IRAQ SOUGHT 500 TONS OF URANIUM FROM AFRICA

Middle East Newsline ^ | July 14, 2003

[Roscoe Karns]

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The CIA employed information from British intelligence that Baghdad had sought to purchase up to 500 tons of pure uranium from Africa.

The CIA disclosed the extent of its intelligence on Iraq's nuclear procurement efforts in Africa in a statement on Friday that quoted from a classified report drafted in 2002. The agency acknowledged that it had failed to warn President George Bush against referring to the British report that Iraq was negotiating with Niger for uranium.

Bush raised the allegation of Iraqi-Niger uranium talks in his State of the Union address in January. In his address, Bush said, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

But the CIA said that less than a year ago it had reported an Iraqi effort to procure a large amount of uranium from Niger. In October 2002, the U.S. intelligence community produced a classified National Intelligence Estimate that determined that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program. The NIE referred to Iraqi-Niger negotiations to sell up to 500 tons of uranium to Baghdad.

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[PhiKapMom]

Keep doing it -- I enjoyed it.

[bert]

I sent him a note that he was guilty of journalistic malpractice for saing the President uttered a falsehood and that he should make a retraction.

He replied "you're right.....watch the show Sunday.

The Sunday show allowed Ms Rice to refute all the bad reporting and untruth floating around.

[PhiKapMom]

Thanks for that update. I was so disgusted with his questioning of Sen Warner that I vowed not to watch him again!

[MHGinTN]

Well, how was it that El Baradai knew the documents were forgeries? ... Here's a good guess how.

The documents were forgeries constructed by the French specifically to discredit and therefore halt any efforts to force their trade partner, Saddam Housein, into capitulating. Initially, the forgeries were likely designed to embarass and thus discredit Tony Blair, since Blair is just about the only thing standing in Chiraq's way of controlling the EU lock, stock, and 100%.

That the Brits have other sources to substantiate enough proof of secret arrangements for Uranium shipments from Africa makes it even more likely that the Frogs 'created' these forgeries to chill the trail of their perfidies (French negotiators would have been the middle men between Saddam and the African nation Niger, at least!).

[ALOHA RONNIE]

NEVER FORGET



...WHY did the CLINTONS tell us that they were not soft on Terrorism during the 1990's...

...when they had refused 3 Offers to extradite OSAMA bin LADEN from the Sudan to a U.S. Trial that would have stopped the Sept. 11th Attacks from coming down on all of us in advance..?



NEVER FORGET

[MHGinTN]

Indeed! What a contrast that was! MH was so impressive, so rational and clear in his comments, while the NAACP goon was insulting, loud, rude, and irrational!

[Robert A Cook PE]

Effective logic.

Very effective.

But, of course, the mass media whores have no interest in investigating WHETHER any part of the orginal information is remotely correct.

They just repeat the demo's lies and exaggerations.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

NEVER FORGET


...It now appears that HILLARY herself was directly involved in the CLINTON White House's refusing 3 Offers from the President of the Sudan to extradite OSAMA bin LADEN to a U.S. Trial during the 1990's that would have prevented the Attacks on us all on September 11, 2001...!!!


See:

~"Hillary's Schemes" by Carl Limbacher: Pre-Publication Notice~

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/945274/posts


NEVER FORGET

[PhiKapMom]

I was sitting here laughing at how Scarborough handled the NAACP loudmouth!

Mhking should be on TV more -- he was terrific.

[Spunky]

Dolphy, below is the actual report made by ElBaradei in March 2003.

I don't always comprehend real well what I read, but it appears to me he has said that a number of States (Countries) provided documents pointing to an agreement between Niger and Iraq for the sale of uranium. It is these documents they have come to the conclusion were not authentic. (I guess a number of States (Countries) lied, or forged these documents.)

Then ElBaradi goes on to say they will follow up on additional evidence and that a number of States has many concerns regarding Iraq's possible intention to resume its nuclear programme because of Iraq's procurement efforts

It is so obvious that the media and the Democrats are lying about what Bush said. He never said the British report said that Iraq was trying to get uranium from Niger. He said; "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa".

reported by a New York, 7 March 2003
Statement to the United Nations Security Council

The Status of Nuclear Inspections in Iraq: An Update
by IAEA Director General Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei

Uranium Acquisition
The IAEA has made progress in its investigation into reports that Iraq sought to buy uranium from Niger in recent years. The investigation was centred on documents provided by a number of States that pointed to an agreement between Niger and Iraq for the sale of uranium between 1999 and 2001.

The IAEA has discussed these reports with the Governments of Iraq and Niger, both of which have denied that any such activity took place. For its part, Iraq has provided the IAEA with a comprehensive explanation of its relations with Niger, and has described a visit by an Iraqi official to a number of African countries, including Niger, in February 1999, which Iraq thought might have given rise to the reports. The IAEA was also able to review correspondence coming from various bodies of the Government of Niger, and to compare the form, format, contents and signatures of that correspondence with those of the alleged procurement-related documentation.

Based on thorough analysis, the IAEA has concluded, with the concurrence of outside experts, that these documents - which formed the basis for the reports of recent uranium transactions between Iraq and Niger - are in fact not authentic. We have therefore concluded that these specific allegations are unfounded. However, we will continue to follow up any additional evidence, if it emerges, relevant to efforts by Iraq to illicitly import nuclear materials.

Procurement Patterns
Many concerns regarding Iraq's possible intention to resume its nuclear programme have arisen from Iraqi procurement efforts reported by a number of States. In addition, many of Iraq's efforts to procure commodities and products, including magnets and aluminium tubes, have been conducted in contravention of sanction controls specified under Security Council resolution 661 and other relevant resolutions.The issue of procurement efforts remains under thorough investigation, and further verification will be forthcoming. An IAEA team of technical experts, customs investigators and computer forensic specialists is currently conducting a series of investigations, through inspections at trading companies and commercial organizations, aimed at understanding Iraq's patterns of procurement.
The Status of Nuclear Inspections in Iraq

Dolphy, You wanted to know who forged the documents. I just ran across this information:

"African envoy's forgery led to Bush's gaffe"
New York, July 15. (PTI): A low-paid African diplomat working in Niger's Embassy in Rome forged documents claiming that former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, had sought uranium from Africa and fooled US and British intelligence agencies into believing they were genuine, a media report said today. The diplomat, whose name was not disclosed, sold the documents to the Italian Government for a few thousand dollars, ABC television said.

Should read A NO GOOD, LOW-LEVEL, AFRICAN DIPLOMAT

[VOA]

Toward the end, Joe asked the NAACP mouthpiece to name ONE Republican that the NAACP had ever supported.

Great story and kudos to mhking.

In a related vein, I saw the premiere of the PBS History Detectives.
It was a good show, but the final segment couldn't resist getting a dig into
Republicans.
One of the "history detective" hosts was an amiable black fellow, but his
investigation was "Why would a Republican politician build a baseball park
in the black part of Atlantic City in the segretationist 1940s? And even name
it in honor of "Doc" Lloyd, a great player from the Negro League?"

Honestly, it was an interesting story.
A Republican power broker and senator (I'm not sure if that was a state senator or
federal) had been a rationalist.
The Republican had swung a deal to build the "Doc" Lloyd stadium AND
the $100,000+ construction deal had been awarded to a company that the politico represented
(as a corporate lawyer).

In other words, it was what I call (regardless of the party) "good graft"...a deal
got made that benefited a lot of the public, as well as delivered votes.
It's not the perfect way things should work, but I prefer it to the mess
where only the politico benefits and the public goes hungry.

But, I'll give the show at least a B+...the host was honest about his disbelief
that a Republican would act (no matter the circumstances) to benefit
members of a minority group...
and he did show that the senator showed up at the dedication (with a venerable "Doc"
Lloyd who even got a bit teary-eyed.

And the show did admit that the ballpark had been a real benefit for the community and
a positive influence.

Of course, for "history detectives", I wish they'd investigated how the
Republicans had been the major force to end slavery.
And how African-Americans were mostly Republican up to decades after The Civil War.
Or should have mentioned that Jackie Robinson was a Republican.

Now that's something we're not likely to see on any TV channel.
Except maybe FOX News.

[doug from upland]

The bastards who are sowing seeds of doubt have to be challenged. We would have won in Vietnam had we had the national will and done what needed to be done. This president is not going to make that mistake. The future of the entire world depends on cleaning up the mess in the Middle East and killing the terrorists. The brave soldiers who have died knew that what they were doing was important.

[Dolphy]

Yes, it does in fact say multiple states which one might conclude to be Italy, Britain and the United States. El Baradei also says that he will continue to investigate additional evidence regarding Iraq's pursuit of nuclear material if it emerges. It doesn't sound as if the UN was given much information besides this inaccurate document. I still think that El Baradei's report that day was an effort to embarrass the United States, he discounted almost every significant piece of evidence that Bush and Powell had put forth regarding Iraq's nuclear program. But I also think that neither the US or Britain put all of their cards on El Baradei's table.

As for the low-paid diplomat, don't you think he would have fetched more than a few thousand dollars for information that was supposed to confirm Iraq's purchase of uranium? I guess I remain suspicious, not of Bush, but of this entire situation.

[Howlin]

See the above post, especially the last paragraph.

[PhiKapMom]

I think Mrs. Wilson is the anonymous source that keeps making the CIA look bad! Her husband is in on this whole thing and believe they are Clinton loyalists. This smells!

[justshutupandtakeit]

Struggle is not a word I will concede belongs to the Nazis nor the Stalinists.

No idea what your second paragraph means.

"Manhattan neo-conservatives" oh, yeah lotsa them around.

Bribes are being tried without much benefit. "Letters of Marque" are so useful they are used all the time now aren't they?

Invading Iraq was part and parcel of the entire anti-terrorist campaign. It funded and supported AND GAVE REFUGE to terrorists from across the globe. Who do you think the "foreign fighters" were who fought us at the end of the War? Forget that little inconvenient fact and that at least Four terrorist training camps were destroyed? No one blames the "whole thing" on Saddam nor have "so many" of the 9/11 terrorists escaped there have been thousands of arrests worldwide which you would have to ignore to pretend your statement had any truth to it.

Bush could have pretended, as you do, that the Afgan victory took care of the terrorist issue. But, he knows better and continued, in the face of RAT and international opposition, to make sure the job was accomplished not just pretended away as Clinton continued to do. That is what a true statesman does, a true leader.

It is false that centralization has proven a failure in defense matters. No if ands or buts completely false. Just as it is false that the WoT was a "disaster" when in fact it has been a great success killing and capturing thousands of enemies. My personal freedoms have not been compromised nor have yours so that is a false statement as well.

Liberia is a triviality which we will do something about because we are a great Power. Great Powers do such things as the price of success. Liberians asking for our help shows just how successful and trusted America truly is, they did not ask for the UN to help or the Organization of African States. They asked for our help.

[beachn4fun]

A couple of things we all must keep in mind is this:

1) the Dems are going to start vicious rumors and cast doubt on the integrity of the Bush administration. They only have approx. 1 year to discredit any good this administration has accomplished...if they hope to win big next election. They are like defense lawyers.... cast enought doubt (e.g., if the glove don't fit.... you must acquit) on what is going on and you can sway many independents....or newly arrived citizens....

2) I think it was in Hannity's book, "Let Freedom Ring," that mentions that most of the media are democrat and/or liberal. Most have come from the democrat party. You know...when their boss losses the election and they must go out and find another job, they wind up on many of the news channels and newspapers.

SO, logic says that since the media is working for the DemoRats, then of course they are going to print/repeat what the Dems want them to say.

So we must take everything reported with a grain of salt and hope that the conservative stations/papers (few that they be) issue a challenge to "show me the facts!"

We must also spread the word thru a grassroots effort so that the "new" citizens and the "younger generation" don't get mislead by the lies or misdirection.

I keep hearing the same old song... just with a different tune!

[OldFriend]

I personally do NOT respond to any so called news from the leftie media. Lately, I have added FNC to that list of media outlets not to be trusted.

[rintense]

How laughable is this? ME Newsline posts an article that supports the SOTU sentence, but the liberals are still crying foul???? What the hell is wrong with this picture?

*HINT* It ain't the ME Newsline.

[rintense]

If Marc Racicot isn't seriously considering suing the DNC for libel and misrepresentation over that ad in USA Today, then it only makes Republicans look spineless- again.