nigergate: 'Forgers' of key Iraq war contract named

The Sunday Times ^ | 04/09/2006 | Michael Smith

[weegee]

Still don't know who forged the SeeBS National Guard memos.

[Enchante]

"a notorious set of documents used to help justify the Iraq war"

Typical ignorant LIE from the MSM..... the forged documents were never "used to help justify the Iraq war" by any official sources that I am aware of (and certainly not by the Bush WH which was unaware of them) - they were only used by CRITICS of the war in a depraved and dishonest onslaught that continues to this day. As for the reporter's idiotic statements about Joe Wilson and Valerie Pflame, this once again shows that few journalists are at all competent to report on these matters.....

[SmithL]

with claims that President George W Bush had authorised the leaking of the identity of a CIA agent whose husband cast doubt on the Niger link

Outright lies or sheer stupidity by the Times?

[OldFriend]

Buried amidst the lies are a few kernels of truth.

[txhurl]

ping

[misterrob]

The story was still reverberating around Washington last week with claims that President George W Bush had authorised the leaking of the identity of a CIA agent whose husband cast doubt on the Niger link.

No, he didn't you wanker. And, Joe Wilson's account was deemed to be lacking in credibility by the Senate.

[SirJohnBarleycorn]

Wilson dismissed the possibility of Iraq obtaining uranium and publicly attacked Bush’s claims. The White House retaliated, with officials briefing journalists that Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA agent. Naming an undercover agent is illegal in America.

Last week, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, a former aide to Cheney, told the inquiry into the leak that the vice-president ordered the briefings and that Bush had authorised them.

Trying to mislead the reader into believing that the "briefings" president Bush authorized was the illegal naming of an undercover agent.

[edpc]

One is delicious.....the other, not so much.

[FreePaul]

So Saddam was trying to buy yellowcake from Niger. He was dealing with people who would/will do anything for money, including forging the mentioned documents. How was it then that he wasn't able to buy yellowcake? The whole thing seems strange. Maybe he did make the purchase and the forged documents are just cover up. But then the Nigers told Joe Wilson that they didn't sell to Saddam. Surely the Nigers or Joe Wilson wouldn't lie.

[ravingnutter]

Nigergate ping...we have the forger's names!

[Peach]

According to the sources, an official investigation believes Adam Maiga Zakariaou, the consul, and Laura Montini, the ambassador’s assistant, known as La Signora, forged the papers for money.

Wow!

[fanfan]

Ping!

[ravingnutter]

Related info:

In a follow-up article on July 19th, Bonini and D’Avanzo revealed that a second break-in had occurred on January 31st, 2001, this time in the apartment of Adam Maiga Zakariaou, the embassy Counsellor.

...a second burglarly followed the first in via Baiamonti. On January 31st, Adam Maiga Zakariaou, an embassy functionary, returned to his apartment to find it ransacked after a break-in. ... He declared today to Repubblica, “I don’t know if the theft in my apartment has anything to do with the infraction at the embassy and therefore the mysteries behind the construction of this false uranium dossier. I would like to know. But frankly, I don’t think so. I think it was only a coincidence. At that time there had been several thefts in apartments in my neighborhood...”

This is the police report as published by il Giornale.

“Around 5 PM, I left my house situated in Rome, in via (...), with my family. I closed all windows and locked them, as well as the front door. I declare that I had not informed anyone that I would be going out at that time. Around 7:10 PM on January 31, 2001, I returned home and found that during our absence unknown individuals had torn open and removed the metallic grating that protected the window in my bedroom. In order to do so they had also pulled out the plastic shutters as well as the window which were protected by the aforementioned metal grating. Once inside they ransacked all the rooms of my apartment. In particular they went through the drawers in my bedroom, in that of the children and those in the closet next to the front door. The doors of the bookshelf in the living room had also been opened by the thieves. On a first assessment, I found missing two old watches of scarce commercial value and a gold ring also of little value. I add that only the bedroom window showed signs of infraction. I have no suspicions on anyone.”

Source

Hmmm...looks like he staged the second burglary to cover his tracks on the first one, where the letterhead and seals were stolen for the forgeries. Not much other info on him out there. Will see what I can find out about the woman...

[Zeppo]

Exactly. It's impossible to put any faith into any "factoid" contained in this rambling and incoherent article when the author has so obviously botched this...

[ravingnutter]

Not much on her out there either, except she was named in a Feb 2006 article. Don't know how I missed that.

[InterceptPoint]

The letter, deemed “credible” by the Butler inquiry into Iraq intelligence, appears to be the evidence that led to Bush’s claim in January 2003 that the British had “learnt that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa”.

This is pretty complex but I think what the article infers later is that this second letter was also determined ultimately to be a fake. If in fact the quoted statement above is true then the British were also duped. The fact of the matter is however that the British still stand behind their claim and it has been known (I believe) that this second document was identified as a forgery fairly early on.

So what's going on here? Was this the ONLY evidence the Brits had? We need to hear from some loyal British Freepers. Are there any?

[sportutegrl]

The pair are alleged to have copied a real contract . . .

Fake, but accurate.

[CyberAnt]

But .. according to Tony Blair - that report of the Niger yellowcake was not the only report the UK has - and even after this was reported as a "forgery" - I saw Blair on TV stating that they had another report.

This "forgery" has Clinton fingerprints all over it.

[ravingnutter]

Just checked and this is the same Michael Smith that produced the "fake, but accurate" Downing Street Memos. This makes the whole thing suspect.