees such as CIA director George Tenet in place.
