At Least Somebody Knows How To Read

The Post editorial page is shall we say variable in its quality, but there are occasions when its items are better-reported than the paper's news files. Today is one of those occasions in End of An Affair, about the news that Richard Armitage leaked the identity of Joe Wilson's wife. Eventually they get to Joe Wilson:

Nevertheless, it now appears that the person most responsible for the end of Ms. Plame's CIA career is Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson chose to go public with an explosive charge, claiming -- falsely, as it turned out -- that he had debunked reports of Iraqi uranium-shopping in Niger and that his report had circulated to senior administration officials.

As regular PostWatch readers know, earlier this summer I wrote to ombudsman Deborah Howell about three stories that misreported that fact. I believe Ms. Howell has moved on to other issues, and all three remain uncorrected in the Post archive.  I'm glad to see the editorial page is less careless in its reporting. Here they are:

• Howard Kurtz, July 12: Novak triggered one of the capital's most tangled investigations with a July 2003 column reporting that Plame had suggested sending her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, to Niger to investigate whether Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was trying to obtain nuclear material from that country -- an unsupported claim that was included in President Bush's State of the Union speech.
• Eric Weiss and Charles Lane, July 14: Wilson had been sent by the CIA to investigate whether Iraq had sought nuclear weapons material from Niger. He reported that the charge could not be proved, but Bush nevertheless asserted in his 2003 State of the Union address that intelligence existed that Iraq had tried to buy uranium in Africa.
• Daniela Deane, July 15: Wilson said yesterday that he told the administration repeatedly that, after two missions to Niger to investigate, he had "found no evidence" that former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was attempting to buy yellowcake uranium in Niger for nuclear weapons.

All of which are contradicted by the facts and Post reporter Susan Schmidt who accurately wrote of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee report on July 10,2004:

Wilson's report, rather than debunking intelligence about purported uranium sales to Iraq, as he has said, bolstered the case for most intelligence analysts.

The Editorial staff and the straight reporters operate different shops, and rightly so, but I hope a little lightbulb goes on if they read today's editorial and this means you, Howard Kurtz*

*Bonus chastisement for Howard, because in one of his columns last year he belatedly added a line showing some awareness of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee report. As I said at the time, beginning with a quote from one of his columns:

..So the response is that 1) the Dems are playing politics (and Rove wasn't, in dragging in Mrs. Joe Wilson?). And 2) Rove was just performing a public service by steering a reporter away from a false story (actually, Wilson was right about the bogus Niger uranium tale, and the White House was wrong).

Funny thing is, the next day, Kurtz added the following to the same column online:

although his credibility did take a hit from a critical Senate intelligence committee report.

There's a program on one of the cable channels about ancient civilizations, and one of its main points is that the Romans made some amazing discoveries, but these were forgotten for years. This is like that.

UPDATE: Tom Maguire notes that a number of Posties, long before the Armitage news, downplayed the significance of the leak as an illegal smear campaign against Wilson and wife Valerie Plame. But I agree with USS Neverdock (not that this point was addressed exactly by Maguire) that this skepticism wasn't reflected in its coverage--the Post had about as many stories on this issue as the rest of  hysterical mainstream media.

This item corrected--in an earlier file, I said the editorial chastised Armitage for failing to scotch the investigation. Not exactly.

Comments

[Duke S]

Howard and Deborah are starred in a movie, "Exit to Evil." Look at the movie poster here:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/12/8/142729/094

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