Posted on 10/25/2005 2:04:14 PM PDT by Renfield
Russo Martino, the man behind the forged documents indicating Saddam had purchased uranium from Niger, which Joseph A. Wilson falsely claimed he had seen and warned the Administration about, has come forward and admitted that he did this in the pay of France to undermine the British and American justification for the war in Iraq:
The man, identified by an Italian news agency as Rocco Martino, was the subject of a Telegraph article earlier this month in which he was referred to by his intelligence codename, “Giacomo”.
His admission to investigating magistrates in Rome on Friday apparently confirms suggestions that – by commissioning “Giacomo” to procure and circulate documents – France was responsible for some of the information later used by Britain and the United States to promote the case for war with Iraq.
Italian diplomats have claimed that, by disseminating bogus documents stating that Iraq was trying to buy low-grade “yellowcake” uranium from Niger, France was trying to “set up” Britain and America in the hope that when the mistake was revealed it would undermine the case for war, which it wanted to prevent.
Italian judicial officials confirmed yesterday that Mr Martino had previously been sought for questioning by Rome. Investigating magistrates in the city have opened an inquiry into claims he made previously in the international press that Italy’s secret services had been behind the dissemination of false documents, to bolster the US case for war.
According to Ansa, the Italian news agency, which said privately that it had obtained its information from “judicial and other sources”, Mr Martino was questioned by an investigating magistrate, Franco Ionta, for two hours. Ansa said Mr Martino told the magistrate that Italy’s military intelligence, Sismi, had no role in the procuring or dissemination of the Niger documents.
Early reporting was that French Intel had obtained legitimate documents referring to uranium smuggling in Niger, and commissioned "new" documents from Giacomo. The new ones were created with the help of the Niger Embassy, with phony signatures and dates. The "new" documents were then handed over to the US Embassy, and from there to CIA.
So, yes, it was a set-up.
Furthermore, since France operates the Niger uranium mines, it is unlikely that such contraband would happen without French knowledge. So it is possible that French Intel's investigation was not to find out "if" it was true, but rather was intended to stop up any leaks.
There were also early reports that Libya's uranium came off-the-books from Niger. That is a story that was raised and then dropped down the memory hole. But it would confirm charges that French uranium contraband was not limited to Saddam.
everyone send the link to oreilly@foxnews.com
Bill is a egomaniac, but he loves to go after France.
Dang! What a find! Thanks for letting me know.
See my post #31 for a link to my previous post that explains everything.
"Let's see how the MSM handles this story." See below:
The oil for food bucks is nothing compared to what France, Germany, and Russia would of profited from if Saddam was still in power and UN sanctions had been lifted.
France's oil company, Total Fina Elf, was lined up to develop oil fields if the UN sanctions where lifted. They, along with russian company Lukoil, had contracts with Saddam already to go if the UN sanctions could be lifted.
In the later 90's, Total Fina Elf has negotiated for rights to develop the huge Majnoon field, near the Iranian border, which may contain up to 30 billion barrels of oil.
In July 2001, Iraq threatened it would no longer give French firms priority in the award of such contracts because of its continued inability to get the UN sanctions lifted.
While Russia's Lukoil negotiated a $4 billion deal in 1997 to develop the 15-billion-barrel West Qurna field in southern Iraq, but Lukoil could not commence work because of U.N. sanctions. In October of 2001, the Russian oil services company Slavneft reportedly signed a $52 million service contract to drill at the Tuba field, also in southern Iraq. A proposed $40 billion Iraqi-Russian economic agreement also reportedly includes opportunities for Russian companies to explore for oil in Iraq's western desert.
Russia, with $7 billion to $8 billion of aging Soviet-era loans owed to it, would have benefited significantly from exploration and production deals between Russian oil companies and Iraq, as part of a larger comprehensive economic agreement.
Iraq boasts 112 billion barrels of proven petroleum reserves, plus an estimated 150 billion to 250 billion barrels of as yet unproven oil, enough to supplant Saudi Arabia, currently ranked as having the world's largest oil reserves.
Pre-Iraq war, direct trade between Germany and Iraq amounts to about $350 million annually, and another $1 billion is reportedly sold through third parties.
Germany has little to do with Iraq oil processing, but
it has recently been reported that Saddam Hussein had ordered Iraqi domestic businesses to show preference to German companies as a reward for Germany’s “firm positive stand in rejecting the launching of a military attack against Iraq.” It was also reported that over 101 German companies were present at the Baghdad Annual exposition.
During the 35th Annual Baghdad International Fair in November 2002, a German company signed a contract for $80 million for 5,000 cars and spare parts.
In 2002, DaimlerChrysler was awarded over $13 million in contracts for German trucks and spare parts.
Germany is owed billions by Iraq in foreign debt generated during the 1980’s.
Dear God, and Kerry, the french loving traitor...ALMOST became president. That gives me the cold sweats.
Fake documents would be best used to throw off intelligence about the real possibility that France would interpose no objection (or already had not discouraged tentative contacts) about a future Iraqi purchase of yellowcake from the uranium mines France owns in Niger.
The French-controlled Nigerien uranium mines where Saddam Hussein purchased the yellowcake stored at Tuwaitha, some of which was used in the late 1970's to produce fuel for Osirak.
Business is business, mes amis.
some good points there, but the links back to Wilson are going to be hard to traverse.
Bookmark for tonight
Wilson represents a Saudi investor, and he's a member of a Saudi-financed "think tank". And he's mixed up in this French disinformation op. So maybe he's a triple agent. And in the middle of all this he signed on as a Kerry advisor, so maybe that makes him a quadruple agent.
Don't know which would be more perfidious, working for the Saudis, the French, or Kerry.
so many roadblocks to getting at the truth.
if this had been what it should have been from the start - an investigation by DOJ into the CIA rogue operation to discredit Bush using Wilson, pushed into the job by his CIA wife, instead of this nonsensical "Plame name game" crap we have been hearing about for 2 years - maybe we would have gotten the truth.
That's our Joseph Wilson!
If true, perhaps Bush and Cheney, who were taken in by this con man, hook, line, and sinker, will be "saddened" too.
Gee, several hundred tons of yellowcake. Who would have thought? Not the New York Times. Not Joe Wilson.
What is interesting is why he admitted this now? Nothing happens in a vacuum....there are other forces at play here....and the trick is to figure out who the forces are.
Shermy and cyncooper.....could this admission be tied into Judy Miller being showed those three documents by Patrick Fitzgerald in front of the GJ.
That's the jaw dropping part to me- why NOW?
Not limited at all- see the Qadeer Khan network. "Some African country" besides Libya is always mentioned but never named.
Yes, and Joe Wilson was the Arab-speaking diplomat who accompanied and translated the exchange between US Ambassador April Glaspie and Saddam Hussein, in that fateful meeting in July of 1990 that led the Iraqis to conclude that Washington DC had no objections to them invading Kuwait. Hmmm.
I wonder if Joe subsequently translated Saddam's comments about Ambassador Glaspie when the cruise missiles started homing in ..."The bitch set me up!"
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