BRYAN PRESTON ASKS: What was Joe Wilson thinking?

It is time to ask these questions, I think. Wilson constructed out of thin air the scandal of the 16 words, a non-scandal that has done a great deal of damage to the war effort in Iraq and to potential conflicts yet to be fought. We know know beyond doubt that he built that scandal on an edifice of lies, and it’s apparent that he did so on purpose. Why would he do this? Self-promotion and the glory of a book deal, for a book that will be heading to the cut-out bins in short order now that he has been discredited, isn’t a satisfying answer, at least not to me.

There very likely is much more to his story, and to his wife’s story too.

Indeed.

UPDATE: Roger Simon has some thoughts and observations. “I think the Wilson/Plame escapade has little or nothing to do with whether Saddam tried to buy uranium of any sort in Niger or anywhere and everything to do with the power struggle between the CIA, the Pentagon and the State Department. Wilson’s trip to Niger was a charade. The CIA, or the part of the CIA that sent him, knew full well in advance that he would find nothing or say that he found nothing, nothing of significance anyway. In fact, if you were actually serious about finding out information about yellowcake sales, it seems the least likely way to go about it. . . . The Washington blood sport that may be behind all this is not reassuring to contemplate.”

More speculation (frankly labeled as such) here. I’d like to see more reporting on this.