Was Berlusconi Behind the Pre-Iraq War Yellow Cake Story?

Der Spiegel ^ | 27 October 2005 | staff

[AdmSmith]

It was one of the biggest of the American pre-war blunders. Iraq, documents showed, had tried to buy uranium from Niger. The papers, though, soon proved to be false. But who forged them? Now, a new article in an Italian newspaper says that the Italian government was heavily involved.

Remember the Niger "yellow cake" scandal? Back in the days before the US invasion of Iraq, nobody except of course the UN weapons inspectors on the ground in Iraq, was really sure whether Saddam had the Bomb or not. US President George W. Bush was desperately looking for some shred of proof that might work as pretence for invasion. In 2002, he thought he had just what he was looking for. Iraq, or so it seemed based on some documents turned up by the CIA and British intelligence, had been attempting to buy so-called "yellow cake", a substance rich in uranium, from Niger. Indeed, the yellow cake deal became one of the main early foundations for the US justification of an Iraq invasion.

Problem is, as we all know, the documents were falsified. But where did they originate? A new, three-part series (Part one http://nuralcubicle.blogspot.com/2005/10/berlusconi-behind-fake-yellowcake.html , part two http://nuralcubicle.blogspot.com/2005/10/yellowcake-dossier-not-work-of-cia.html , and part three http://nuralcubicle.blogspot.com/2005/10/nigergate-great-nuclear-centrifuge.html ) by the Italian daily La Repubblica, and translated by blogger Nur al-Cubicle, digs deep into the secret-services netherworld and comes to a rather surprising answer. The article implicates none other than Silvio Berlusconi. (Read the original Italian http://www.repubblica.it/2005/j/sezioni/esteri/iraq69/sismicia/sismicia.html .)

[ravingnutter]

Alan Wolf is the one who passed away. Dewey is still alive. As I explained to the Real fifi via Freepmail, the only reporting I can find on this comes from Cannistraro. If the basis of Cannistraro's claim that it was Ledeen is the Dec 2001 meeting, then Cannistraro is just as suspect, having been in Rome in Nov 2001. I find it equally suspicious that the two people who have been named by Cannistraro...Dewey and Alan...both worked directly with Aldrich Ames, who outed Plame to the Russians in the 90's. I have the strangest feeling Cannistraro is up to his neck in this. I am wondering if Cannistraro "lent a hand" to the Italians in the investigation to cover his own tracks. I am kind of torn...although I feel for Karl and the Bush Admin, I am hoping that Fitzgerald does extend the GJ and gets to the bottom of this.