"Clearly, it was meant purely and simply for revenge," the Washington Post quoted the senior administration official, whom sources have identified as Grossman, as saying. According to sources, Grossman told the Post that the Plame Wilson leak was "wrong and a huge miscalculation, because they were irrelevant and did nothing to diminish Wilson's credibility."
Additionally, Grossman provided a dissenting opinion for a July 20, 2005, Associated Press story. Identified as a "retired state department official," Grossman told the AP that a classified State Department memo disputed the legitimacy of administration claims that Iraq sought to acquire uranium from Niger. The memo also contained a few lines about Plame Wilson's CIA employment, which were marked as secret.
The memo was written in June 2003 by Carl Ford, the former head of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), at the request of Grossman. The memo was prepared after a Washington Post story quoted an unnamed former US official who said the White House knowingly used bogus intelligence about Iraq's threat to purchase uranium from Niger. The US official who spoke to the Post on background has since been identified as former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.
Speaking to the AP on background, Grossman said the INR memo "wasn't a Wilson-Wilson wife memo. It was a memo on uranium in Niger and focused principally on our disagreement" with the White House.
"The former State Department official stressed the memo focused on Wilson's trip and the State Department intelligence bureau's disagreement with the White House's claim about Iraq trying to get nuclear material. He said the fact that the CIA officer and Wilson were husband and wife was largely an incidental reference," the July 20, 2005, AP story says, quoting Grossman, according to people close to the leak case.
This story was first published on TruthOut
Additionally, Grossman provided a dissenting opinion for a July 20, 2005, Associated Press story. Identified as a "retired state department official," Grossman told the AP that a classified State Department memo disputed the legitimacy of administration claims that Iraq sought to acquire uranium from Niger. The memo also contained a few lines about Plame Wilson's CIA employment, which were marked as secret.
The memo was written in June 2003 by Carl Ford, the former head of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), at the request of Grossman. The memo was prepared after a Washington Post story quoted an unnamed former US official who said the White House knowingly used bogus intelligence about Iraq's threat to purchase uranium from Niger. The US official who spoke to the Post on background has since been identified as former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.
Speaking to the AP on background, Grossman said the INR memo "wasn't a Wilson-Wilson wife memo. It was a memo on uranium in Niger and focused principally on our disagreement" with the White House.
This story was first published on TruthOut
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