NIGERGATE: BUSH DIDN’T LIE TO THE AMERICANS REGARDING URANIUM FROM AFRICA

Today’s Il Foglio newspaper from Italy reports on the recent scoop by The Sunday Times and a follow-up article, “Clueless Joe Wilson” published by Slate. The piece in today’s Il Foglio, signed by top investigative reporter Christian Rocca, examines the true reason why the famous ‘16 words’ were included in the 2003 State of the Union address: President George W. Bush didn’t lie to the American public regarding Saddam Hussein’s attempts to procure uranium from Africa, Saddam had been out trying to do his shopping in Niger. The left leaning liberals of the anti-3B league still don’t want to accept it but, as the article points out, even the French, who did all in their power to oppose the invasion of Iraq, were, and still are, convinced that Saddam had been seeking uranium in Niger. The piece goes on to describe how the French had obtained evidence that “explicitly details the visit to Niger of Saddam’s envoy charged precisely with the scope of obtaining uranium”. The time has come to bury all of the absurd and oft offensive conspiracy theories once and for all, including those expressed by some readers here at Free Republic. There is no logical point or purpose in continuing to point accusing fingers at certain parties be they foreign, national or Martian. Anyone who really wants to know the truth now has it, unfortunately there will always be those who, for reasons best known to themselves, prefer to deny it. The bottom line is that the President didn’t lie: Saddam had attempted shopping for uranium in Niger and as regards the source of this precious information we can all say, once and for all and in chorus, a loud ‘merci’.

The article can be accessed at the following URL: http://www.ilfoglio.it/uploads/camillo/sundaytimesnigergate.html

The Time’s scoop buries La Repubblica’s Nigergate: Iraq sought uranium in Africa

Nato sources reveal that the French gave the British (and the British Bush) a letter that proved Saddam’s attempts at procurement.

Milan. What little remained of the Nigergate so dear to La Repubblica has sunk under the force of the clamorous revelations of the Sunday Times of London and Slate, the online review of the Washington Post group. Now the names, and motives, of those who fabricated the dossier containing a false supply contract in Saddam Hussein’s name for Nigerien uranium are known. Now there is also the certainty that the ex policeman, Rocco Martino, was in the service of the French and not the Italians. It can also be seen that around the case, which dates back to 2000, that is long before the war in Iraq and September 11, a well organised disinformation campaign was implemented even though, as we now know, the information was true, that it had been verified and that to date is still confirmed by the French and British Intelligence Services.

The truth is he following: Saddam tried to buy uranium from Niger, sending, to this end, Wissam al-Zahawie, Saddam’s ex representative to the Atomic Agency of the United Nations and to the Conference on Non Proliferation of the United Nations, to the central African nation. The contract was never formalised but the attempt was carried out and the proof of this exists. The ex ambassador, and decisively anti-Bush, Joe Wilson, at the centre of the Ciagate scandal that has rocked Washington, was sent to Niger by the Cia and his wife Valeria Plame in order to investigate the attempts at procurement didn’t uncover them and is now obliged to give evasive replies on American talk shows.

The Sunday Times, citing Nato sources close to the official Nigergate investigation, has for the first time revealed the existence of a letter dating back to the year 2000, obtained by the French in 2002 but not from Rocco Martino or the authors of the false dossier, which explicitly details the visit to Niger of Saddam’s envoy charged precisely with the scope of obtaining uranium. This letter – and only this letter, not the false dossier so dear to La Repubblica – is at the origin of the famous 16 words pronounced by George W. Bush in his January 2003 State of the Union address. On the occasion Bush said that the British government had information regarding Saddam’s attempts at procuring uranium in Africa. The interpretation given by the ex-ambassador Wilson, La Repubblica and a couple of radical journalists hired by CBS, the authors of the false anti-Bush scoop, is that the American president made his statement on the basis of false documents ‘cooked’ in Rome and disseminated with the complicity of Sismi in order to do a favour to Neocon friends in Washington. Il Foglio has on more than one occasion demonstrated, graphically and logically, how the reconstruction of La Repubblica didn’t stand-up (demonstrations agreed upon and shared by the Ds, Margherita and Rifondazione Comunista who, through the Trotskyist Senator Luigi Malabarba, went as far as to define the Repubblica’s articles as ‘fantasies’).

Up to this point the numerous contradictory versions offered by Wilson, the bipartisan American inquiries, and all of the possible imaginable denials have not been sufficient to halt the flow of speculation. Not even the conclusions of the British Butler Commission’s report, which clearly explained how Bush’s words referred to indications supplied by the British that were not based on the false ‘Italian’ documents but on ‘well founded’ evidence in possession of the British Government, have been enough. Up to here there was always a slight doubt: exactly what was the ‘well founded’ evidence in possession of the British. The Sunday Times has finally revealed the answer: the letter from the year 2000 detailing the visit to Niger by Wissam al-Zahawie. Proof that does not originate in Rome or in Washington, quite the contrary, evidence that comes from the French Intelligence services and thus from the Intelligence services of a country which opposed the Iraq war. Proof which the French still continue to consider well founded and based on facts. In 2002 the Dgse in Paris passed the documents that were the evidence of Saddam’s interest in procuring uranium to MI6 in London with the caveat that they could not be shown to any other Intelligence service (a procedure quite common amongst Intelligence services) because they would have put the source’s life at risk. In addition to the British the inspectors of the Iaea saw the letter, albeit through a French official and hidden from the attention of the Parisian delegation, and judged it, on the contrary of the dossier ‘cooked’ in Italy, true. The British limited themselves to transmitting an overview of the contents of the letter to the Cia and from there the information ended up in the President’s State of the Union Address. Thus in synthesis: Bush did not lie and the evidence that Saddam sought uranium in Niger was supplied by the French and confirmed by the United Nation’s nuclear agency.

The scoop in the Sunday Times is by Michael Smith, a ferociously anti-Bush English journalist. This fact rules out any accusations of his being ‘in the service’ of the White House. Smith revealed the names of the two officials from the Niger embassy in Rome who prepared the false documents, one is an Italian and the other is a Nigerien Diplomat. The Italian, assistant to the Nigerien ambassador until now know as ‘la Signora’ (The Lady), is called Laura Montini. The other is the consul Adam Maiga Zakariaou.

This is how things really went. A Sismi agent, Antonio Nucera, was transferred to another division and in February 2000 put his ex source, Laura Montini, in contact with the ex-agent Rocco Martino. Nucera did this as a favour to his ex-source, in his new role he no longer required ‘La signora’ and in order to help her economically he created the link to Rocco Martino. Since 1996, according to the Sunday Times, Martino had been a French spy under the control of the chief of the Dgse station in Bruxelles who paid him 2.000 euro a month. Montini became a sub-agent to Martino, a role for which Martino paid her 500 Euro every month. The French were seeking information relative to the movements of uranium in Niger, Martino and Montini supplied them with documents, including one regarding the visit to Niger by al-Zahawie (not however the most consistent one which was transmitted to the British by the French). The Intelligence services in Paris asked Martino for additional information and promised conspicuous sums of money should he be able to procure a copy of the sales contract between Sadam and Niger. Attracted by the money, and in agreement with the consul, Montini put together the false contract, something that she kept Martino in the dark about. Martino then passed the false contract to his French bosses. According to the Sunday Times the French told Martino that the documents were false almost immediately however intelligence sources have told Il Foglio that from various inquiries it has emerged that Martino was only informed at the beginning of 2003, that is months after he had attempted to sell them to a journalist from Panorama and in the new context of the ‘war on terrorism’.

This is the interpretation of Christopher Hitchens of Slate. In 2000 the French came into possession of both the real documents and false documents regarding the attempts by the Iraqis to procure uranium in Niger. After September 11, and in the months proceeding the invasion of Iraq, the French passed the real document to the British but allowed one of their agents, Rocco Martino, to disseminate an obviously false dossier which, if discovered, would have raised doubts in regards to Iraq’s real attempts to procure uranium, this operation would, in addition, carry Italian ‘fingerprints’ and not French ones. Panorama didn’t fall for it but other media organisations did.

Yep, we agree. "The sun is green" is a false statement, but "Somebody told me the sun is green" is a true statement

But in this case, it is the press who have maintained that the sun was green, knowing that it was not.

Wissam Zahawie did visit Niger, and this is unquestioned, and Wilson himself acknowledged it. Which means that not only did Bush believe his statement to be true, it in fact was and is true, and despite tons of printer's ink to the contrary, there never was any doubt about it.

It is Wilson and the press who have invested endless reams of print trying to deny what was never in doubt.

23 posted on 04/20/2006 12:19:55 PM PDT by GW and Twins Pawpaw (Sheepdog for Five [My grandkids are way more important than any lefty's feelings!])

Is it possible that Zawahie, the Iraqi Ambassador to the Vatican ( and formerly, the man behind the Iraqi purchase of uranium in 1981), had contact with these Italian forgers before visiting Niger? Perhaps some of this was a set-up from the get-go.

Thanks Howlin... they left out that Rocco and she were friends of Joe's ex who was also at the embassy in France.

Link? I've been following the Joe Wilson as French spy angle for a long time now and have never seen anything like that. (BTW, I'm convinced Wilson is/was actively working for the French. Perhaps not formally, but they have certainly paid a lot of his bills over the decades...).

Thanks for your reply.
You may be interested in the link I imbedded in post #5.
That site destroys the drive-by media lie pretty well.

There was so much going on in Niger 1999 that it is difficult to understand how such an intrepid intelligence gatherer as J Wilson (yes, saracasm) could have missed it.

Not only did Wissam al-Zahawi visit Niger in early February, but Dr AQ Kahn flew in from Sudan for a visit to Niamey (capital of Niger) at the end of February. (http://www.kashmirherald.com/featuredarticle/khanandbinladen.html ).

AQ Kahn returned to Niger in February 2000 (same source).

....and of couse to that should be added the incident that Wilson actually did report on; the businessman who in June 1999 tried to make contact between the new post-coup Nigerien government and Iraq.

The "Great Liberal Lie" is falling apart FAST now, but it DOES NOT work to the media's advantage to get this out...

Controversy and attacks garner them higher ratings than TRUTH does, just look at the DUKE fiasco for all the proof you need of that....

It's taken 2 long years just to get to THIS point, where we can finally begin to disprove the hateful LIE that has gotten thousands of Americans KILLED, so an idiot like Kerry might be elected president.....

Have you seen this? There is a URL for the Michael Smith article at #8. From there you can go to his blog where he fills in a lot of his other thoughts--Nigergate I andf II. He is totally anti-Bush and wrong about Plame but the blog and the comments that follow are very interesting. This is the same Michael Smith as the Downing Street memo. I was going to alert some of the others who were hot on Wilson's trail last summer but I can't remember who they were. Maybe you can.

The truth is the following: Saddam tried to buy uranium from Niger, sending, to this end, Wissam al-Zahawie, Saddam’s ex representative to the Atomic Agency of the United Nations and to the Conference on Non Proliferation of the United Nations, to the central African nation. The contract was never formalised but the attempt was carried out and the proof of this exists. The ex ambassador, and decisively anti-Bush, Joe Wilson, at the centre of the Ciagate scandal that has rocked Washington, was sent to Niger by the Cia and his wife Valeria Plame in order to investigate the attempts at procurement didn’t uncover them and is now obliged to give evasive replies on American talk shows.

The Liberals are screwed up when it comes to lieing.

A lie is when president knows he had sex with an intern in the oval office, but then tells America that he didn't.

A false statement is when a President learns from various classified sorces and government officials that say Saddam was a "Slam Dunk", and take their word as a true statement, and tell the American people this true statement. Then later find out that it might not have been a true statement.

The Liberals are one backwards bunch...

Well, thanks, how timely .

Just happened to catch Chrissy Matthews on his show tonight in full meltdown after being told by one of his guests that the Wilson , Pflame deal was an inside the BELTWAY issue and no one outside was concerned about and didn't understand it.....

Chris Launched at that.....into multiple....Bush Lied statements and this was G** D*** important because Bush used this to drag us into a WAR...very entertaining if you like to see that kind of thing....but when Al Sharpton appeared,...I moved...ON....

Liberals do not like untidy unpackaged drama queens so who really selected Joe Wilson to go whitewash Saddam? That vietnam war hero sure liked Wilson' wrapping paper until it left newspaper print on his dainty fingers. I can't believe that JFKerry was deceived by Wilson, won't fit his intelligence profile... (part sarcasm)

Perhaps Matthews knows a lot more then one might think, and just continues to attempt damage coverup. Guys in his position get inside info. He knows Saddam was dealing with Niger to obtain uranium ore/yellowcake.

>>>This is because they are lazy and weak and incapable of linear thought.<<<

Actually, for all the liberals talk of their appreciation of "nuance", they seem incapable of understanding the "nuance" involved in following the twists and turns created by the worlds various intelligence agencies.

Basically, they take as ground truth the disinformation planted by anti-US intelligence interests every time, so long as its anti-Bush!

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