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."

[beyond the sea]

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

Yes it may tell us how smart he is said to be, or then, it may just tell us who has a ring through his nose.