You’re right about Iraqi WMD intents and interest in Niger but wrong about the immediacy of the threat. They did not obtain uranium from Niger. This we know. The Bush administration nevertheless trumped up the notion that Iraq was an immediate threat to our national security to support its case for an invasion in Iraq, and specifically used the Niger case to do so. That’s impeachable in my book.
I repeat, Iraq was not the central threat in the ME. AQ was, and remains so. Absurdly, removing Saddam hurt our strategic position vis-a-vis the Saudis, Iran and Afghan/Pakistan, key players in the Qaeda picture. Soviet-era nukes in the wrong hands remain the primary threat, along with Pakistan / Kahn’s network. We’re playing checkers on a dangerous chess board, dickering around in Iraq.
Plame was covert prior to desk work. Outing her almost certainly burned contacts in the region (I suspect there were issues with her within the CIA). The larger point from my view is, why even go there? Why incur the risk? Over an Op-Ed? We need every ounce of intel out of that region we can get. Politics trumped national security. Cheney crossed the line and should be in jail. Everybody knows this.
Finally, Clinton was a horrible President. We should have been ultra-aggressive and responded with great pressure after WTC1, Kobar, Cole, etc. Clinton punted the tough decisions, just as Bush is doing with Iraq. Neither compares to Eisenhower (or Reagan).
