# Joseph Wilson

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Joseph Wilson," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/joe-wilson/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*Former U.S. Ambassador to Niger and former Deputy Chief of Mission in Baghdad; husband of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame; in 2003 traveled to Niger at CIA request to investigate the Bush administration's claim that Iraq had attempted to purchase yellowcake uranium for a nuclear weapon, found no such Iraqi approach had occurred, and published a New York Times op-ed debunking the claim, triggering the administration's retaliatory outing of his wife.*

- **Diplomatic career:** U.S. Ambassador to Niger; previously Deputy Chief of Mission, Baghdad
- **Spouse:** Valerie Plame (covert CIA case officer)
- **Niger trip:** 2003, at CIA request, to investigate the Yellowcake Niger forgery claim
- **Finding:** No Iraqi approach to Niger had occurred
- **Op-ed:** New York Times, debunking the yellowcake claim
- **Retaliation:** Cheney had Plame's covert CIA identity leaked to syndicated columnist Robert Novak
- **Per Kiriakou:** Died of a heart attack a couple of years before this 2023 interview

**Joseph Wilson** was a former U.S. Ambassador to Niger and previously the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. He was married to covert [Central Intelligence Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) case officer [Valerie Plame](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/valerie-plame).[1][2]

## The Niger trip and the op-ed

In 2003, with the Bush administration's drafted State of the Union claiming Iraq had approached Niger to purchase yellowcake uranium, CIA Director [George Tenet](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/george-tenet), per [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou), proposed sending Wilson personally to Niger to verify the claim. Wilson flew out, met with Nigerien officials, and reported back: *"What, no, no Iraqis come here and ask us for yellowcake. And even if they had, we wouldn't have sold it to them."* He then wrote a *Washington Post* / *New York Times* op-ed making the case publicly.[3][4][5]

## Retaliation

Per Kiriakou, Dick Cheney *"was so enraged that they would call him on the carpet like this that he had the deputy secretary of state leak Valerie Plame's name to a syndicated columnist, Novak."*[5][6]

The yellowcake claim was reinserted into the State of the Union speech anyway, despite the CIA's repeated debunking, Kiriakou personally watched the speech with his then-girlfriend (later wife, also a senior CIA officer) and they were *"like, are you kidding me, how many times do we have to debunk this story?"*[7][8]

## See also

- [Valerie Plame](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/valerie-plame)
- [Yellowcake Niger forgery](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/yellowcake-niger-forgery)
- [George Tenet](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/george-tenet)

## See also

- [Valerie Plame](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/valerie-plame)
- [Yellowcake Niger forgery](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/yellowcake-niger-forgery)
- [George Tenet](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/george-tenet)

## Sources

1. CIA Spy on 9/11, Enhanced Interrogation, AI, Jeffrey Epstein | John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2023-11-19), at 1:41:21. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynMg7-QfL10&t=6081s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-11-19-dalton-fischer-kiriakou-part-2/
2. CIA Spy on 9/11, Enhanced Interrogation, AI, Jeffrey Epstein | John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2023-11-19), at 1:41:54. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynMg7-QfL10&t=6114s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-11-19-dalton-fischer-kiriakou-part-2/
3. CIA Spy on 9/11, Enhanced Interrogation, AI, Jeffrey Epstein | John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2023-11-19), at 1:42:28. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynMg7-QfL10&t=6148s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-11-19-dalton-fischer-kiriakou-part-2/
4. CIA Spy on 9/11, Enhanced Interrogation, AI, Jeffrey Epstein | John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2023-11-19), at 1:43:00. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynMg7-QfL10&t=6180s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-11-19-dalton-fischer-kiriakou-part-2/
5. CIA Spy on 9/11, Enhanced Interrogation, AI, Jeffrey Epstein | John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2023-11-19), at 1:43:32. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynMg7-QfL10&t=6212s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-11-19-dalton-fischer-kiriakou-part-2/
6. CIA Spy on 9/11, Enhanced Interrogation, AI, Jeffrey Epstein | John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2023-11-19), at 1:44:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynMg7-QfL10&t=6243s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-11-19-dalton-fischer-kiriakou-part-2/
7. CIA Spy on 9/11, Enhanced Interrogation, AI, Jeffrey Epstein | John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2023-11-19), at 1:45:35. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynMg7-QfL10&t=6335s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-11-19-dalton-fischer-kiriakou-part-2/
8. CIA Spy on 9/11, Enhanced Interrogation, AI, Jeffrey Epstein | John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2023-11-19), at 1:46:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynMg7-QfL10&t=6365s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-11-19-dalton-fischer-kiriakou-part-2/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/joe-wilson/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt