The Politics of Truth

With a new investigative epilogue by a prominent Washington journalist and a new foreword by the author. Ambassador Joseph Wilson recounts more than two decades of foreign service to our country in this unprecedented look at the life of an American diplomat and an unabashed account of policies that sometimes succeeded and sometimes failed. As the last American official to meet with Saddam before Desert Storm, Wilson successfully parried the dictator's threats to use American hostages as human shields against U. S. bombing. Yet today he finds himself battling threats from his own government because he called a lie a lie. When President Bush alleged that Iraq had pursued uranium from Africa for its nuclear weapons program, Wilson could not stand silent. He had traveled to Niger the previous year and found no evidence to support the president's claim. To intimidate Wilson, senior administration officials disclosed the undercover status of Wilson's wife, CIA operative Valerie Plame, to the press, putting her life in danger. Rather than backing down, Wilson persistently criticized the way the administration misled the nation into war. Now he continues his fight in this ground-breaking book by revealing the perils bred by the war-hungry regime in the White House.