Oh My Goodness!

Roger Simon is wondering about Joseph Wilson, and whether he has any connection to the French. Well, here is the sort of tidbit a mystery writer loves - when Wilson took his trip to Niger, his travels took him through Paris.

Now, why do I know this? Good question - according to the Senate Intel Report, Wilson left for Niger on Feb 21, and arrived Feb 26. (p. 41/2), so there was a stopover somewhere, which I distinctly recall as being France. However, it is not mentioned in his NY Times op-ed.

OK, I need some help here on the research side. How about Nick Kristof, to start us up:

The agency chose a former ambassador to Africa to undertake the mission, and that person flew to Niamey, Niger, in the last week of February 2002. This envoy spent one week in Niger, staying at the Sofitel and discussing his findings with the U.S. ambassador to Niger, and then flew back to Washington via Paris.

And for the screenplay, over to you, Roger.

MORE: It's worth noting that Paris is a lovely city at any time of year (February?); that Wilson spoke French; that (a guess) the flights from Washington to Niger involve a connection in Europe; that to reduce jet-lag, spending a few days in Europe makes sense; and, given the French involvement in running the uranium mines, a chat with folks in Paris *may* have been appropriate. And yes, we see Kristof has Wilson stopping in Paris on the way back, not the way over.

Now, bonus paranoia - Kevin Drum speculated that Ms. Plame fed CIA info to Wilson to guide his leak strategy. Well, now - that could help Roger's script.

Comments

[yellerKat]

The only routes into Niamey are: direct from Paris with AF; through Tripoli with Afriqiyah (imagine the reaction) or through Casablanca with Royal Air Maroc...

[abb1]

when Wilson took his trip to Niger, his travels took him through Paris

Oh, man. Some people are really scraping the bottom of the barrel...

[The Kid]

This is based on current flight schedules, but it seems to work.

The connections from London or Paris to Niger are equally good (bad?). According to Travelocity, Niamey, Niger (NIM) has incoming flights on Tuesdays. (That tracks with Kristof’s report that Wilson arrived 2/26/02, a Tuesday). If, as Kristof reported, Wilson departed Thursday, 2/21/04, he’d have arrived in London or Paris on the morning of 2/22/04, a Friday.

At some point he’d have to fly on to either Tripoli (TIP) or Casablanca (CMN) to catch flights into Niamey on Tuesday. From London, however, he’d only be able to travel on Tuesday. From Paris he could leave a day or two earlier and spend time in Casablanca. (I rather doubt he’d go via Libya, but with Joe, who knows?)

From Paris Via Casablanca
Flight: Air France flight 1896 on a Boeing 737-300 Jet Days Operating Daily
Depart: Paris de Gaulle, France (CDG) at 3:45pm
Arrive: Casablanca, Morocco (CMN) at 4:55pm
Connecting to -
Flight: Royal Air Maroc flight 281 on a Boeing 737-800 Jet - Tuesday s only
Depart: Casablanca, Morocco (CMN) at 10:30pm
Arrive: Niamey, Niger (NIM) at 4:20am
Stops: None

From Paris via Tripoli:
Flight: Afriqiyah Airways flight 901 on a Airbus Industrie Jet – Mon, Tue, Thr, Fri, Sat
Depart: Paris de Gaulle, France (CDG) at 2:55pm
Arrive: Tripoli, Libya (TIP) at 6:10pm
Connecting to
Flight: Afriqiyah Airways flight 742 on a Airbus Industrie Jet Days - Tuesday s only
Depart: Tripoli, Libya (TIP) at 8:10pm
Arrive: Niamey, Niger (NIM) at 12:40am
Stops: One-hour stop in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (OUA)

From London via Casablanca:
Flight: Royal Air Maroc flight 803 on a Airbus 321 Jet – Operating Tuesday only.
Depart: London Heathrow, UK (LHR) at 5:15pm
Arrive: Casablanca, Morocco (CMN) at 8:40pm
Stops: 45-minute stop in Tangier
Connecting to
Flight: Royal Air Maroc flight 281 on a Boeing 737-800 Jet – Operating Tuesday only.
Depart: Casablanca, Morocco (CMN) at 10:30pm
Arrive: Niamey, Niger (NIM) at 4:20am
Stops: None

From London via Tripoli:
Flight: Afriqiyah Airways flight 941 on a Airbus Industrie Jet – Operating Tuesday and Friday
Depart: London Gatwick, UK (LGW) at 11:25am
Arrive: Tripoli, Libya (TIP) at 4:15pm
Stops: None
Connecting to
Flight: Afriqiyah Airways flight 742 on a Airbus Industrie Jet Days Operating
Depart: Tripoli, Libya (TIP) at 8:10pm
Arrive: Niamey, Niger (NIM) at 12:40am
Stops: One-hour stop in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (OUA)

This is more than any of us wants to know.

[Michael Sullivan]

And isn't Sofitel a French hotel? hmmm.

[lex]

Sorry but Niger is further west than Paris. You can't "reduce jet lag" by flying north and east.

[TM]

Re: jet lag - I was thinking that north-south flights generally result in a lot less jet lag than east-west. Even if Paris-Niamey is west-east, it can't be much compared to the big east-west going to Africa.

I was not thinking of, for example, Presidential stop-overs in Guam or Hawaii en route to Tokyo.

[The Kid]

Hey, coulda been Brussels. That’s were Rocco Martino, I mean, Giacomo, used to meet up with his French handlers.

[Al]

Somewhere I read that Joe allegedly stated in the press "Those receipts are forgeries!" before the CIA even had a set of the receipts.

Can anyone find that proclamation?

[The Kid]

Receipts? Documents. When he surfaced to take on Bush’s sixteen words from the SOTU, Wilson claimed that he’d seen the documents in early 2002 and they were forgeries. From the WaPo Pincus-written 6/12/03 article (wherein Wilson is both the “envoy” and the “the former U.S. government official:”

After returning to the United States, the envoy reported to the CIA that the uranium-purchase story was false, the sources said. Among the envoy's conclusions was that the documents may have been forged because the "dates were wrong and the names were wrong," the former U.S. government official said.

Per the Senate intelligence report, the documents in question were not available in February 2002, the time of Wilson’s visit, so Wilson could not have known they were forgeries at that time. However, hey did become available later and Wilson could have learned of them from his wife as is recounted here.