French secret service 'kept CIA in the dark over Iraq and uranium'

The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | 07/14/03 | Michael Smith

[Pokey78]

The French secret service is believed to have refused to allow MI6 to give the Americans "credible" intelligence showing that Iraq was trying to buy uranium ore from Niger, US intelligence sources said yesterday.

MI6 had more than one "different and credible" piece of intelligence to show that Iraq was attempting to buy the ore, known as yellowcake, British officials insisted. But it was given to them by at least one and possibly two intelligence services and, under the rules governing cooperation, it could not be shared with anyone else without the originator's permission.

US intelligence sources believe that the most likely source of the MI6 intelligence was the French secret service, the DGSE. Niger is a former French colony and its uranium mines are run by a French company that comes under the control of the French Atomic Energy Commission.

A further factor in the refusal to hand over the information might have been concern that the US administration's willingness to publicise intelligence might lead to sources being inadvertently disclosed.

US sources also point out that the French government was vehemently opposed to the war with Iraq and so suggest that it would have been instinctively against the idea of passing on the intelligence.

British sources yesterday dismissed suggestions of a row between MI6 and the CIA on the issue. However, they admitted being surprised that George Tenet, the CIA director, had apologised to President George W Bush for allowing him to cite the British government and its claim that Saddam had sought to acquire uranium from Africa in his State of the Union speech last October.

The apology follows the International Atomic Energy Authority's dismissal of documents given to it by the CIA, which purported to prove the link, as fakes.

Those documents have been widely identified with last September's British dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, which said Saddam Hussein was trying to buy uranium ore from an unnamed country in Africa.

British officials admitted that the country was Niger but insisted that the intelligence behind it was genuine and had nothing to do with the fake documents. It was convincing and they were sticking with it, the officials said.

They dismissed a report from a former US diplomat who was sent to Niger to investigate the claims and rejected them. "He seems to have asked a few people if it was true and when they said 'no' he accepted it all," one official said. "We see no reason at all to change our assessment."

The fake documents were not behind that assessment and were not seen by MI6 until after they were denounced by the IAEA. If MI6 had seen them earlier, it would have immediately advised the Americans that they were fakes.

There had been a number of reports in America in particular suggesting that the fake documents - which came from another intelligence source - were passed on via MI6, the officials said. But this was not true.

"What they can't accuse MI6 of doing is passing anything on this to the CIA because it didn't have the fake documents and it was not allowed to pass on the intelligence it did have to anyone else."

[NeoCaveman]

OR the knowledge that the information might reach someone who is compromised in the US...like a Senator or Representative that sits on one of the Congressional intelligence committees.

Not Senator Leaky Leahy? He wouldn't do that.

Oh yes he would.

[rintense]

Wouldn't surprise me in the least that the French knew all about this Iraq-Africa connection, mainly because they were helping the Iraqis get the needed components. Could this be just one more piece of info that will shut the Dems up?

[AntiGuv]

Italian intelligence, the reported source of the forged documents, has asserted that they got them from the French.

If so, then why would the French permit the Italians to share the intelligence with the British, but permit neither to share the intelligence with the Americans?

[aculeus]

Why is Bush/Tenet/everyone else so defensive about this matter?

Tony Blair is right ... sticking to his guns.

[Mo1]

Folks, there really is a Watergate style scandal coming. But it is not going to be about the administration. It is going to be about the Democrats.

Could it really happen?

[A. Pole]

The French secret service is believed to have refused to allow MI6 to give the Americans "credible" intelligence showing that Iraq was trying to buy uranium ore from Niger, US intelligence sources said yesterday.

Blame the French, cool.

[NeoCaveman]

If so, then why would the French permit the Italians to share the intelligence with the British, but permit neither to share the intelligence with the Americans?

Given the behavior of the Chriac regime in France, over the last year or so, that should be self-evident.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

ping

[Irish Eyes]

I hope that Blairs visit next week will clear up some of this.

[Mo1]

Wouldn't surprise me in the least that the French knew all about this Iraq-Africa connection, mainly because they were helping the Iraqis get the needed components. Could this be just one more piece of info that will shut the Dems up?

France is one of interests that oversee the 2 mines in Nigar.

Germany, Japan and Spain are the others

[AnAmericanMother]

"Sacre bleu! I rezemble zat remark!"

[cwb]

Yeah...it wouldn't be a surprise at all. Especially with the recent revelations that Carter had met with the Soviets to discuss ways of defeating Reagan in both 1980 and 1984. The democrats have a habit of not only working with this country's enemies, but treating Republicans as the enemy. I don't know what has happened to this party.

[Mo1]

Yeah...it wouldn't be a surprise at all. Especially with the recent revelations that Carter had met with the Soviets to discuss ways of defeating Reagan in both 1980 and 1984

Really???

Dang, I miss all the news .. do you have a link that I can save for reference?

[maestro]

French secret service 'kept CIA in the dark over Iraq and uranium'

Your# 8.......Folks, there really is a Watergate style scandal coming. But it is not going to be about the administration. It is going to be about the Democrats.

'WMD'......too!!

ROTFLOL

(Can't 'find' them "YET",......too many 'trails' have to be covered/sanitized first!!)

Good things take time........

:-)

[Jim Robinson]

France and Germany have allied with Iraq vs America and Britain. The Democrats have formally aligned themselves with the French/German/Iraqi axis against America. How much more anti-American can you get?

[maestro]

You bet!

Your# 35.....says it all!!

bttt

[DPB101]

The Washington Post reported several months ago that the forged Niger documents entered the intelligence communist from French intelligence.

Worthy of note that the documents were exposed as fake almost immediately after being made public.

[Miss Marple]

The source was the former Secretary of State under President Bush, Lawrence Eagleburger, on Hannity and Colmes, I believe. I heard it myself.

[NeoCaveman]

Dang, I miss all the news .. do you have a link that I can save for reference?

Carter's treachery, from the National Review.

Detailed in the book Reagan's War.

Too bad Ann Coulter didn't cover this in her book "Treason"

[Jim Robinson]

And the anti-Republican/anti-Bush paleocon/paleolibertarian/buchananite/rockwellian/anarchist movement has combined with the Democrat/French/German/Iraq pro-terror axis.