We know now that the forged Niger documents came from France through Russo Martino. It seems that France wanted to plant false documents in the hands of the British and Americans 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.
See: http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/19/wniger19.xml
Those documents were passed on to the US Embassy in Rome on 11 October, 2002 from an “Italian journalist.” They were then passed on to the CIA. The embassy faxed the documents to the State Department's Bureau of Nonproliferation (NP) on October 15, 2002, which passed a copy of the documents to INR.
On November 22, 2002, during a meeting with State Department officials, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director for Nonproliferation said that France had information on an Iraqi attempt to buy uranium from Niger. He said that France had determined that no uranium had been shipped, but France believed the reporting was true that Iraq had made a procurement attempt for uranium from Niger.
See: http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/congress/2004_rpt/iraq-wmd-intell_chapter2-g.htm
The documents from the Italian journalist are those that were later passed to the IAEA and discovered to have been forged. In March 2003, the Vice Chairman of the Committee, Senator Rockefeller, requested that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigate the source of the documents, the motivation of those responsible for the forgeries, and the extent to which the forgeries were part of a disinformation campaign. Because of the FBI's investigation into this matter, the Committee did not examine these issues. It’s a damn good thing that the Italians were still on the hunt as they may have saved the day be blowing the whole incident open.
It turns out that Wilson’s second wife is named Jacqueline Wilson. She is also a former French Diplomat. Jacqueline Wilson, as the ex-spouse of a senior US diplomat received tens of thousands of dollars for special projects and reports to President Omar Bongo's daughter, Pascaline Mferri Bongo. In her latest filing, Wilson reported that she was paid 60,000 dollars between August and November 2000 to ''support action of president of Gabon to fight AIDS pandemic (and) develop a strategy.'' As to work performed, she reported sending ''letters to the office of National AIDS policy at the White House.''
She worked for them at least through November of 2000 and is whereabouts unknown at this time. However, it turns out that Gabon is also a pretty big oil producer in Africa. Now, this is a good place to remind everyone that Joseph Wilson was a US Ambassador to Gabon from 1992 to 1995.
See: http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=98
One of the oil companies in Gabon is one called Elf. On Oct. 29, 1997 Elf Gabon reported a new onshore discovery and at the time they had a 60 % stake in the development, in association with the Gabonese government, which retains the remaining 40%.
See: http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/discover/dix75048.htm
However, as of 1996 the company was already hurting by reduced output in their other wells and the country was in trouble with imports becoming so cheap that in-country manufacturing fell to very low levels. Elf was rocked by allegations of slush funds and corruption and a trail of the executives of Elf, which concluded in Paris just last year told a story of slush funds and misappropriation going back for decades.
See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3733578.stm
In 1999, Total merged with Fina and Elf to form TotalFinaElf. More on this to follow!
See: http://www.total.com/en/press/press_releases/pr_1999/990723_board_elf_aquitaine_meets_1898.htm
This is where it gets interesting.
“One day after President Bush's demand that Iraq comply with United Nations arms control resolutions, three French parliamentary deputies flew to Iraq on what they described as a personal visit to urge Baghdad to comply with the demands.
The visit set off a political storm in France, where much is riding on the outcome of the diplomatic struggle over Iraq. While a humanitarian gesture, the trip also illustrated in part how countries are positioning themselves for an end of trade penalties. One of the three legislators, Thierry Mariani, 44, of President Jacques Chirac's Union for a Presidential Majority, told French television that the purpose of the trip was to urge Iraqi compliance with the United Nations' demands. But he was also quoted in Le Monde as justifying the trip with "the defense of French economic interests in Iraq."
Last year, France ranked No. 1 among European countries doing business with Iraq, with $1.5 billion in trade, followed by Italy, with $1 billion. Among the countries that trade with Iraq under the oil-for-food program, France ranked third, with $3.1 billion in trade since the program's start 1996. French trade under the program was surpassed only by Russia, with $4.3 billion, and Egypt, according to United Nations diplomats.
The French oil giant TotalFinaElf has the largest position in Iraq, with exclusive negotiating rights to develop Majnoon, a field on the Iranian border with estimated reserves of 10 billion barrels, and Bin Umar, with an estimated production potential of 440,000 barrels a day, according to oil industry executives.”
See: http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/2002/0919threats.htm
“French oil giant TotalFinaElf has exclusive exploration contracts worth €60bn - €75bn to develop the massive Majnoon and Bin Umar oilfields in southern Iraq,” said David Perle former US Assistant Defense Secretary before Saddam was ousted. “What’s distinctive about the Total contract is that it’s not favourable to Iraq, it’s favourable to Total.” He said oil experts who had analyzed the deal described it as “extraordinarily lopsided” in favour of the French company with the well connected Canadian shareholders. The one thing Perle didn’t know was that this very lucrative deal was contingent on UN sanctions being lifted, a move that assured Saddam a lot of support at the UN, especially if he was entering contracts with big payofffs like this.
See: http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/2005032901363934
As of September 2003, TotalFinaElf officially became Total.
Now known as TOTAL, after a name change from TotalFinaElf, the company is the world's fifth largest integrated oil and gas company. It is based in Paris, operates in 120 countries with exploration and production activity in 44 countries and production in 27. The company has 2.4 million barrels per day of production, which compares with 4.2 million barrels daily for Exxon Mobil Corp. and 3.5 million barrels/day for BP plc. The company has 11.2 billion barrels of reserves and has been averaging a 2.5 percent annual growth in production but saw a 10 percent increase between 2001 and 2002.
The new TOTAL was created through two successive mergers, the first when the former Total joined with Belgian oil company Petrofina to form Totalfina, and the second when Totalfina combined with French oil company Elf Aquitaine to create TotalFinaElf. The new company reflects this prestigious Franco-Belgian oil and gas heritage, whose origins go back to the 1920s. The dynamic synthesis of the three companies’ corporate cultures and expertise represents a wealth of technological and human capabilities that favorably position Total to help invent the future of energy.
See: http://www.mbendi.co.za/coto.htm
I’m betting that France used Russo Martino to get the fake documents to the Italians. They in-turn were to get them to the British and the US as hot ticket items knowing that we were posturing for war. As a backup, I think they got to Wilson’s second wife Jacqueline to get Wilson on board to get to Niger. His third wife Valerie, working in the CIA, put forward his name to go most likely on her own as a concern over WMD’s and Uranium for Iraq. Wilson goes pro bono, with the exception of trip fees hence no security statements need be signed. True to form, Wilson comes back announced that the Niger documents were forgeries and that no sales of Yellow-Cake occurred. This should have put a stop to things but Bush went ahead with the British White Paper they put together citing other sources in his State of the Union Address. Wilson panics and puts together a paper for the NYT’s refuting Bush, the documents he used, and the reasons for going to war. This causes too much attention of Wilson and Novak interviews him for a story he’s going to run the NYT’s article and his trip to Niger as well as Valerie and her work at the CIA. Wilson has no choice but to scream an outing by White House officials who confirmed she works with the CIA and the CIA files paper with the Justice Department to investigate. The rest is history in the making.
The only thing I can’t prove yet is how Jacqueline got to Wilson and if she did it both before he went and after the State of the Union address. That would prove everything. I think we need his phone records.
It was all done in an effort to save France’s economy which was already stagnant and close to $100 billion dollars (70 billion Euros) in lucrative and lopsided oil contracts for developing the Majnoon and Bin Umar oilfields in southern Iraq. I won’t even go into all the money they were making in Oil for Food as well as everything else they were doing.
I think France used Wilson’s second wife either through TOTAL or through Gabon to get to Wilson and get him to deny the Niger documents as forgeries as their plan B. Either way, once they were found out to be fake, Frances plan would cement and the war would be averted either by the UN or the American public. Eventually, Iraq would be sanction free and France would reap the benefits.
Fox news ran stories last night based on some of the things we were tracking right here in this post. Here is their on line story.
As unfinished as my research is, I feel compelled to release what I've found so far as the story cannot wait any longer. I am not looking for a scoop on anyone or anything, but at the same time I don't want anyone thinking I made this stuff up after the fact either.
In this story, tracking back the money and the controlling interests to their sources started off pretty innocuously. I reasoned that TotalFinaElf, based in France, would enlighten us to the inner workings of Jacques Chirac and his connections to Iraq, the UN, and the forged Niger documents. However, one soon learns that the powers that be are cornering the USA into complete and total dependence upon foreign powers for our very economic survival. As you read along and follow the links I’ve provided you will soon see that China, Canada, and France, are working very hard to take away America’s ability to exert influence in world affairs. In fact, they each seem to be working in unison to damage our ability to remain a super power. If we are not very careful as a nation, we are going to be screwed to the floor for decades to come.
I still believe fully that America and Britton were “set-up” with forged documents to undermine our ability to use warfare go to force Iraq into compliance with the UN resolutions. I have no doubt that TotalFinaElf and the billions they stood to lose remains part of the reason behind the attempt to trip us up and discredit our ability to justify war with Iraq. The only flaw I had in my reasoning and I have stated before is that it was difficult to see the forest for the trees. I think now we can get a much better glimpse of the sheer size of the forest in front of us and the major players who are involved.
As you follow through the seemingly large amount of information, please keep in mind that it’s not as simple as me just telling you. See it for yourself and understand the enormous forces being played out against our own interests.
Bear in mind that the focus of this story started with TotalFinaElf who had options to develop the massive Majnoon and Bin Umar oilfields in southern Iraq. I followed the money back to Canada to Power Corporation who has deep connections at highest levels of the UN and then on to China through Mr. Li Ka-Shing, the worlds 19th richest man. France is still a major player in its attempts to harm the US and continues to position itself as a world leader in a new era, one without the USA as a superpower.
(The links are important so try not to miss them as they all tell part of the greater story. I apologize in advance for the sheer amount of data, but getting a glimpse of the big picture sometimes takes a greater effort)
Power Corporation
Power Corporation is aptly named and perfectly describes their goal, Power.
http://www.acepilots.com/unscam/archives/cat_france_benelux.html
Power Corporation holds the controlling stock of TOTAL otherwise known as TotalFinaElf. I’m providing a Timeline of the more significant events of the company to provide some background.
Power Corp’s founding father, Paul Desmarais, is a major shareholder and director of TotalFinaElf, the biggest oil corporation in France, which has held tens of billions of dollars in contracts with the deposed regime of Saddam Hussein. Both Prime Minister Paul Martin and his mentor Maurice Strong, senior advisor to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, each have worked for Power Corp. Martin’s immediate predecessor is former Prime Minister Jean Chretien, whose daughter, France is married to Andre Desmarais, Paul Desmarais Sr., son.
This link here gives us an important look at some of the people involved with Power Corporation, Canadian and UN Politics.
Andre Desmarais also sits on the China International Trust & Investment Corp (CITIC), described as the alleged investment arm of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) which is the more formal name of the Chinese military. Through its subsidiaries, the CITIC could be the largest manufacturer of weapons and arms in the world
As Canada Free Press (CFP) has revealed, Paul Volcker, who heads up the Independent Inquiry Commission into the oil-for-food scandal, held a seat on Power Corp’s international advisory board.
Continuing to join the dots on Volcker and potential conflicts of interest is Volcker’s number two man on the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC), Reid Morden. Morden has connections to Paul Desmarais in his role of selling nuclear plants to China and others for companies dominated by Desmarais. Although he is Canada’s former “ intelligence chief”, Morden does not answer to the Canadian government. As Canada Free Press letter writer Peter Herberg puts it, "Can you imagine the uproar if a former CIA chief did this and took part in a UN investigation that refused to cooperate with congress?
Power Corp., through its ties to the New York branch of the Banque Nationale de Paris-Paribas, or BNP Paribas is also linked to the UN oil-for-food scandal. BNP Paribas was the sole bank for administering the $64 billion oil-for-food program and did not have adequate checks on whether money was being funneled to terrorists, a House International Relations Committee probe found in November 2004. Committee investigators have uncovered evidence that BNP Paribas made payments without proof that goods were delivered and sanctioned payments to third parties not identified as authorized recipients.
IIC Investigators suspect Saddam was able to skim off $10-billion or more during the period from secret oil sales and kickbacks on oil-for-food contracts.
In February 2001, Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, one of Belgium’s top 10 companies and 25 percent owned by Power Corp., acquired control of BertelsmannAG (BAG). Andre Desmarais, President and Chief Executive Officer of Power Corp., was named to the BAG board. Power Corp. now maintains controlling interest in BertelsmannAG, Germany’s largest publishing empire--bigger even than Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. The publishing empire which employs some 80,000 workers in 51 countries, posted an overall cash flow of $18.3-billion in 2002.
Jean Chretien’s stepped down on 12 December, 2003. His first trip after leaving office was to lead a delegation to China on trade deals. His next trip was to Iran on behalf of an oil company. Mr. Chretien went to Iran as a "special adviser" to the Calgary oil company PetroKazakhstan, which wanted to ship Kazakh oil to China and Iran. His job was to convince the Iranians that this is a good idea.
His work was part of the Silk Road Group that had been founded in the early 1990’s. The goal of this group was to create new oil routes for a number of major companies, among them TotalFinaElf and PetroKazakhstan.
TotalFinaElf is now working with the Iranians. They are operating under contracts to help develop the South Pars gas field. They are the Iranian portions of what is probably the largest gas field in the world. The other part of the field, in Qatari waters, is known as North Field. With the South Pars project, TotalFinaElf has become the foremost oil company in partnership with Iran and has bolstered its position in the Middle East, where the Group has been active for some 75 years.
If you’ve managed to read through half of the sites I’ve listed and read up on Power Corporation then you know by now that they are a truly a powerful corporation, no pun intended.
Li Ka-Shing
Now we need to turn to Li Ka-Shing, the richest man in Asia and the 19th richest in the world. He is the owner of the Hong Kong-based Hutchinson-Whampoa that now runs the Panama Canal Ports, and is currently buying Husky Oil of Canada and plans on buying Canadian mining giant Noranda. There are many ties to China’s political
China continues to position itself with the help of people like Li Ka-Shing in the critical markets of port operations, petroleum, mining, and telecommunications.
French President Jacques Chirac has made Chinese billionaire Li Ka-Shing a member of the national order of the Legion of Honor, officials said. [AFP] Li, 76, recently carried out a friendly takeover of France’s Marionnaud perfume retail group, in a deal worth 900 million euros (1.17 Billion dollars). The deal made the Watson unit of Li’s Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa retail conglomerate the world’s biggest company in the toiletries sector.
The Asian tycoon’s eldest son, Victor Li, a Canadian citizen, recently offered $48-million for a failed 28 percent stake in bankrupted Air Canada.
Li Ka-Shing, incidentally owns Gordon Securities where Jean Chretien used to work. Jean Chretien is a close personal friend of Paul Desmarais of Power Corporation. He has been dogged by the Sidewinder Report Please see Here too! Following orders from persons unknown, CSIS (Canadian Security & Intelligence Service) watered down Sidewinder’s worrisome conclusions and replaced it with a revised document called, Echo. Echo was another secret report but we have an investigation by James D. Harder who sums it all up nicely.
French President Jacques Chirac
This section is still in work and not ready to post but the premise is that France more specifically Jacques Chirac is attempting to undermine the US dollar in an effort to start the dollar on a devaluation slide by breaking the tie between Oil and the US Dollar.
He is also setting himself up as a tremendous friend to the Iranians much in the same way he did with Iraq. I wish I had more time to fully work this up but here it is as I have it.
First of all, Wilson came back and stated that Saddam had tried to purchase yellowcake, but was unsuccessful. It was not until after the SOTU speech that Wilson switched his statement, but since there was no written report, his statements could not be compared.
Second, Wilson could not have seen the forged documents on his trip, unless his ex-wife or his other African connections (many of whom were involved in the oil for food scandal) showed them to him, because the CIA didn't have them yet.
Wilson claims to have seen the documents in the hands of Andrea Mitchell, who admitted that reporters who covered the CIA, all knew the identity of Wilson's wife and her connection to the CIA. I have been wondering if it was Wilson's statements, regarding Mitchell, that prompted this admission.
paperjam,
I know you've put a LOT of work into pursuing your theory that this was all tied to oil for food and french desire to discredit the WMD supposition for the US ging to war on Iraq.
I have a much simpler theory which I wonder if you have considered...that the french planted these forgeries to stink-up bona fide intelligence that a Nigerien yellowcake transfer to Iraq was being planned.
In order to effect such a transfer to a rogue nation, the french would have to "cook the books" on the output of their uranium mines in Niger, since the volume and destination of exported uranium is ostensibly under UN monitoring ....as well as under the monitoring of French authorities ...some of whom who may not have suspected the existence of a covert deal....
Much has been made about the fact that a true Nigerien ore sale to Iraq would require signatories to a valid export agreement (this is one of Joe Wilson's points). Who is to say the Iraqis in 1999 (perhaps with the help of real or rogue french intelligence assets) didn't simply buy the cooperation of the President of Niger...the one who came into power after his predecessor was "assassinated" two months after an Iraqi delegation visited Niamey in 1999...and made him an offer he couldn't refuse?
Remember that Joe Wilson also visited Niger in 1999...concerning "uranium matters" as he has stated...and supposedly in cooperation with the CIA as recommended by his wife...
Niger was a busy place in 1999...the Iraqis were there, AQ Khan (maker of Pakistan's bomb and grand master proliferator to the world's wannabe nuc club rogues) was there....I've seen at least one report that even the Iranians were there.
And Joe Wilson went here...Joe Wilson who in 1998, newly married and with twins expected, retired from his Foreign Sevice job after only 1 year in a DC desk job, and founded his own "consulting" business for investors seeking advice on doing business in Africa.....JCWilson Ventures International
Back in Niger, procurers of uranium in a covert transaction would also have to arrange a shipment of Nigerien ore in a nefarious route which would complicate discovery of the actual end user....Benin has been mentioned...could Gabonese ports have been used? Gabon's uranium ore mines were pretty much tapped out, but what about infrastructure to haul, store, and ship ore?
Remember that Iraqi nuclear scientists have been reported to have engaged in joint projects in Algeria, Libya, and perhaps elsewhere.
So if "off the books" Nigerien uranium was intended for Iraqi use, it could have been intended to ship out for Portugal or "France" from a warehouse in Benin...or Gabon...or Timbuktu...then "disappear" or end up in another port, enroute to an enrichment facility in a 3rd country in Africa or Asia.
So who is to say the French did not create forged intelligence to "throw off" credible intelligence about an actual covert plan to subvert African uranium ore to a rogue nation...for huge profits perhaps greased by oil-for-food money.
Sorry but I put the motive to knock the legs out from an American war on Iraq...as a desirable but secondary goal of all this imbroglio. Bush had full intnet and copiuous motive to topple Hussein without any Iraqi uranium-ore-seeking activity.
I would love to see an investigation of Joe Wilson's actual business activities in Africa and the Middle East to see if he was unwittingly or willingly embroiled in this and to determine the involvement of his wife #2 with French intelligence.