Baltimore, MD - Only a stone’s throw from fabled Penn Station in this historic port city stands the University of Baltimore. It is best known nationally for its prestigious “School of Law.” (1) On Nov. 14, 2005, ex-U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson spoke in the Lansdale Library there, at a “citizenship forum.” His lecture was cosponsored by the school’s “Public Affairs” department and the Randolph B. Rosencrantz Memorial Fund. Wilson was in top form and held little back in his remarks. He was also very enthusiastic in his praise of the Iraqi war-related expose’ - “The Downing St. Memos.” (2)

In a wide ranging talk, entitled, “Speaking the Truth to Power and its Consequences,” Wilson reviewed for the record how his wife, Valeri Plame, was “outed” by operatives of the Bush-Cheney Gang. This, he said, came “only” after he had revealed, in a July, 2003, NY Times’ Op Ed piece, how President George W. Bush had mislead the nation in his “State of the Union” rant, in Jan., 2003, about Iraq’s supposedly attempting to secure “yellow cake uranium” from an African country in order to build a nuclear bomb. (3) The yarn about the Niger uranium, Wilson, emphasized, was needed by manipulators in the administration in order to wrongly mesmerize the American people with the frightening image of a phony smoking gun in the form of “a mushroom cloud.”

Wilson said his Op Ed piece was an “act of civic duty,” made necessary because the Bush-Cheney Gang had no intention of “coming clean” with the American people. He added that the Establisment has been making “my life miserable ever since, by making me into a political adversary.” Somewhere along the line, Wilson speculated, the Bush-Cheney Gang has decided that the best way to take him out was “to also take my family out!” He speculated that it was publicly battering him in order to send a message to others that they would suffer a similar fate as he, (and his wife), if they were to dare to “step forward into the public square and to challenge the way this government took us to war.” The powers that be want to make people, who work in the government, “very afraid, and, indeed, people have been afraid” to speak out, Wilson reported.

Bush’s “State of the Union” spiel was given just before he launched the illegal and immoral Iraqi War based on a pack of outrageous lies. (4) Wilson wondered aloud: “Who put those ‘16 words’ in that ‘State of the Union’ address? And, what was their motivation?” The media, and the Congress, he insisted should focus on finding answers to those two questions. He also had some scathing remarks to make about Right Wing columnist Bob Novak, who was the first media hack to publish the fact that Wilson’s wife was a covert agent for the CIA.

Wilson said, “Bob Novak, in my judgment, is a pawn in someone’s else game. He’s a tool...a despicable tool you can be sure. It’s not likely he will break bread in my house. I think the chances are pretty good, almost certain that the reason Novak doesn’t figure prominently in the indictment (Irv “Scooter” Libby Case)... is that when he was sitting across the table from Pat Fitzgerald, (Special Counsel in the Libby Case), in that first interview, he probably sang like a canary. He told Fitzgerald everything he wanted to hear. Because, if he had exerted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination...his testimony could have been compelled in exchange for immunity. Had he suggested that he, too, had a First Amendment Right to protect his source...chances are that he would have been in that litigation as well. It is generally believed that he...’wilted’ at his first contact with Pat Fitzgerald. Now, I find Bob Novak to be a despicable character, but I leave the description of him to my good friend Jon Stewart, who runs, ‘The Daily Show.’ I tell my friends at Fox News...that if I’m going to do fake news, I won’t do Fox News. I will do ‘The Daily Show.’ I no longer say that Jon Stewart refers to Bob Novak as a ‘douche bag.’ I just don’t say it anymore, my wife (Valerie Plame) wouldn’t like it.”

Wilson continued his comments by talking about the ex-NY Times reporter, the extremely controversial Judy Miller. (5) He said, “With respect to Judy Miller: Was she trying to protect [Dick] Cheney? It’s just all too murky for me to try and figure out...I just want to talk about the fact that she spent 85 days in jail because Lewis Libby was too cowardly to step forward and accept responsibility for his own actions. This is a man who has the title of ‘Assistant to the President of the United States.’ This is a man who swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. He is now being accused of impeding a federal [grand jury] investigation. That is in and of itself a violation of his oath of office. I find him [Libby] really a slime ball. The fact that he would allow, that he would go, first of all, after my wife, and then allow Judy Miller to spend 85 days in jail, and then, now, he says he want to clear his good name. This is a serial abuser...”

In referring to some of the Right Wing attack dogs who have been viciously vilifying him and his wife, Wilson said: “These are all campaigns by these people...basically, trying to spring ‘Scooter’ Libby, who I said earlier is a real scum bag.” He was also particularly incensed about what he labeled, “an egregious” attack on his family by [Rep.] Peter T. King, a congressman from Long Island, NY. He said that King, “in his blind ambition to be named the next chair of the [House] Homeland Security Committee, had stepped out to say of my wife, ‘She got what she deserved!’”

Wilson underscored, “I don’t know how else you fight, then to get in there and fight and confront the school yard bullies. [They] are absolutely determined to destroy me personally, my integrity, my wife, her integrity, my character and our lives. And, if you don’t stand up and fight for that, what the hell are you going to stand up and fight for? Now in the end, it is also a fight for how we conduct the debate in the public square. That is what this is all about. Are we as Americans going to take this? These guys are ‘Brownshirts!’ This is essentially what we are talking about here. We are talking about a small group of people who masquerade as Republicans, but are not Republicans at all. They are radicals...” (6)

Finally, Wilson said, “The indictment [of Irv ‘Scooter’ Libby] is a reaffirmation that, in fact, we are a nation of laws and that no man is above the law...This is a great democracy...but we need the participation of citizens to make it work...Our Republic is based on a system of checks and balances...We must never shy away from confronting the likes of ‘Scooter’ Libby and Karl Rove - the school yard bullies.”

Notes:

1. http://www.ubalt.edu/. This author is proud to say that he is graduate of the U. of Baltimore, a state school, and has an AA Degree (1961) and Juris Doctorate (1964) from that fine institution. I am also an ex-adjunct professor at its Law School.

2. http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/

3. http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j100303.html

4. http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2004/01/12_405.html

5. http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2362/

6. See video, “Joe Wilson Attacks Novak, Libby and the Brownshirts,” at: http://homepage.mac.com/bhughes2/iMovieTheater161.html

© William Hughes 2005.

William Hughes is the author of “Saying ‘’No’ to the War Party” (IUniverse, Inc.). He can be reached at liamhughes@comcast.net.