Plame's Input Is Cited on Niger Mission (Joe Wilson lied about EVERYTHING)

Washington Compost ^ | 7/10/04 | Susan Schmidt

[thoughtomator]

Former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, dispatched by the CIA in February 2002 to investigate reports that Iraq sought to reconstitute its nuclear weapons program with uranium from Africa, was specifically recommended for the mission by his wife, a CIA employee, contrary to what he has said publicly.

-------- snip! ----------

Wilson's assertions -- both about what he found in Niger and what the Bush administration did with the information -- were undermined yesterday in a bipartisan Senate intelligence committee report.

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[tubebender]

Bump...

[piasa]

2003 after SOTU speech : (CIA FINALLY GETS NIGER DOCS FROM STATE DEPARTMENT) The State Department got the forged documents last fall [2002], but intelligence officials say the CIA didn't receive them - and thus couldn't analyze them - until after Bush's speech [on Jan 28, 2003]. The reason for the delay in getting them to the CIA remains unclear. - "CIA UNVEILS MORE NUKE-PLAN PROOF," by DEBORAH ORIN, New York Post, 7/19/03

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

"Joe Wilson described a meeting where he claimed not to know anyone there in that meeting."

Only a total idiot or a fabricating liar would go to Africa on this mission if such were the case. I suggest Joe Wilson is both a total lying idiot and a total fabricating liar, and he probably outed his CIA subversive wife.

[VeniVidiVici]

intelligence officials say the CIA didn't receive them - and thus couldn't analyze them - until after Bush's speech [on Jan 28, 2003]

The bigger story: How deep does the anti-Bush/Republican hatred reach into the depths of the State Dept? The place where documents disappear and false intelligence is served up to the intel agencies?

No tinfoil hat needed, thank you.

[MeekOneGOP]

Diplomat at Eye of Storm (Joseph Wilson)

He also supports efforts by the antiwar organization Moveon.org to put conditions on spending in Iraq by the Bush administration -- among them, the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others.

[piasa]

MARCH 7? , 2003 Friday : (IAEA'S EL BARADEI SAYS DOCS ARE FORGED) The head of the U-N nuclear agency says allegations that Iraq recently attempted to import uranium from Niger are unfounded. V-O-A Correspondent Alex Belida reports from Washington. Mohamed ElBaradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency says his organization remains willing to examine fresh evidence relevant to efforts by Iraq to illicitly import nuclear material from Africa. But speaking before the U-N Security Council Friday, Mr. ElBaradei dismissed documents provided by what he said were "a number of states" pointing to an agreement between Niger and Iraq for the sale of uranium between 1999 and 2001.
Mr. ElBaradei says his agency reviewed correspondence from the government of Niger to compare the format, contents and signatures with those of the alleged uranium procurement-related documentation. He says after thorough analysis, the I-A-E-A now believes documents which formed the basis for the claims of recent uranium transactions between Iraq and Niger, are in fact not authentic and the allegations are unfounded.ElBaradei also told the Council the I-A-E-A discussed the charges with Iraq and Niger, both of which denied any such activity took place. He 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.
U-S officials have acknowledged seeing documentation purporting the existence of a secret agreement concluded in the summer of 2000 under which Niger was to provide Iraq with 500 metric tons of concentrated uranium ore. The officials who told VOA of the agreement acknowledged there was no evidence any of the material was ever shipped to Iraq. They also cautioned the transaction may have been a scam conducted without the knowledge of Niger's government by individuals out to make a quick profit. But these officials noted Niger did sell uranium ore to Iraq in the early 1980's --- a fact that was documented by the I-A-E-A.
One intelligence source who spoke to V-O-A said Friday that given control by a French firm over Niger's uranium mines, perhaps the original allegations about a new deal with Baghdad were an attempt to embarass the government of France. But the source made clear the documents were not fabricated by the United States. France has been a strong critic of possible U-S military action against Iraq because of its programs for developing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
The United States included charges that Iraq attempted to procure uranium from Niger in a fact sheet issued last December questioning the credibility of Baghdad's claims about its disarmament efforts. A State Department official told V-O-A Friday the I-A-E-A's assertion that such allegations are unfounded did not undercut the overall credibility of U-S charges about Iraq's failure to disarm. Mr. ElBaradei said in his report Friday that his agency's inspectors have found no evidence or plausible indications of the revival of a nuclear progam in Iraq. - VOA News Report, V-O-A Correspondent ALEX BELIDA, 03/07/03, via http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2003/iraq-030307-2d189eab.htm. *

* Freepnote : "Freeper Dog pointed out something very interesting on that thread. The IAEA is the organization that identified the documents as forgeries. Who specifically within the IAEA? Mr. Jacques Baute of France."

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As a sidenote, this article says the alleged agreement between Niger -or persons within Niger- and Iraq was concluded in the summer of 2000. As I previously posted, the French priest Father Benjamin -well acquainted with the Iraqi diplomat associated with Niger, Wissam Zahawie- also ran his sanctions-busting aid flights to Iraq in the summer of 2000, as did the Russians.

[piasa]

Related article on Wilson's group trying to keep that aid funding in the hands of the State Dept and UN:

APRIL 2003 early : (EPIC aka "EDUCATION FOR PEACE IN IRAQ CENTER: LAUNCHES PETITION DRIVE TO TRY TO KEEP FUNDING FOR IRAQ HUMANITARIAN AID AND RECONSTRUCTION OUT OF THE HANDS OF THE US MILITARY - AND INTO THE HANDS OF THE STATE DEPARTMENT ) Another group, the Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC) this week launched the latest of numerous online petition drives, calling on their supporters to flood Congress with e-mails calling on legislators keep funding for Iraq humanitarian and reconstruction out of the hands the US military. "The State Department, in partnership with the UN and our allies, is the appropriate authority for US funds related to post-war Iraq," EPIC said in an action email sent to supporters. - AFP

[piasa]

I think Italian intelligence denied having anything to do with the docs; the tale came from a reporter in Italy who claimed she took them to the US embassy.

But the source is still up in the air, apparently...

APRIL 9, 2003 : (NIGERFLAP : FORGED DOCS FROM FRANCE?) Western intelligence officials outlined the key developments in interviews here yesterday, even as Iraqis in Baghdad and Basra, finally feeling free of Saddam Hussein's 25-year reign, were cheering U.S. and British troops as liberators. Among the crucial factors the intelligence officials cited in explaining the remarkable 21-day path to the regime's seeming demise: (clip)...article continues to quote Intelligence officials with the final paragraph stating: The intelligence officials offered a tantalizing coda for conspiracy-mongers. They said the "crude forgery" received by U.N. weapons inspectors suggesting the Iraqis were trying to buy uranium from Niger as part of their nuclear program was originally put in intelligence channels by France. The officials wouldn't speculate on French motives. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A1514-2003Apr9&notFound=true

[capocchio]

B.S

Sorry to disappoint you, but I do not speak with forked tongue. Try reading a series of posts from a live event when you are not watching it at the same time, and you'll see what I'm talking about. And while I realize that actual quotes were being given at times, there weren't very many of them and they left lots of gaps.

I'm not saying I expect a transcript, usually that is issued later by the White House, the RNC or whatever. But I would hope some could post for the benefit of those of us who don't have cable. I read all the posts from a couple of threads on that speech and candidly I must say there was precious little meat provided to substantiate the exclamation marks!

Like it or not, and spectacular event or not, the posting was rather uninformative.

[cyncooper]

I just wanted to throw in to the mix, and remind everyone that at the exact time Joe Wilson was rolling out his "Bush Lied" accusation, this happened:

Did Capitol Hill Blue Post An Article With Fabrications?

This was the infamous Terrance Wilkinson scam that had the fictional Wilkinson claiming Bush instructed the CIA to manufacture evidence against Iraq. Another happening that I've always thought was part and parcel of the plot to bring down Bush and Blair with the charges that they lied (or "sexed up", as the case may be).

Remember that the compliant media's reaction over in England when the Blair charges surfaced was to start a drumbeat against Blair that he should step down. In fact, unbelievably when David Kelly killed himself, the press had the audacity to ask Blair if HE had blood on his hands, when it was Blair who had survived the knife Kelly had stuck in Blair's back.

[piasa]

For those who don't know it, Niger's uranium is trucked to Benin's capital city and port; from there it goes to France for further processing.

See :

The raw uranium is exported to France for processing via Cotonou, Benin's capital. -- http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:UTvIb0XFTzkJ:news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3065165.stm+benin+uranium&hl=en

This would explain the Navy intel mentioned earlier in the thread about an informant saying the uranium destined for Iraq being held in a warehouse in Benin.

[piasa]

Kelly didn't intend to stick a knife in anyone's back, I don't think. He had spoken with the BBC reporter but his words were twisted out of recognition by the BBC journalist.

[Smartass]

[cyncooper]

But I would hope some could post for the benefit of those of us who don't have cable.

As I already stated, that's my custom and habit on live threads and yesterday was no different. We'll just have to agree to disagree. I can't imagine being much more informative than posting quotes as they are said, which is what was going on.

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks.

[swilhelm73]

Remember that the compliant media's reaction over in England when the Blair charges surfaced was to start a drumbeat against Blair that he should step down. In fact, unbelievably when David Kelly killed himself, the press had the audacity to ask Blair if HE had blood on his hands, when it was Blair who had survived the knife Kelly had stuck in Blair's back.

Well, it seems to me that Gilligan used Kelly. While Kelly was perhaps willfully ignorant of what Gilligan was going to do, the primary blame has to rest with Gilligan. He distorted what Kelly told him - even if Kelly should have reasoned that was what exactly what Gilligan planned to do...

[cyncooper]

Kelly didn't intend to stick a knife in anyone's back, I don't think. He had spoken with the BBC reporter

I am very harsh when it comes to Kelly. I think that is EXACTLY what he did and I think he said what Gilligan quoted. Consider that Kelly was not supposed to be talking to Gilligan in the first place. He also was extremely deceptive in his testimony about the female reporter he secretly met with.

No, I'm afraid Kelly killed himself because he was found out. I'm willing to concede he may have been struck by guilt over what he had done, but the fact is, he did it, from what I can see.

Consider:

Oral evidence Taken before the Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday 15 July 2003

Note the date is around the Wilson/Wilkinson business, as I previously noted. Who would coordinate such charges against Bush and Blair? I think we can venture a few guesses. I also am willing to concede Kelly thought he was being altruistic and being just anti-war, not knowingly involved in the plot per se, but I do think he said what was ascribed to him in the media.

[Cindy]

Yes it would.
Interesting Piasa.
Really interesting.

[piasa]

JANUARY 2003 mid : (IRAQ, UN, ONE SCIENTIST SEARCHED HAS NUCLEAR WEAPONS PAPERS, ANOTHER WAS CAUGHT BY IRAQ TRYING TO ESCAPE, WAS PROBABLY EXECUTED) UNITED NATIONS weapons inspectors in Iraq revealed last night that they had discovered 3,000 documents linked to nuclear arms technology while searching a scientist's house. The documents were recovered from the home of Faleh Hassan, an Iraqi physicist and director of a military installation west of Baghdad. Mohamed El Baradei, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Hassan's papers related to a laser technique for enriching uranium, a component of nuclear weapons. ...* This weekend American intelligence officers were investigating a report that a senior official in Iraq's ministry of industry and military industrialisation, which oversees weapons production, had been killed. He had been trying to flee the country for Jordan with his wife and two children a week ago, but had been stopped. "He was trying to leave with information, but the Mukhabarat [intelligence service] are watching him and all people like him," said an Iraqi source opposed to the regime. "They brought him back to Baghdad. We think he [was] executed." There has been no confirmation of the claim.

(* My note : With all the talk of forged docs the press has managed to sweep this under the rug.)

also

FEBRUARY 2003 : (FATHER JEAN-MARIE BENJAMIN HELPS ORGANIZE THE VISIT OF IRAQI DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER TARIQ AZIZ TO THE VATICAN FOR TALKS WITH POPE JOHN PAUL II & SENIOR VATICAN OFFFICIALS) Meanwhile, the Iraqi Foreign Minister Tareq Aziz, a Catholic, was in Rome to meet with the Pope, and he went to Assisi, where he prayed at the tomb of St Francis, and left a message in the visitors’ book in the form of a prayer for peace. His visit to Italy was organised by Father Jean-Marie Benjamin who, as well as being a songwriter, has had a long involvement with the Iraqi people. Over the past ten years he’s been a frequent visitor to Baghdad, in fact he was among the first to break the UN embargo by smuggling medicine into the country. And he’s written several books on the impact of the UN sanctions. - "A priest for peace," Wednesday 19/2/2003 , The Religion Report, Radio National, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/relrpt/stories/s787908.htm.

(I REALLY want to know what was in the French and Russian planes headed for Iraq in the summer of 2000 in violation of the UN sanctions? )

Was it "medicine" like this?

MAY 25, 2003 : (SUNDAY TIMES REPORTS THAT WEAPONS COMPONENTS WERE SHIPPED INTO IRAQ VIA JORDAN UNDER CHINESE DIPLOMATIC COVER AS "MEDICINE" BACK IN MAY 1995) Components for Saddam Husayn's biological weapons programme were slipped into Iraq under Chinese diplomatic cover, according to documents seen by The Sunday Times in Baghdad. The documents refer to 137 kilograms of laboratory chemicals being channelled to Iraq from China in the guise of medical supplies. The cargo, flown to Jordan on May 31, 1995, was listed as "medicine" in a Jordanian customs report and the recipient was described as "Chinese embassy", Amman. Correspondence found in Baghdad shows that the 16 boxes contained chemicals - including some described by the supplier as "hazardous products" that should be stowed with extreme caution. A former Iraqi intelligence agent familiar with the deal said that from Amman the cargo was collected by Chinese diplomats based at the embassy in Baghdad. They escorted it in embassy vehicles across the border from Jordan to the Iraqi capital. From the Chinese embassy in Baghdad the goods were delivered in several batches to the car boot of an Iraqi intelligence operative who hid them in his home to prevent their discovery by United Nations weapons inspectors. From time to time he delivered small quantities to a research commission overseeing the biological weapons programme. The Iraqi source said that Baghdad went to great lengths to try to influence the Chinese whose power of veto on the UN security council made them one of the leading players in Iraq's conflict with America. To this end, Iraqi intelligence never missed an opportunity to gather potential blackmail material. The transfer of chemicals from the Chinese embassy vehicle to the Iraqi's car was secretly filmed by Iraqi agents from a department charged with monitoring the foreign diplomatic community.- "China Linked To Iraq Bio-Weapons, " Report by Matthew Campbell in Baghdad, London The Sunday Times 25 May 03