JOE WILSON has sent a letter defending himself. Tom Maguire is unimpressed.

UPDATE: Tom’s commenters are even less impressed with Wilson’s version of events. Samples:

And on the substance Wilson has never had a case, even on the surface, even before any investigations. His WaPo letter just brazenly asserts a non-fact — nothing about any uranium reports from anywhere have been “discredited.” The SOTU reference was to a Brit assessment on Africa, Africa has more than one uranium source, the Brits stood/stand by their assessment, which was not based in any war on the forged documents, and nothing Wilson says/said touches the matter, except — as the SSCI noted — to strengthen it somewhat by reporting the suspected approach by an Iraqi official in 1999. We knew enough on July 6, 2003 — and so did the WH, or could have with two phone calls — to have dismissed Wilson without any fuss. Some of us did.

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Amidst all his assertions, much is ignored, left unsaid.

It reminds me of the guy who truthfully said that his grandfather died in a concentration camp. The full truth was that the guy fell out of a guard tower.

Ouch.

UPDATE: More on Wilson here:

Wilson now makes no attempt here to claim that his wife didn’t tout him for the job. That is quite telling. . . .

Indeed, Wilson freelanced that Bush was a liar about the Yellowcake story when he clearly didn’t have all of the facts. That much is still obviously true. Whether or not Wilson’s report bolstered the case that Iraq sought Uranium from Niger or not is an important question insofar as it would help demonstrate the degree of Wilson’s dishonesty, but not the fact that he has been deeply dishonest.

You’d think this would be bigger news.

YET MORE: A lengthy analysis of Wilson’s letter from Kronology, a blog I haven’t read before.