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Italian Lawmaker: Italian Government Warned US Uranium Documents Were Forged
Yahoo Breaking News

Posted on 11/03/2005 10:08:53 AM PST by sonsofliberty2000

ROME (AP) An Italian lawmaker says the government warned the United States before the Iraq war that documents about Iraqi efforts to buy uranium in Africa were forged.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: italy; niger; prewarintelligence; uranium
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Anyone say concerted effort?

1 posted on 11/03/2005 10:08:53 AM PST by sonsofliberty2000
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To: sonsofliberty2000

Who did they tell? The CIA? The CIA wanted the WH to believe the docs were real. The CIA did not object to the WH relying on the docs.


2 posted on 11/03/2005 10:11:05 AM PST by frankjr
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To: sonsofliberty2000

Why did they just remember this now????


3 posted on 11/03/2005 10:11:58 AM PST by Cricket24 ("We have met the enemy and it's the U.S. press (and the democrats and some Republicans)!")
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To: frankjr

you think the CIA would own up to this? A conspiracy is being laid out, and I think it is a conspiracy amongst liberal lawmakers and CIA bureaucrats.


4 posted on 11/03/2005 10:12:10 AM PST by sonsofliberty2000
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To: sonsofliberty2000

Why are the Brits still sticking by their intelligence? And who cares what the Italians say. Bush spoke of the Brits, not the Italians.


5 posted on 11/03/2005 10:12:18 AM PST by jw777
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To: sonsofliberty2000

Forged by the French


6 posted on 11/03/2005 10:13:02 AM PST by jbwbubba
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To: sonsofliberty2000

ROME (AP) An Italian lawmaker says the government warned the United States before the Iraq war that documents about Iraqi efforts to buy uranium in Africa were forged.


President Bush's Speach was not based on the Phoney Italian Documents.
How long do we have to keep hearing this rehash of a NON story?


7 posted on 11/03/2005 10:13:11 AM PST by LtKerst (Lt Kerst)
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To: sonsofliberty2000

What lawmaker? What party does he belong to?


8 posted on 11/03/2005 10:13:16 AM PST by rightwingintelligentsia
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To: Cricket24

Cause the Democrats did phase one, sending the Senate into secret session, and escalating the story. Now someone is raising it to a global level. Soon the UN will be involved.


9 posted on 11/03/2005 10:13:17 AM PST by sonsofliberty2000
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To: sonsofliberty2000

ROME (AP) An Italian lawmaker says the government warned the United States before the Iraq war that documents about Iraqi efforts to buy uranium in Africa were forged.

Wow, thanks for that illumination, Italy.  That's probably why we relied on BRITISH intelligence for the Niger info, just like we'd always said?  A stupid, strawman argument if there ever was one.

Owl_Eagle

(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,

 it was probably sarcasm)

10 posted on 11/03/2005 10:13:32 AM PST by End Times Sentinel (In Memory of my Dear Friend Henry Lee II)
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To: jw777

Well, the Italians have been right in the past so often. Just ask the Somalis


11 posted on 11/03/2005 10:13:34 AM PST by benjamin032
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

This is all I have so far.


12 posted on 11/03/2005 10:14:19 AM PST by sonsofliberty2000
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To: sonsofliberty2000

On Yahoo earlier today. Is this what you are referring too?

Italian Officials Questioned on Iraq Claim

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051103/ap_on_re_eu/italy_iraq_uranium_2


By ARIEL DAVID, Associated Press Writer




ROME - Italian lawmakers questioned Premier Silvio Berlusconi's top aide and an intelligence chief Thursday about allegations that Italy knowingly gave the United States and Britain forged documents suggesting Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium in Africa.

Cabinet Undersecretary Gianni Letta and Nicolo Pollari, the director of Italy's SISMI intelligence agency, were questioned by members of a parliamentary commission overseeing secret services.

The hearing in Rome was not open to the public, but commission members were expected to talk to reporters later.

Pollari requested the hearing after the daily newspaper La Repubblica said last week that Italy gave the United States and Britain documents it knew were forged detailing a purported Iraqi deal to buy 500 tons of uranium concentrate from Niger. The uranium ore, known as yellowcake, can be used to produce nuclear weapons.

The United States and Britain used the claim to bolster the case for war. The intelligence supporting the claim later was deemed unreliable.

La Repubblica, a strong Berlusconi opponent, has alleged that after the Sept. 11 attacks Pollari was being pressured by Berlusconi — a strong U.S. ally — to make a strong contribution to the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Berlusconi's government has denied any wrongdoing, and the premier has personally defended Pollari in the face of calls for his resignation.

Berlusconi, in an interview with the conservative daily newspaper Libero published Thursday, said Italy had not passed any documents on the Niger affair to the United States. He added that La Repubblica's allegations were dangerous for Italy because "if they were believed, we would be considered the instigator" of the Iraq war.

The Niger claim also is at the center of a CIA leak scandal that has shaken the Bush administration, leading to last week's indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby.

Libby was charged with lying to investigators about leaking the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame, the wife of Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson.

Wilson accused the administration of covering up his inquiry into whether Iraq was trying to obtain uranium from Niger after he found the claim had no substance.


13 posted on 11/03/2005 10:15:58 AM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Monthly Donor spoken Here. Go to ... https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: jw777
BINGO!!!
14 posted on 11/03/2005 10:16:06 AM PST by Eagles Talon IV
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To: Cricket24

Maybe Valerie or Jacqueline are are in Italy, not in France??


15 posted on 11/03/2005 10:16:15 AM PST by Sacajaweau (God Bless Our Troops!!)
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To: sonsofliberty2000

This is news? Joe Wilson told us that before the US ever laid eyes on them.


16 posted on 11/03/2005 10:16:38 AM PST by blogblogginaway (..)
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To: sonsofliberty2000

The documents were not the sole source for the claim.


17 posted on 11/03/2005 10:16:44 AM PST by nuffsenuff (Don't get stuck on Stupid - General Russ Honore Sept 21, 2005)
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To: sonsofliberty2000

Boycott Peroni! LOL


18 posted on 11/03/2005 10:17:29 AM PST by jw777
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To: sonsofliberty2000
More:

Italian Officials Questioned on Iraq Claim

ROME - Italian lawmakers questioned Premier Silvio Berlusconi's top aide and an intelligence chief Thursday about allegations that Italy knowingly gave the United States and Britain forged documents suggesting Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium in Africa.

Cabinet Undersecretary Gianni Letta and Nicolo Pollari, the director of Italy's SISMI intelligence agency, were questioned by members of a parliamentary commission overseeing secret services.

The hearing in Rome was not open to the public, but commission members were expected to talk to reporters later.

Pollari requested the hearing after the daily newspaper La Repubblica said last week that Italy gave the United States and Britain documents it knew were forged detailing a purported Iraqi deal to buy 500 tons of uranium concentrate from Niger. The uranium ore, known as yellowcake, can be used to produce nuclear weapons.

The United States and Britain used the claim to bolster the case for war. The intelligence supporting the claim later was deemed unreliable.

La Repubblica, a strong Berlusconi opponent, has alleged that after the Sept. 11 attacks Pollari was being pressured by Berlusconi — a strong U.S. ally — to make a strong contribution to the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Berlusconi's government has denied any wrongdoing, and the premier has personally defended Pollari in the face of calls for his resignation.

Berlusconi, in an interview with the conservative daily newspaper Libero published Thursday, said Italy had not passed any documents on the Niger affair to the United States. He added that La Repubblica's allegations were dangerous for Italy because "if they were believed, we would be considered the instigator" of the Iraq war.

The Niger claim also is at the center of a CIA leak scandal that has shaken the Bush administration, leading to last week's indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby.

Libby was charged with lying to investigators about leaking the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame, the wife of Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson.

Wilson accused the administration of covering up his inquiry into whether Iraq was trying to obtain uranium from Niger after he found the claim had no substance.

19 posted on 11/03/2005 10:18:06 AM PST by sonsofliberty2000
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To: sonsofliberty2000

UPdate

Italy Warned U.S. About Uranium Documents

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051103/ap_on_re_eu/italy_iraq_uranium;_ylt=AvxoxIMrufK9.moItHqyeWVvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

By ARIEL DAVID, Associated Press Writer
2 minutes ago



ROME - Italian secret services warned the United States months before it invaded Iraq that a dossier about a purported Saddam Hussein effort to buy uranium in Africa was fake, a lawmaker said Thursday after a briefing by the nation's intelligence chief.


"At about the same time as the State of the Union address, they (Italy's SISMI secret services) said that the dossier doesn't correspond to the truth," Sen. Massimo Brutti told journalists after the parliamentary commission was briefed.

Brutti said the warning was given in January 2003, but he did not know whether it was made before or after President Bush's speech.

The United States and Britain used the claim that Saddam was seeking to buy uranium in Niger to bolster their case for the war. The intelligence supporting the claim later was deemed unreliable.


20 posted on 11/03/2005 10:19:29 AM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Monthly Donor spoken Here. Go to ... https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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