Posted on 07/07/2004 10:46:11 PM PDT by Piranha
A UK government inquiry into the intelligence used to justify the war in Iraq is expected to conclude that Britain's spies were correct to say that Saddam Hussein's regime sought to buy uranium from Niger.
The inquiry by Lord Butler, which was delivered to the printers on Wednesday and is expected to be released on July 14, has examined the intelligence that underpinned the UK government's claims about the threat from Iraq.
****** [A]mong Lord Butler's ... areas of investigation was the issue of whether Iraq sought to buy uranium from Niger. People with knowledge of the report said Lord Butler has concluded that this claim was reasonable and consistent with the intelligence.
President George W. Bush referred to the Niger claim in his state of the union address last year. But officials were forced into a climbdown when it was revealed that the only primary intelligence material the US possessed were documents later shown to be forgeries.
The Bush administration has since distanced itself from all suggestions that Iraq sought to buy uranium. The UK government has remained adamant that negotiations over sales did take place and that the fake documents were not part of the intelligence material it had gathered to underpin its claim.
The Financial Times revealed last week that a key part of the UK's intelligence on the uranium came from a European intelligence service that undertook a three-year surveillance of an alleged clandestine uranium-smuggling operation of which Iraq was a part.
Intelligence officials have now confirmed that the results of this operation formed an important part of the conclusions of British intelligence. The same information was passed to the US but US officials did not incorporate it in their assessment.
*********** Lord Butler is said to have produced a report that criticises the process of intelligence gathering and assessment on Iraq but refrains from criticising individual officials.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.ft.com ...
Too bad nobody will hear about all of this.
The heat is on!
Excellent.
They'll hear about it. No reason to shoot their load right now. Wait until riiiight before the televised debates and put out so much information (that nobody's talking about now) and force it out in the open. Everyone will hear it.
If they make this major right now, everyone (except us) will have forgotten it by October.
OUR job is to contact all the media we can and demand that they mention this stuff. They can't hide it from everyone. It's also our job to provoke and counter the left whenever we can. Engage debates in the grocery line. Things like that.
We are winning, but we're not done yet.
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A Letter from Joe Wilson
on John Kerry |
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The first President Bush appointed me as Ambassador to two African countries and President Clinton put me in charge of African Affairs at the National Security Council. So when this President Bush's Administration sent me to Africa to investigate claims that Saddam Hussein was seeking to buy materials for weapons of mass destruction, I was ready to serve.... |
Little by little the Rat's mantra "Bush lied" is falling away.
I like the timing.
Ain't this a hoot? And coming out on Bastille Day, no less! :-D
Tommy is deeply saddened by this revelation.
You're correct because they'll ignore it otherwise or bury it within their reporting.
It may be better to release it at the debates and leave Kerry looking even more stupid than he already looks. Bush can release some tightly held secrets with solid details that Kerry has no background on and will leave him looking totally clueless.
I watched the movie 'In harms way' again a few days ago and one thing that struck me was that the admiral Brodericks spy, commander Owen reminded me of Kerry, using the war for political motives. Trying to earn medals just to further a political career.
Hmmmm? When are we gonna hear the thundering of media to the door of Teddy's office .. demanding he make an apology to President Bush ..??
I sure hope nobody is holding their breath waiting for this to happen.
ping
How can this be true? Joe Wilson went over there and schmoozed for a few days and got the real story. Right?
WHO exactly sent you? An Administration does not issue directives like this. Someone authorized your trip. Who was it?
Will this remain a mystery along with who hired Craig Livingstone?
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