The Pursuit of Happiness: Always Right

Last year this blog predicted in several posts, including this one, that Joe Wilson was the one person most responsible for outing his wife.

From yesterday's Washington Post:

Nevertheless, it now appears that the person most responsible for the end of Ms. Plame's CIA career is Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson chose to go public with an explosive charge, claiming -- falsely, as it turned out -- that he had debunked reports of Iraqi uranium-shopping in Niger and that his report had circulated to senior administration officials. He ought to have expected that both those officials and journalists such as Mr. Novak would ask why a retired ambassador would have been sent on such a mission and that the answer would point to his wife. He diverted responsibility from himself and his false charges by claiming that President Bush's closest aides had engaged in an illegal conspiracy. It's unfortunate that so many people took him seriously.

Unfortunate, indeed. Still I must ask how such an obvious goofball ever got access the NYT opinion pages in the first place (have they printed a retraction yet?), and secondly how he ever was lent so much credibility by the press. Further, is it not treasonous to "falsely claim" in the middle of a war, for what can only be interpreted as political reasons, that the administration's report on the enemy's efforts to obtain uranium were debunked?

The answer in my view is yes. While perhaps not criminally actionable, it does seem that Joe has caused this country to spend countless millions on a three year investigation that resulted solely from his irresponsible actions. Shouldn't he be sent the bill?