Intelligence backs claim Iraq tried to buy uranium

Financial Times ^ | 27 June 2004 | Mark Huband

[NavySEAL F-16]

Illicit sales of uranium from Niger were being negotiated with five states including Iraq at least three years before the US-led invasion, senior European intelligence officials have told the Financial Times.

Intelligence officers learned between 1999 and 2001 that uranium smugglers planned to sell illicitly mined Nigerien uranium ore, or refined ore called yellow cake, to Iran, Libya, China, North Korea and Iraq.

These claims support the assertion made in the British government dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programme in September 2002 that Iraq had sought to buy uranium from an African country, confirmed later as Niger. George W. Bush, US president, referred to the issue in his State of the Union address in January 2003.

[Tennessean4Bush]

Nope. Joe Wilson knows better. He visited Niger and asked. They said no.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Yeah that's right, it was Joe Wilson. He did the investigation from his hotel.

[lonevoice]

Shhhhh. You'll scare people with that kind of talk. If Bush was right then ... (shudder) all kinds of bad things are true ... the media is lying, the Dems are traitors, the UN is worthless, France and Germany stabbed us in the back, Micheal Moore is a liar ...

Ping

[Choose Ye This Day]

Mmmmmmmmm...yellow cake, with some strawberries and whipping cream on top.

[Defender2]

MORE:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1161413/posts?page=1

[cgk]

Now, my understanding is that there are all sorts of other documents that have since come to light and Andrea Mitchell showed me some documents which I had not seen and frankly, I did not have my glasses, so I didn't even get a chance to read them, and I have not seen them since

LMAO - Isn't this the Reno answer?

[river rat]

May I have first shot at bitch slapping that arrogant, loud mouthed, perfumed fat boy --- Wilson...

CNNABCNBCCBSMSNBC constantly has the "dapper" Wilson on making his snide little comments about the horrible Bush administration...

Wilson is the typical "Foggy Bottom" Foreign Service elitist, pin stripe and tassel loafer wearing clymer -- that really needs their "attitude" adjusted with a 1st class ass whipping..

Semper Fi

[MamaLucci]

Pres. Bush has shown them all to be the ignorant accomplices of a corrupt international system that endangered the US, and they will never forgive him for it.

I agree with every word of the above EXCEPT ignorant......

[OldFriend]

This was just discussed on CSPAN with the host holding up the newspaper for all to see the headlines.

Next caller up said the paper was owned by Fox News Channel and dismissed the entire story.

We definitely need to keep this story IN THE NEWS!

[OldFriend]

BTTT

[YaYa123]

HEY JOE WILSON - CLEAN UP ON AISLE 2!!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOO funny, and this IS huge news. The C-span host just read the headlline, and asked his guest Michael Isikoff if he had seen the article. Isikoff said "no I haven't read it, but I am very interested".

We'll see if it gets the attention it deserves!!!

Great thread that sure got my attention.

[YaYa123]

found it, I found it.

[EQAndyBuzz]

"When is Pres. Bush going to go through the Bureau and CIA with fire and sword the way he needs to?"

November 3rd.

[1rudeboy]

Far too important to excerpt.

_____

Intelligence backs claim Iraq tried to buy uranium

By Mark Huband in Rome

Published: June 27 2004 21:56 | Last Updated: June 27 2004 21:56

Illicit sales of uranium from Niger were being negotiated with five states including Iraq at least three years before the US-led invasion, senior European intelligence officials have told the Financial Times.

Intelligence officers learned between 1999 and 2001 that uranium smugglers planned to sell illicitly mined Nigerien uranium ore, or refined ore called yellow cake, to Iran, Libya, China, North Korea and Iraq.

These claims support the assertion made in the British government dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programme in September 2002 that Iraq had sought to buy uranium from an African country, confirmed later as Niger. George W. Bush, US president, referred to the issue in his State of the Union address in January 2003.

The claim that the illicit export of uranium was under discussion was widely dismissed when letters referring to the sales - apparently sent by a Nigerien official to a senior official in Saddam Hussein's regime - were proved by the International Atomic Energy Agency to be forgeries. This embarrassed the US and led the administration to reverse its earlier claim.

But European intelligence officials have for the first time confirmed that information provided by human intelligence sources during an operation mounted in Europe and Africa produced sufficient evidence for them to believe that Niger was the centre of a clandestine international trade in uranium.

Officials said the fake documents, which emerged in October 2002 and have been traced to an Italian with a record for extortion and deception, added little to the picture gathered from human intelligence and were only given weight by the Bush administration.

According to a senior counter-proliferation official, meetings between Niger officials and would-be buyers from the five countries were held in several European countries, including Italy. Intelligence officers were convinced that the uranium would be smuggled from abandoned mines in Niger, thereby circumventing official export controls. "The sources were trustworthy. There were several sources, and they were reliable sources," an official involved in the European intelligence gathering operation said.

The UK government used the details in its Iraq weapons dossier, which it used to justify war with Iraq after concluding that it corresponded with other information it possessed, including evidence gathered by GCHQ, the UK eavesdropping centre, of a visit to Niger by an Iraqi official.

However, the European investigation suggested that it was the smugglers who were actively looking for markets, though it was unclear how far the deals had progressed and whether deliveries of uranium were made.

Niger uranium trade, Page 8

[Quilla]

bttt

[NavySEAL F-16]

The Financial Times is owned by The Pearson Group out of London. If anything, they favor the European view on the world. It just makes me so frazzled that these hosts let these types of lies stand without countering and giving just the TRUTH!

[OldFriend]

The host played dumb that he didn't know who owned the Financial Times.

He allowed the caller to then repeat that FNC did own the Financial Times.

I have read this paper on occasion and have found it to be nearly objective in it's reporting.

[NavySEAL F-16]

I should have been more clear in "favor viewpoints of Europe" that the Financial Times ECONOMIC reports favor the European view. i.e.: socialism. Sorry for the confusion. I agree with you about their news reporting, however, and do find the news to be "objective".

[Grampa Dave]

You posted this great summary:

"The fact that this subverts the democratic process doesn't seem to bother them. And, in the case of Pres. Bush, they met a politician of the rare character who knew what right and wrong were, and was not going to put on the kneepads and kiss the butts of tyrants abroad while bowing to all the "nuanced" excuses for evil spewing from the self-appointed elites among the chattering classes.

"Pres. Bush has shown them all to be the ignorant accomplices of a corrupt international system that endangered the US, and they will never forgive him for it."

Which is why so many former State, CIA and Pentagon rats hate GW with a passion. They are the clymers signing these letters where they proclaim their hatred of GW and love of their buddy, al Querry.

[NateLannister]

It makes me so crazy that this is another "invisible" story totally ignored by the elite media.