How Bogus Letter Became a Case for War

Washington Post ^ | April 3, 2007 | Peter Eisner

[visitor]

It was 3 a.m. in Italy on Jan. 29, 2003, when President Bush in Washington began reading his State of the Union address that included the now famous -- later retracted -- 16 words: "The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

Like most Europeans, Elisabetta Burba, an investigative reporter for the Italian newsweekly Panorama, waited until the next day to read the newspaper accounts of Bush's remarks. But when she came to the 16 words, she recalled, she got a sudden sinking feeling in her stomach. She wondered: How could the American president have mentioned a uranium sale from Africa?

Burba felt uneasy because more than three months earlier, she had turned over to the U.S. Embassy in Rome documents about an alleged uranium sale by the central African nation of Niger. And she knew now that the documents were fraudulent and the 16 words wrong.

Nonetheless, the uranium claim would become a crucial justification for the invasion of Iraq that began less than two months later. When occupying troops found no nuclear program, the 16 words and how they came to be in the speech became a focus for critics in Washington and foreign capitals to press the case that the White House manipulated facts to take the United States to war.

[Izzy Dunne]

the now famous -- later retracted -- 16 words:

When was this ever "retracted"?

I thought the commission eventually verified it as fact.

[MarkeyD]

And didn’t they find significant quantities of uranium in Iraq?

[ikka]

Sigh...

http://africa.reuters.com/business/news/usnBAN238928.html - Reuters reports that "Africa moves to recapture top uranium ranking"

http://www.wise-uranium.org/upafr.html - list of Uranium Mining projects underway throughout all of Africa...

Not so far-fetched to believe, is it, that someone who wanted uranium would go to Africa?

[dan1123]

Notice that this story that has no relevance to anything in the news today is on page A01. Gotta keep the propaganda in play.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“How Bogus Letter Became a Case for War”
I did not send that letter!

[SIDENET]

Maybe next week, the WaPo will have a story on Abu Ghraib, to be followed by one on Valerie Plame.

[operation clinton cleanup]

"You know I feel bad about it," Burba said later, discussing her frustrations about her role in giving the dossier to the Americans. "You know the fact is that my documents, with the documents I brought to them, they justified the war."

Burba's fault!

[goldstategop]

Those 16 words were in fact true. President Bush was stupid in repudiating them.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[mkjessup]

Unfortunately for Ms. Burba, the British sources of intel were NOT proven wrong, nor are they wrong today.

In fact, AMBASSADOR (Joe likes everyone to know he was an ambassador) Joe Wilson's report upon his return from his little James Bond adventure with his semi-sultry wife anxiously awaiting him with steamy undergarments...(ok, ok, I know, enough of that)...anyway, what Joe Wilson found did NOT in and of itself contradict what the Bush Administration based it's findings on, nor did Wilson's 'discoveries' contradict British intelligence.

So the best thing for Ms. Burba to do for that sinking feeling is to start munching Zantac and STFU.

[Pox]

I thought the commission eventually verified it as fact.

That was my impression as well. Of course, we couldn't let something like that get in the way of some very useful liberal propaganda.

[highlander_UW]

Strange, I seem to recall there was more than 1 justification for the war, such as:

Iraq's noncompliance with the conditions of the 1991 cease fire, including interference with weapons inspectors

Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, and programs to develop such weapons, posed a "threat to the national security of the United States and international peace and security in the Persian Gulf region

" Iraq's "brutal repression of its civilian population

" Iraq's "capability and willingness to use weapons of mass destruction against other nations and its own people

" Iraq's hostility towards the United States as demonstrated by the 1993 assassination attempt of former President George H. W. Bush, and firing on coalition aircraft enforcing the no-fly zones following the 1991 Gulf War

Members of al-Qaeda were "known to be in Iraq

" Iraq's "continu[ing] to aid and harbor other international terrorist organizations," including anti-United States terrorist organizations

Fear that Iraq would provide weapons of mass destruction to terrorists for use against the United States

The efforts by the Congress and the President to fight the 9/11 terrorists and those who aided or harbored them

The authorization by the Constitution and the Congress for the President to fight anti-United States terrorism

Citing the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, the resolution reiterated that it should be the policy of the United States to remove the Hussein regime and promote a democratic replacement

[KJC1]

Not so far-fetched to believe, is it, that someone who wanted uranium would go to Africa?

Especially when you consider what Niger's exports are:

Exports - commodities: uranium ore, livestock, cowpeas, onions

CIA World Factbook

That's the ticket, the Iraqis went to Niger to get cowpeas!

[InterceptPoint]

Burba felt uneasy because more than three months earlier, she had turned over to the U.S. Embassy in Rome documents about an alleged uranium sale by the central African nation of Niger. And she knew now that the documents were fraudulent and the 16 words wrong.

As I recall the document in question was indeed fraudulent.

But only the Washington Post could accept the inference that because this document was false means that Saddam was not seeking uranium from Niger. That could be the case but it certainly doesn't follow automatically. The document was intended to spoil the soup and keep Bush out of Iraq. It certainly spoiled the soup but it didn't save Saddam. And it is worth noting that if there were no soup (i.e. no Saddam-Niger connection) then it would have been quite unnecessary to go to all the trouble of creating the forgery. The truth would do just as well. And, furthermore, as far as I know, the British did not base their position that Saddam was seeking uranium from Niger on the Italian letter.

This is just one in a series that should be titled: "The Washington Post Rewrite of History".

[muawiyah]

The Post is simply trying to distance itself from the United States of America lest some of the local Islamofascists decide to go to their printing plant down the street and burn them out.

They're kissing plenty of Moslem butt these days to forestall the possibility.

[Always Right]

Bush's "16 Words" on Iraq & Uranium: He May Have Been Wrong But He Wasn't Lying

Two intelligence investigations show Bush had plenty of reason to believe what he said in his 2003 State of the Union Address.

Modified: August 23, 2004

Summary

The famous “16 words” in President Bush’s Jan. 28, 2003 State of the Union address turn out to have a basis in fact after all, according to two recently released investigations in the US and Britain.

Bush said then, “The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa .” Some of his critics called that a lie, but the new evidence shows Bush had reason to say what he did.

• A British intelligence review released July 14 calls Bush’s 16 words “well founded.”
• A separate report by the US Senate Intelligence Committee said July 7 that the US also had similar information from “a number of intelligence reports,” a fact that was classified at the time Bush spoke.
• Ironically, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who later called Bush’s 16 words a “lie”, supplied information that the Central Intelligence Agency took as confirmation that Iraq may indeed have been seeking uranium from Niger . 
• Both the US and British investigations make clear that some forged Italian documents, exposed as fakes soon after Bush spoke, were not the basis for the British intelligence Bush cited, or the CIA's conclusion that Iraq was trying to get uranium.

None of the new information suggests Iraq ever nailed down a deal to buy uranium, and the Senate report makes clear that  US intelligence analysts have come to doubt whether  Iraq was even trying to buy the stuff. In fact, both the White House and the CIA long ago conceded that the 16 words shouldn’t have been part of Bush’s speech.

But what he said – that Iraq sought uranium – is just what both British and US intelligence were telling him at the time. So Bush may indeed have been misinformed, but that's not the same as lying.

Analysis

The "16 words" in Bush's State of the Union Address on Jan. 28, 2003 have been offered as evidence that the President led the US into war using false information intentionally. The new reports show Bush accurately stated what British intelligence was saying, and that CIA analysts believed the same thing.

[HardStarboard]

>>>Exports - commodities: uranium ore, livestock, cowpeas, onions

That's the ticket, the Iraqis went to Niger to get cowpeas!<<<

Cowpeas! Thats gotta be it: the women in Iraq are treated like livestock, onions grow marvelously well in sandy soil, and Saddam thought yellowcake was fattening.

[Cicero]

This entire article is full of lies, from beginning to end. Besides being years out of date.

And they know it. The owners of the Washington Post are scum. Scum.

[dan1123]

I bet you can trace the document to the French company in charge of uranium shipments in a CYA maneuver so they wouldn’t be found out about their involvement in the oil for food scandal.

Later in the article the Post reports that Burba went to Niger only to find that a French company controlled uranium shipments. That was enough to convince her there wasn’t a deal.

[jveritas]

It is an established fact that an Iraqi delegation visited Niger in 1999 and talked to prime minister of Niger. The visit focused on “trade between the 2 countries”. What is Niger only important expor? If you answer URANIUM ORE (YELLOW CAKE URANIUM) than you are absolutely right.