Italy denies role in fake documents on Iraq

ABC News ^ | oct. 26, 2005 | Phil Stewart

[blogblogginaway]

ROME (Reuters) - The Italian government denied on Wednesday reports that its secret services passed fake documents to the United States to help bolster claims about Baghdad's pre-war nuclear ambitions.

Italian newspaper La Repubblica has been running daily articles since Monday alleging that Sismi intelligence officials helped pass-off forged documents that accused Iraq of trying to buy 500 tons of "yellowcake" uranium from Niger.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's office said in a statement the government and Sismi had no "direct or indirect role in the fabrication and the transmission of the 'fake dossier on Niger uranium."'

La Repubblica accuses Sismi, which is highly respected in Italy, of giving the false documents to the United States.

It says the agency gave the documents to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and the chief of Sismi, Nicolo Pollari, met the then-deputy national security advisor, Stephen Hadley on September 9, 2002.

Pollari will address a parliamentary committee overseeing the intelligence service on November 3 at a closed-door meeting called to discuss the latest newspaper claims.

Accusations of an Italian angle in the Niger document case have surfaced regularly over the past two years and magistrates have investigated claims that an Italian businessman acted as a middleman looking to sell the bogus information.

Italian officials have long rejected accusations Rome had any role in the Niger affair, issuing statements in July 2003 and August 2004 denying that Sismi passed documents to the CIA.

The government accused La Repubblica of running material that was "false and devoid of all foundation."

[Proud_USA_Republican]

notice how the liberal media refuses to mention the french were the ones who created the fake documents.

[faq]

France is not mentioned in this article. Strange since Russo Martino, the man behind the forged documents, has admitted that he did this in the pay of France to undermine the British and American justification for the war in Iraq.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1509091/posts

[Southack]

Keep in mind that so far the left-wing news media has also down-played Ambassador Wilson's knowledge of those forged documents 8 months **prior** to the U.S. first seeing them ("the names were wrong and the dates were wrong" he claimed before anyone had seen them).

That would be Joe Wilson of Niger WMD infamy...the Joe Wilson who lied about his wife sending him to Niger...the Joe Wilson whose 2nd wife was French...said French wife living with Joe Wilson and his new 3rd wife Valerie Plame...the same Joe Wilson who was on a first name basis with French spooks in Africa.

[Jack of all Trades]

Absent too from much of the discussion is that Iraq really was seeking Uranium from Niger.

[Loyal Buckeye]

Anyone who doesn't think Hussein tried to obtain nuclear weapons materials and components is living in a dream world.

A question for the MSM: Why did Hussein pay $10 mil to North Korea for missles and missle technology? (Reference: David Kaye's First Interim Report on WMD)

[conserv13]

Anyone who doesn't think Hussein tried to obtain nuclear weapons materials and components is living in a dream world.

I agree. Still, why go with flimsy evidence? They didn't have anything stronger to link him to WMD?

[MNbelle]

May I ask, where the information that Joe Wilson's second (french) wife lived with Joe and Valerie came from? I have seen this mentioned several times on these threads. I have read almost everything about this situation and have not come uppon this information before.

Thank you in advance.

[eureka!]

Yep. Saw elsewhere that Fitzgerald went to Italy for 2 weeks (but no link, just a Freeper comment). Time will tell if this road crosses with the GJ's....

[eureka!]

Post #60 references Fitz in Italy, FWIW: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1509696/posts

[SF Republican]

french were the ones who created the fake documents - I thought the CIA created them.

[Solamente]

I was half-listening to the John Batchelor show awhile back, and I think they said something about "leaking" a badly forged yellow cake document meant to poison the well for the facts. Don't quote me...

[ravingnutter]

Please see my post here (#42) for info on Wilson and the forged documents.

Also, from a post I did this morning...

Check out the link here (#3). As is noted in that thread, Wilson's ex-wife shows up as having the same address as Joe, but Valerie has a different home address than Joe. Strange.

I had missed connection to Gabon before by piasa on that thread:

Wilson (as Ambassador to Gabon) had/has connections to the Gabon Chief of State, Omar Bongo, who was the chief African ally of the French oil company TotalFinaElf, a major beneficiary of the Oil-for-Food bribes. Prior to the Iraq War, they had a contract with Saddam's regime worth an estimated 12.5 to 27.0 billion barrels of oil reserves. Also he had connections via the Middle East Institute and Rock Creek, both of which are Saudi controlled.

If you will note post #21 by piasa in the thread I linked above, Wilson's wife Jacqueline was also apparently a lobbyist for Bongo and it seems Wilson was pretty chummy with Saddam's weapons buyer, having dinner with him on the eve that Kuwait was invaded in 1990, per post #22. That makes it very clear that there are connections to oil-for-food. No wonder Wilson can afford his lifestyle.

Hat tip to piasa for this info, which gives motive.

[ravingnutter]

Both answers are right. See #42

[Suzy Quzy]

Rock Creek Int'l is the name of Joe Wilson's company....in the SAME building as Alamoudi...a backer of Islamic terrorism...I belive he is in prison.

[Suzy Quzy]

Wow!! Bongo!! So the Wilson's are pals with Oil for Food scandal people!

[ravingnutter]

Well, Wilson claims he is not affiliated with Rock Creek, he just has an office there for his own company, JC Wilson International Ventures. However, his e-mail was a Rock Creek addy and several lecture series he has done show affiliation with Rock Creek. So as usual, he is lying.

[Suzy Quzy]

Sooooo, I wonder if Fitzy will put this together....that will tell us how smart he really is.

[ravingnutter]

Fitz did contact the Italian authorities about the Niger Embassy break in and received documents from them. Probably why the Italians are coming out with this now, they've been pointing the finger at the French for awhile.

[Alia]

It says the agency gave the documents to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and the chief of Sismi, Nicolo Pollari, met the then-deputy national security advisor, Stephen Hadley on September 9, 2002.

Stephen Hadley also claims he has NO recollection of seeing the Able Danger chart, although all those in the room alongside him that day have recalled it.