Question: Cause of July 7th Air Force 1 Africa trip

An unswered question about Rove-Traitor-DSM-gate:

What was the cause of the July 7th AF-1 trip to Africa, the day after Joe Wilson's NY Times editorial? I have been paying close attention to this whole story, but I've never heard WHY a whole bunch of people from the Bush admin were flying to Africa at that point in time. Randi Rhodes has been mentioning this trip a lot.

Was the trip planned in advance?

Or

Was the trip in response to Joe Wilson?

Is this known? The difference between the 2 above is significant. If the trip was pre-planned, it doesn't suggest much. If the trip was in response to Wilson's article, it would suggest a major damage control operation was unterway. Can anyone comment?

... on that trip (forcing people to stay in their houses, SEALS in the water in the harbor, moving people out of towns and detaining them during Bush's visit), I'd say it had to be planned well in advance.

Cheers.

Am. corp will run the oil deal? I swear I read that some place.