Thanks for the ping. Let me meditate on it for a couple of days.
I'm still curious about Libya's uranium. Surfing the net yields dozens and dozens of stories asserting that it came from Niger, but all of them are merely re-stating almost word for word the Mark Huband story in the Financial Times.
On the other hand, scanning the IAEA report, they avoid the issue, mentioning that this or that material or piece of equipment is of "foreign origin" but never mentioning from where, which to me sets off alarm bells. Since they missed the whole thing, they have no reason to make it obvious just how badly they missed it.
I am frankly suspicious of the IAEA's ability or commitment or interest in catching anyone doing anything.
I did see a couple of competing articles proposing that, maybe, Libya's uranium came from North Korea, but that seems far-fetched when there are several possible sources right there in Africa that would be easier. I saw another article which said that Libya was investing in Central African Republic's uranium mining industry, which the CAF government then duly denied. But mostly everyone seems to have accepted Huband's story.
Other than the odd blogger dismissing his report, I didn't see anyone refute him or even deny it. Obviously, "if" Libya got its uranium from Niger during the nineties (they admit to getting some in the seventies and eighties) then this changes the complexion of everything everyone has written about the subject. But while I intend to continue swearing its true, I frankly haven't found any other source that isn't based on Huband. Let me know if you do.
Thanks again for the ping. Someone else sent me a similar article concerning the forgeries, and between the two of them my head is spinning.
Cheers
I said Wilson was sent by the Veep's office to investigate the forgeries
That should have read Wilson was sent by the CIA to investigate the forgeries in response to a request by the Veep's office for more info on them