What would France's motive be? With their involvement with Sadam and the oil for food bribes, why would they want to encourage us to take him out by giving us this excuse?
This does not make sense. This news item sounds like the setup to me...
OK, Kerry--how do you expect to get your buds to help in Iraq when they tried to screw us this way?
bttt
"Operator: We get signal"
"Captain: Qu'est que c'est?"
"Operator: Main screen turn on"
"Captain: C'est vous!!"
"Cats: How are you gentlemen!!"
"Captain: Qu'est que vous dire!!"
"Cats: All your brie are belong to us"
"Cats: You are on the way to windsurf off Nantucket!"
Investigators in Rome suspect that Mr Martino was first engaged by the French secret services five years ago, when he was asked to investigate rumors of illicit trafficking in uranium from Niger. He is thought to have then been retained the following year to collect more information. It was then that he is suspected of having assembled a dossier containing both real and bogus documents from Niger, the latter apparently forged by a diplomat.
The French hired Martino to investigate the possible sale of Niger uranium to Iraq. Then when Bush threatens to topple Saddam, the French freak out and not only need to hide the intelligence Martino uncovered, they need to discredit it. To accomplish this they have these documents forged and have them delivered to Martino. Who gives them to Martino? A diplomat from Niger. Who visited Niger on a super secret mission about the same time? It was our friend Joe Wilson. And who did Joe Wilson say he saw in Niger? He talked to former Niger government officials. How was the forged document discovered to be a fake? It was signed by former Niger government officials who were now out of the government.
I know it's speculation, but I think Wilson was the one who arranged for the production of the forged documents.
Whether Wilson was involved or not, the French are still guilty of treachery. We cannot trust them anymore as allies and we should publically state as much. I would go as far as expelling a large numbers of French diplomats and threaten to cut off diplomatic ties with France to make the point.
One more thing. The Kerry/DNC mantra the last year is that Bush lied. They base this calm on the famous 16 words in the SOTU address. Of course all Freepers in good standing know that the President only referred to the British intelligence regarding the Niger/Iraq connection and did not state it as a fact or did he rely on the forged document Martino was given. The Brits still stand by their intelligence in this matter. With this revelation that the French were behind the forgery, the whole basis for the Bush lied spin is demolished.
They probably were going to Blackmail, ole Saddamn for some more money etc. those French are so FRENCH.
Sounds like they were working with CBS and the Kerry campaign.
This doesn't surprise me one bit. They are not an ally, and cannot be trusted. France sucks the big one!!
If memory serves me, don't the French control/own the uranium mines in Niger? Seems like this fraud was a walk in the park if I remember correctly.
Bull$#!t
Vote Republican - the non-fiction party.