Ambassador Munchausen

The modern counterpart of the infamous Baron von Munchausen, who has regaled the American public with his tall tales for three years now, is finally being unmasked as the person who "outed" Valerie Plame. Clarice Feldman has some interesting details:

A shrewd reader at Free Republic has found this article. See if you can guess who was the “former state department official with ties to the CIA” who was a source for this article (which the wayback machine says was posted on July 7, 2003). Ray McGovern, who was the other featured speaker at the EPIC conference and a leading member of the VIPs—one who openly called on CIA employees to leak – is a named source. A second source is described only as a “former state department official with ties to the CIA.” I strongly suspect “former state department official” is none other than Ambassador Munchausen himself, referring to his wife’s employment to strengthen his credentials. And I have reason to believe that has been a pattern, as the witnesses Libby has announced he’ll call will certainly demonstrate.

Check out the entire article. In medicine there is a disorder known as Munchausen's Syndrom which is a type of factitious disorder, or mental illness, in which a person repeatedly acts as if he or she has a physical or mental disorder when, in truth, they have caused the symptoms themselves.

When I was a resident on the medical unit, I personally caught one such patient spitting into his own IV when he thought noone was looking. This turned out to be the very cause of the patient's spiking high fevers every night--something that was completely stumping the doctors on his case.

Ambassordor Wilson resonates not only with the Baron's personality; but with the medical/psychiatric disorder named after the tale-telling aristocrat.

Thus,at this point in time, it would hardly be a shock, let alone a major revelation, that Wilson himself was the person who outed his wife and was the source of their "problems" (if getting a multimillion $$$ book deal or becoming media darlings are considered problems these days). Nor would it be a shock from a psychological perspective if the entire thing was done deliberately (or at least post facto deliberately) to punish the Bush Administration. Then it would be simple projection again for him to innocently claim that the Adminsitration was trying to punish him.

By saying it may be psychological projection that is behind this absurd political witch hunt, I am actually giving Wilson the benefit of the doubt. It is even more likely--and both later events and the facts of the case conclusively have demonstrated-- that the Ambassador is simply a serial liar.

Reprise from It Ain't Necessarily So...

Oh Wilson, he travelled to Niger,
Oh Wilson, he travelled to Niger,
An' his wife sent him over
Then he broke her cover!
Oh Wilson, he travelled to Niger.