Former ambassador urges regime change in the U.S.

Barbara Diamond

Former Ambassador and Bush Administration critic Joe Wilson was

seemingly preaching to the choir Saturday in City Hall. Not one

dissenting voice was heard.

Outside, two veterans hoisted banners urging support for the

nation’s troops and God’s blessing for the president.

Wilson welcomed their presence.

“That is what democracy is all about: open debate,” Wilson said.

And open debate is what he claims was missing before the United

States went to war in Iraq. That is why he supports a regime change

by ballot box in November, although he opposed a regime change in

Iraq by armed force.

“There is no more solemn decision that any government makes than

to send its sons and daughters to kill and to die,” Wilson said. “I

agree that we should support our troops. But we should have a solemn

debate before we put 135,000 people in what is now the killing fields

of Iraq.”

The decision to make war on Saddam Hussein was a mistake that has

forever tarnished the image of the United States, according to

Wilson, and will breed generations of terrorists and perhaps a

billion supporters where before the Iraq War there were perhaps 10

million.

To justify the war, the government had to foster the belief that

Saddam had the bomb and would use it against Americans and secondly

to lump Saddam with Osama bin Laden -- although the two had no ties,

Wilson said.

“Everyone knew the last thing Saddam would do is turn over weapons

of mass destruction to a group over whom he had no control, who might

use the weapons for their purposes, even if they were not consistent

with his purposes,” Wilson said.

Wilson contended Saturday that the war was waged without

international support, with no public understanding of what the

country was getting into and no political accountability for what got

us there, what we would do once we were there or for actions during

the occupation that have become an international scandal.

He faults the Bush Administration, not the Republican Party.

“If you believe in fiscal responsibility, this is not your

Republican Party,” Wilson said. “If you believe the government

doesn’t have a role to play in your bedroom, this isn’t your

Republican Party.”

The whole world was with us on 911, Wilson said. We were the

victims and the world understood America’s goal to eradicate

terrorists who were given safe haven in Afghanistan. All that

goodwill has been squandered, Wilson said.

Wilson was the last American official to meet with the Iraqi

leader before the launching of Desert Storm and, as acting

Ambassador, he negotiated the release of American hostages.

He served as political advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of the U.

S. armed forces in Europe from 1995 to 1997 and as Special Assistant

to the President and senior director for African Affairs to the

National Security Council from June 1997 to July 1998.

The Bush administration sent Wilson to Niger to investigate the

accusation that Saddam Hussein was trying to buy nuclear materials to

construct weapons of mass destruction. Wilson said he determined it

was untrue and reported that in February 2002 to Vice President Dick

Cheney.

“A year later, [the discredited information] showed up in the

State of the Union message,” Wilson said.

Information attributed to British intelligence that Saddam was in

the market to rebuild his nuclear weapons program became known as

“The 16 Words,” although the CIA, as well as Wilson had advised it

was not true.

“This was not a simple mistake,” Wilson said. “It was cleverly

calculated to deceive the Congress of the United States, the American

people and the people around the world. It formed the basis of the

case that Saddam was a threat to the United States.

“It took me about 20 seconds to decide to call on my government to

correct the statement.”

He got no place fast until July 6 when an article he wrote titled

“What I Did Not Find in Africa” was printed in the New York Times.

“The next day the White House admitted, it,” Wilson said. “Four

days later the name of my wife was leaked.”

His wife, mother of one of the sets of twins he has fathered, is

Valerie Plame. She was a CIA agent.

“It was done to intimidate others -- do what Wilson did to us and

we will do to you what we did to the Wilson family,” Wilson said.

Conservative TV newsman and print columnist Robert Novak broke the

story. Novak has declined to name his source. Wilson believes it came

from the executive branch of the government and was treason.

“It was a crime against national security,” Wilson said. “They

decided their agenda was more important and they took an asset

[undercover agent] off the table who had worked to keep nuclear

weapons out of America.”

In response to a question from the audience, Wilson said he does

not want to see Novak tried for treason -- he supports a free press.

His ambition is to see his wife driving Novak’s black corvette next

year.

Wilson said people have told him that speaking out against the

war, starting with the New York Times article, was courageous. He

said it was his civic duty.

“We are responsible to hold [our government] accountable for what

it says and does,” Wilson said. “They cannot bully me. They cannot

bully my wife and they will not drive us from the public square. It’s

our country. We are the stewards of this democracy.

If Wilson’s words sometimes sounded like the speech of a candidate

for high office, he said they weren’t.

“I am a child of the 60s,” he said. “I have way too many wives

[three]. I have way to many drugs in my background and yes, I did

inhale.”

He said he was here to “flog” his book, which was 11th on the New

York Times Best Seller on Saturday -- maybe higher on Sunday. He

signed well over 100 copies of the book before and after his talk --

a witty but worrisome smorgasbord of history, predictions and Beltway

insider information.

He spoke without notes, and responded to questions from the

audience without editing them.

Wilson’s appearance was sponsored by the Laguna Institute, a

nonpartisan organization that explores contemporary issues and

fosters community dialogue.

The institute grew out of the goals and implementation of Vision

Laguna 2030 and is filing for tax exempt status.

Wilson was raised in California. He has close ties to Laguna. His

family and the Blackburn family, into which former Mayor Kathleen

Blackburn married, have been friends for years.

“The most important point Joe made was that citizens must have

open debates on issues of importance,” said Ann Johnson, a member of

the institute. “It is a citizen’s responsibility to inquire and be

informed about decisions at all levels of government.”