WHO LIED TO WHOM? (The Original Seymour Hersh Article About Uranium and Niger That Started It All!)

2003 : (DELTA SERVICES IS EXPOSED AS A RECIPIENT OF IRAQI OIL VOUCHERS THROUGH THE HEAD OF THE PLF ABU ABBAS ---- See OIL FOR FOOD SCANDALS, MOHAMMED ALAMOUDI, ROCK CREEK CORP, JOE WILSON [NIGERFLAP/PLAMELEAK]) [Joe] Wilson ran his company out of the offices of an investment company called Rock Creek Corporation. Rock Creek was controlled by Mohammed Alamoudi, whom Wilson had met in 1997 at a reception organized for the World Bank by Westar Group.
Alamoudi was a member of the Saudi-Ethiopian Alamoudi dynasty, which was heavily invested in the segments of the African economy Wilson was seeking to penetrate. The Alamoudi-affiliated company Delta Services--a Swiss subsidiary of the Saudi company Delta Oil--handled Iraqi oil export contracts in 2000 and 2001 and was revealed in 2003 as a recipient of Iraqi Oil-for-Food vouchers channeled through Abu Abbas, a Palestinian terrorist with Iraqi connections. ....
13 posted on 10/25/2004 1:18:53 PM PDT by BushisTheMan
******
Some clarification of [Joe] Wilson’s “murky” affiliation with Rock Creek Corporation has been offered at greater length elsewhere, but it will suit present purposes to highlight how Rock Creek’s interests coincided with Wilson’s African investment interests. Rock Creek was controlled by Mohammed Alamoudi, whom Wilson had met in 1997 through a reception organized for the World Bank by Westar Group, a Westar Energy affiliate which managed Alamoudi’s interests in Washington and like Wilson was involved with the Corporate Council on Africa. Alamoudi was a member of the Saudi-Ethiopian Alamoudi dynasty, which was heavily invested in the segments of the African economy Wilson was seeking to penetrate. The Alamoudi oil empire, centered around the Saudi-based company Delta Oil, included African ventures such as Arab-African Petroleum Company (ARAPCO), created in 2002 to buy oil concessions in Africa and develop them with foreign partners.
Alamoudi investments in African telecommunications included a Pan-African telecommunications project launched in 2001 by Pan African Communications Network (PACONET) with financing from a fund chaired by former South African President Nelson Mandela and cofinanced by the International Finance Corporation (IFG), the American International Group (AIG, a group including the Houston-based company El Paso Energy Corporation), and the African Development Bank (ADB). -------From Fedora (clipped from the draft of Fedora's article

2003 : (JOURNALIST CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS REPORTS THAT IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER TARIQ AZIZ OFFERED A HUGE BRIBE TO A SENIOR WEAPONS INSPECTOR) Rolf Ekeus. BTW, maybe the guy Christopher Hitchens mentioned in 2003: "I know of at least one incontrovertible case where a senior inspector was offered a huge bribe by Tariq Aziz himself: The man in question refused the money, but obviously not everybody did." ------http://slate.msn.com/id/2078512 15 posted on 03/11/2005 6:51:08 PM PST by Shermy

FEBRUARY 2003 : (REPORT : MOHAMMED FAROUQ ALI ROUB & PLF/IRAQI POISON PLOT : WMD, POISON PLOTS, IRAQ , PLF, IRAQ) WHILE President Bush is being urged to provide proof of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, Israel has its own proof that Iraq is ready to use deadly poison in terrorist attacks. "I was told to be ready to spread poison in the major Israeli water pipelines, the River Jordan or the Lake of Galilee," said Mohammed Farouq Abu Roub, a former junior officer in Palestinian intelligence. "I got these instructions in Iraq, where I was given thousands of dollars to carry out mega-attacks." Abu Roub, 29, was quoted by Israel's largest newspaper, Yediot Aronoth, speaking from his prison after being arrested in a botched effort to dispatch a homicide bomber to Israel. Details of the Shin Bet's lengthy investigation of Abu Roub had already been passed on to the US, sources told The Post. ----------- "IRAQ'S THUG BARES EVIL POISON PLOT," by URI DAN, New York Post, February 2, 2003

FEBRUARY 14, 2003 : (SOUTH AFRICA TO AID IRAQ IN DISMANTLING WMD IT ALLEGEDLY DOESN'T HAVE? )(snip) South Africa will send experts in dismantling weapons of mass destruction to Iraq as part of Pretoria's bid to avert war, President Thabo Mbeki said in his state of the nation address today.
The intervention follows a visit to Baghdad by Aziz Pahad, the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, and comes ahead of today's crucial report-back by United Nations weapons inspectors to the Security Council in New York. Addressing a special joint sitting of Parliament, Mbeki said it was hoped the UN report-back "will not serve as a signal to some that the time has come to unleash the fury of war".
"As we speak, a number of our citizens are preparing to travel to Iraq. These are the experts who led our country's programme to destroy our nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction, as well as the missiles for the delivery of these weapons in conditions of combat."
The work they had done had resulted in South Africa becoming an international example of best practice in disarmament, he said. South Africa voluntarily disarmed its weapons of mass destruction in the 1990s. Pretoria had proposed to Iraq and to Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General that these experts share South Africa's experience with Baghdad, Mbeki said.
"I am pleased to inform the Honourable Members that Iraq has accepted our offer, which we have already discussed with the leadership of the weapons inspectors. "We trust that this intervention will help to ensure the necessary proper co-operation between the United Nations' inspectors and Iraq, so that the issue of weapons of mass destruction is addressed satisfactorily, without resort to war." - "SA to send its nuclear experts to Iraq: Mbeki," http://www.sabcnews.com/politics/government/0,1009,52970,00.html., February 14, 2003, 11:15

MARCH 2003 : (BATTLE OF IRAQ BEGINS)

APRIL 25, 2003 : (RUMSFELD BRIEFING COMMENTS ON UPCOMING INTERROGATION OF IRAQI DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER TARIQ AZIZ - See OIL FOR FOOD, JEAN-MARIE BENJAMIN, GEORGE GALLOWAY, JAMES ABOUREZK, NICK RAHALL, BAGHDAD TRIO, SHAKIR AL KHAFAJI, GLENCOR ETC...) [Deputy Prime Minister Tariq] Aziz, meanwhile, may know where other senior officials wanted by the United States are hiding, officials said. As a longtime associate of Saddam, he may also have details on some of the Iraqi president's long-term planning.
Aziz "clearly is a very senior person and was in that regime, and we intend to discuss with him whatever he's willing to discuss with us," Rumsfeld said. -- "Iraqi intelligence agents held,"AP via TheAge.com.au, April 26 2003

MAY 2003 : (JAMES ABOUREZK FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST PROBUSH.COM - See N.I.O.N. , CNSS, ADC, Iran, Hezbollah) In May, former Sen. James Abourezk (D-SD) filed a $5 million lawsuit against a website operator who included him among a group of "traitors." The website, www.ProBush.com, lampoons liberals from the entertainment industry and politics who have been vocal in their opposition to the war in Iraq or critical of President George W. Bush.
Some of the others on the list are Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as well as actors George Clooney, Susan Sarandon, and Janeane Garafalo and the country music group, the Dixie Chicks.
While the website disclaimer states that the list is a parody and is not to be taken seriously, Abourezk claims that he has been defamed. In his lawsuit he states that ProBush.com's statement "is intended to injure" his standing in the community... asked how Abourezk came to be on the "traitor" list, Marino explained, "These are the signers of the famous 'Not in Our Name' petition against the war. He was alphabetically at the top of the list."
---- "20-Year-Old Republican Website Owner Sued by Former Democrat Senator, " By Jeff Gannon Talon News, July 31, 2003

[* I guess praising Hezbollah didn't damage Abourezk's standing in the community?]

JUNE 10, 2003 : (INTERIM UNMOVIC CHIEF NAMED, WAS THE LEADER OF THE IAEA TEAM WHICH CERTIFIED SOUTH AFRICA'S NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM DISSOLUTION) U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has appointed UNMOVIC Deputy Executive Chairman Demetrius Perricos to take over as acting head of the commission July 1, when Blix retires. Perricos was the commission's director of planning and operations for three years prior to his appointment in January to the body's number two post. The Greek native joined the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1972 as a safeguards inspector and led the team that certified the dissolution of South Africa's nuclear weapons program.He also worked in Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War -"Interim UNMOVIC Chief Named ," U.N. release, June 10

JUNE 2003 mid : (CAIRO, EGYPT : US UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE BOLTON WARNS EGYPT ON ITS INVOLVEMENT WITH IRAQ & NORTH KOREA ON MISSILES & WMD PROGRAMS) The United States has again launched an examination of Egypt's missile and weapons of mass destruction programs. U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton held talks over the weekend in Cairo with Egyptian leaders on a range of what U.S. officials termed were sensitive subjects. They said the issues included Egypt's WMD and missile programs and Cairo's cooperation with Saddam Hussein's Iraq and North Korea.
"All of the testimony and evidence found in Iraq have shown significant Egyptian involvement in Iraq's missile and WMD programs," a U.S. official said. "The issue has become too big to ignore without undermining the credibility of the administration."
- "U.S. QUESTIONS EGYPT ON WMD, MISSILES ," by Middle East Newsline staff, Middle East Newsline, 6/17/03

JULY 2006 : (JAMES ABOUREZK'S ADC SUES THE US GOVERNMENT OVER "FAILURE TO PROTECT AMERICAN CITIZENS FROM FIGHTING IN LEBANON" ----- See DEMOCRATS, ABOUREZK, CNSS, NION, HEZBOLLAH, IRAN) WASHINGTON — A leading Arab-American advocacy group has sued the U.S. government, claiming that it failed to protect American citizens from the fighting in Lebanon. The lawsuit, filed Monday on behalf of about 30 American citizens by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee [ADC], alleges that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld did not take all possible steps to secure the safety and well being of U.S. citizens when fighting erupted between Israel and Hezbollah guerillas. The committee is asking the U.S. District Court in Detroit to order the U.S. government to request a cease fire and to stop shipments of weapons or any other military support to Israel during the evacuation of U.S. citizens from Lebanon.(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...----------Arab-American Group Sues U.S. For Slow Lebanon Evacuation Fox News ^ | July 24, 2006

JULY 28, 2003 Monday : (UN : UN EXPANDS MONUC MANDATE -- SOUTH AFRICAN, BANGLADESHI & INDIAN TROOPS IN CONGO - see COLTAN, URANIUM)The expanded force will include troops from South Africa, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. ''They have already been lined up to go to eastern DRC,'' Annan said. ... MONUC's new mandate also gives peacekeepers the authority to take all ''necessary means'' to protect U.N. personnel, facilities, installations and equipment, as well as civilians and humanitarian workers ''under imminent threat of physical violence''. One expert said Monday that a peacekeeping force in the DRC must have sufficient authority to both defend itself, and more importantly, to help disarm combatants, thereby protecting the civilian population. The 53-member African Union (AU) must step forward and play an integral role in resolving the DRC crisis, said Bill Fletcher Jr, president of Washington-based TransAfrica Forum. ''The South African government has played a critical role, but this needs to be expanded to the AU (African Union) as a whole,'' Fletcher said in an interview. ''One important step would be the use of African troops in the DRC rather than European,'' he added. ----- "U.N. Authorizes Military Force in Congo ," Thalif Deen, Inter Press Service (IPS), July 28 -- yahoo.comnews, July 29, 2003

OCTOBER 4, 2003 : (TARANTO, ITALY : FIVE CONTAINERS FROM THE SHIP BBC CHINA ARE SEIZED; THEY CONTAIN A COMPONENT USEFUL FOR MAKING CENTRIFUGES - EVIDENCE OF LIBYA'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM, QADEER KHAN NETWORK)

NOVEMBER 2003 : (REPORT : AL QAEDA REP IBRAHIM ABD BOUGHT URANIUM FROM CONGOLESE MEN AT A MEETING IN HAMBURG GERMANY BACK IN MARCH 3, 2000) An al-Qaida representative bought enriched uranium capable of being used in a so-called dirty bomb from the Congolese opposition in 2000, according to a French newspaper report.
In sworn testimony an unnamed former soldier from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has told investigators looking into the murders of two Congolese opposition figures in France in December 2000 that he attended a meeting earlier that year at which the uranium was sold, the Lyon-based Le Progres reported.
The man "described a meeting which took place on 3 March in (the German city of) Hamburg between some Congolese men and an Egyptian by the name of Ibrahim Abd," the newspaper said.
It quoted the man as saying, "I realised it was al-Qaida." According to Le Progres, the Egyptian was able to acquire two bars of enriched uranium 138. ------ "Al-Qaida 'bought uranium' in Congo; Bin Ladin's network alleged to have 'dirty bomb' capability ,"AFP via Aljazeera, Friday 14 November 2003, 19:18 Makka Time, 16:18 GMT

DECEMBER 2003 : (UN SUPRESSED REPORT THAT REVEALED THAT RWANDA & UGANDA WERE STILL ARMING TERRORIST GROUPS IN THE CONGO- See COLTAN, URANIUM, GEMSTONE TRADE) ... it emerged that the UN Security Council suppressed a chapter from a UN report revealing that Rwanda and Uganda were still arming militias in Congo. It added that senior members of both governments were continuing to loot their neighbour. Britain refuses even to consider sanctions against either country. Others are getting their slice of the action too. Senior Tanzanian ministers are said to have armed Burundian rebels who are terrorising the South Kivu region of Congo. -----------------"The agony of a traumatised nation heard in the cries of a beaten child," The Daily Telegraph ^ | 3rd January, 2004 | Adrian Blomfield

(* My note: just a bit of trivia : Iraq backed Uganda's wars on its neighbors ... couldn't have been to get access to uranium in the future, right?)

2004 : (LIKASI, CONGO : BUSINESSMEN FROM AFRICA, INDIA, CHINA & ELSEWHERE HAVE SET UP SMELTING MILLS TO PROCESS ORE INTO HETEROGINITE; FROM THERE IT GOES TO ZAMBIA [Zambian leader is a friend of Saddam Hussein]) Today at Shinkolobwe, some 5,500 Congolese using shovels, hoes and bare hands haul ores overland to nearby Likasi, where businessmen from Africa, India, China and elsewhere have set up 13 smelting mills. The end product, and just as often the raw material itself, known as heteroginite, is shipped south by road to neighboring Zambia, and then abroad.
Industry officials say the heteroginite primarily contains high-grade cobalt. But "trace quantities of uranium are being exported unwittingly" along with it, said Skinner, the mining engineer, a Zimbabwean who is a longtime Congo resident. The diggers, uneducated, hungry and fearful for their jobs, deny any uranium is being mined.
Provincial governor Aime Ngoy Mukena confirmed to The Associated Press that the heteroginite contains uranium, but he and other officials declined to say precisely how much. ---------- "AP: Miners Drawn to Illegal Congo Uranium," TODD PITMAN, The Las Vegas Sun, | SHINKOLOBWE, Congo (AP) -May 31, 2004 at 14:31:41 PDT

* My note: remember Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein offering the Zambian leader a place on the "Council of 12 Wise Men" back before saddam hid in the spiderhole?

DECEMBER 26, 2004 : (REPORT : WMD INVESTIGATIONS : INVESTIGATORS FOUND URANIUM ENRICHMENT EQUIPMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA-- See Qadeer Khan Network, Islamic Bomb) There is no shortage of tantalizing leads. American intelligence officials and the I.A.E.A., working separately, are still untangling Dr. Khan's travels in the years before his arrest. Investigators said he visited 18 countries, including Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, on what they believed were business trips, either to buy materials like uranium ore or sell atomic goods.
In Dubai, they have scoured one of the network's front companies, finding traces of radioactive material as well as phone records showing contact with Saudi Arabia. Having tracked the network operations to Malaysia, Europe and the Middle East, investigators recently uncovered an outpost in South Africa, where they seized 11 crates of equipment for enriching uranium.---------" As Nuclear Secrets Emerge in Khan Inquiry, More Are Suspected," New York Times ^ , Dec 26, 2004

OCTOBER 22, 2005 : (TANZANIA : CUSTOMS OFFICIALS DISCOVER SHIPMENT OF URANIUM 238 WHICH HAD BEEN SMUGGLED FROM THE LUBUMBASHI MINES IN CONGO IN A SHIPMENT OF COLTAN DESTINED FOR KAZAKHSTAN VIA THE IRANIAN PORT OF BANDAR ABBAS) Tanzanian customs officials told The Sunday Times it was destined for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, and was stopped on October 22 last year during a routine check. ... A senior Tanzanian customs official said the illicit uranium shipment was found hidden in a consignment of coltan, a rare mineral used to make chips in mobile telephones. The shipment was destined for smelting in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, delivered via Bandar Abbas, Iran’s biggest port. “There were several containers due to be shipped and they were all routinely scanned with a Geiger counter,” the official said. “This one was very radioactive. When we opened the container it was full of drums of coltan. Each drum contains about 50kg of ore. When the first and second rows were removed,the ones after that were found to be drums of uranium.” In a nuclear reactor, uranium 238 can be used to breed plutonium used in nuclear weapons. The customs officer, who spoke to The Sunday Times on condition he was not named, added: “The container was put in a secure part of the port and it was later taken away, by the Americans, I think, or at least with their help. We have all been told not to talk to anyone about this.” ----------- "Iran's plot to mine uranium in Africa," Jon Swain, David Leppard and Brian Johnson-Thomas, The Sunday Times (U.K.), 08/06/06,

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