Niger Intel Accurate (Brits: "no reason at all to change our assessment.")

The Daily Telegraph ^ | 14/07/2003 | Michael Smith

[Pubbie]

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."

[b4its2late]

You're right. G'night all!

[Torie]

It doesn't actually. The US is not overly parochial. It tends to operate from universal principles more than any nation that has graced this globe. That is one reason, but no means, the only reason, that I love this nation of ours so much.

[Da Mav]

I hope you are right on the Blair visit. I've been watching that as well. It would be a great moment if he dropped a bunch of evidence on a joint session of Congress.

But I am concerned at complacency on this issue. We've been cruisin at high approval levels for a while, don't want to fall asleep and let the libs steal a march.

[Texican]

Jim:
And I am mailing my check tomorrow. Not a big one but still you get one every time we have a fund raiser. I have been here long enough to know that what I pay is not nearly enough for the information and pleasure that I get from this site. I met you and your wonderful family in Fresno a couple of years ago and still remember it.

The very best to you and yours.

Semper Fi
Tommie

[MJY1288]

Done Deal....... I hope the rest of the fundraising goes great, I will continue to support this President becuase the alternative scares the shit out of me, I will continue to support this website because it must continue

[GOPJ]

I'm so happy this is being noticed. These creeps don't take us on directly -- their M.O. is to use basic first year social psychology approaches. They want to demoralize us, confuse the issues, and keep us from forming a community. I fear they are also behind the large number of posts. It's a system that stops consensus.

We can see examples of their tag team approach in this thread and other threads with their immediate blame GW BS.

[MJY1288]

How does it feel to be in agreement with a DU Troll? Do you feel soiled?

[Howlin]

I remember trying to come up with something witty for mine, and it took me a while

There is somebody posting here with the screenname "stilllookingforagoodscreenname".......I laugh every single time I see it.

[justshe]

Thank you Texican! I know what you mean.

[concerned about politics]

They go nuts when they're out of power. It makes us look sooooo good. Ahhhhh.

[George W. Bush]

England has no integrity, nor credibility, even in the modern age they lied us into WWI and laid the foundation for WWII.

I think WW I was a little more complex than that. A lot of detritus from the end of the colonial era and everyone was scrambling for position and shot themselves in the foot. And if anyone lied us inta a world war, it was Roosevelt.

Blair is a poodle and a disgrace.

Blair is a Third Way guy and pretty big on the EU. But if he's a poodle, then he's Bush's poodle so I don't see what point you're making here. Blair is a socialist for sure. But he was a loyal ally to us against tremendous opposition at home. He spent his own political capital on our behalf and made some enemies like Chirac. Tenet 'apologizing' to Bush is a slap in Britain's face, however you slice it. And it makes us look incompetent.

The Tenet apology was a huge mistake. I thought that Rice backing away from that statement was a good thing but it was still a blunder that gave fodder to opposition press in both countries. Stupid move.

[Jim Robinson]

Got it. Thank you very much!!

[Jim Robinson]

Thank you very much!!

And best to you and yours also.

Semper Fi
Jim

[MJY1288]

Your very welcome

[nopardons]

Thanks for the ping AND for posting Jim's words. How right he is.

[nopardons]

You want the president to be a one termer ? If not, then stop acting as though you do.

[ladyinred]

What? I don't even pretend to grasp why you would say this. Personally, if anyone should apologize, it is the media and the democrats for making a gigantic mountain out of a molehill! This entire thing is nothing more than evil rats with their minions in the media bringing down Bush's popularity and you should well know that.
This is one of the most outright vicious attacks in history.

[Dont Mention the War]

There's something very wrong about all these Niger stories. The first I remember reading about it was a Seymour "is a Liar" Hersh piece in the New Yorker a few months before the war.

Is this the article you're talking about?

WHO LIED TO WHOM?

by SEYMOUR M. HERSH

Why did the Administration endorse a forgery about Iraq’s nuclear program?

Looks like this was never posted on FR. I think I'll put it up and see if anyone can connect some dots on this.

[concerned about politics]

This is one of the most outright vicious attacks in history.

That could bring us a landslide in 2004. People can smell evil.

[PhilDragoo]

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.