Well, not exactly. Remember, Bush only said the British intelligence had information indicating that Iraq TRIED to purchase uranium from Africa. He never said the information indicated they succeeded, nor that the Iraqis were making contact with people who were really capble of providing it, or just getting caught in a sting or a scam- in which case the docs would naturally be forged in order to convince the Iraqis the sellers had the goods.
The untold story is that the press seems to always fail to mention that Iraq did succeed in getting yellowcake from various sources before, including Niger, Braziland Portugal. It is this yellowcake which was stashed at that site under "international supervision" of el Baradei's IAEA after the Gulf War:
FEBRUARY 8, 1981 : (NIGER SHIPS YELLOWCAKE TO IRAQ) Niger ships yellowcake to Iraq in two batches. Batch one, which consists of 432 drums and 137,435kg of yellowcake, is received. —Fourth Consolidated Report of the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency under paragraph 16 of Security Council resolution 1051 (1996), S/1997/779, 8 October 1997, pp. 25-26, ; Fact Sheet: Iraq's Nuclear Weapon Programme, IAEA Action Team
1982 : (IRAQ GETS YELLOWCAKE FROM NIGER & PORTUGAL) Iraq obtains 426 drums containing 139,409kg of yellowcake from Niger and 487 drums containing 148,348kg yellowcake from Portugal. —Fact Sheet: Iraq's Nuclear Weapon Programme, IAEA Action Team
MARCH 18, 1982 : (IRAQ GETS YELLOWCAKE FROM NIGER) Iraq receives is second shipment of yellowcake from Niger. It consists of 426 drums containing 139,409kg yellowcake. —Fourth Consolidated Report of the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency under paragraph 16 of Security Council resolution 1051 (1996), S/1997/779, 8 October 1997, pp. 25-26
The interesting thing is, according to el Baradei, Iraq does admit it had an official in Africa apparently at the time of this new disputed attempt to purchase who "might have given rise to the allegations" :
FEBRUARY 1999 : (AN IRAQI OFFICIAL WAS IN NIGER AND OTHER AFRICAN COUNTRIES AT THIS TIME, IRAQ WOULD SAY, IN EARLY 2003- AT LEAST ACCORDING TO UN'S EL BARADEI) The head of the U-N nuclear agency ElBaradei [in 2002] said Baghdad suggested the visit by an unidentified Iraqi official to a number of African countries, including Niger, in February 1999, might have given rise to the allegations. " - Source : VOA News Report, VOA Correspondent ALEX BELIDA, 03/07/03, via http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2003/iraq-030307-2d189eab.htm.
Could this be the same "yellow cake" that Saddam was trying to buy from outside sources?
DING-DING-DING!!!!!
This is a CRUCIAL point! Remember, the IAEA and UN waivered between saying the US "broke UN seals", and that they had never been to that site!!!!!
Then the media dropped the WHOLE issue!
Get the WORD out! This is BIG!!!