Former ambassador and career diplomat Joseph Wilson IV, author of The Politics of Truth: Inside the Lies that Led to War and Betrayed My Wife's CIA Identity (Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2004), will visit the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum on Wednesday, Oct. 19 to discuss "Speaking Truth to Power and Its Consequences." The public portion of the event begins at 6:45 p.m. Seating is on a first-come basis.
Wilson, who went to the African nation of Niger in 2002 at the behest of the CIA to investigate intelligence claims that Iraq was actively seeking to purchase uranium, served as a foreign service officer and ambassador for more than two decades, from 1976 to 1998, and was the last U.S. diplomat to meet with Saddam Hussein in 1991. Following Iraq, he served as President George H. W. Bush's ambassador to Gabon and S?o Tom? and Principe, and under President Clinton, helped direct Africa policy for the National Security Council.
Nearly a year after Wilson's mission to Niger, President Bush mentioned the uranium allegation in his State of the Union address. Wilson then wrote in the New York Times: "I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat."
The couple then exploded onto the international scene when the identity of Wilson's wife, CIA operative Valerie Plame, was made public. Since his retirement in 1998 he has led JC Wilson International Ventures Corp., a company focused on international business development.
For more information about this event, visit the current Fortnightly: http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/mmca/temp_fn.asp?volumeFN=21&issueFN=03&typeFN=f