Posted on 11/21/2005 2:28:31 PM PST by Fedora
Thanks much for tracking down that article! I think I did skim that article once but didn't pick up on that aspect of it.
On Oil-for-Food links, I had a whole section on that I cut out of the final draft due to length/readability considerations. I will try to sum that up separately sometime.
On your analysis of the forgeries and other Niger reports, you may find the reproductions on these links useful to review if you haven't seen them:
http://cryptome.org/niger-docs-lr.htm
http://cryptome.org/niger-docs.pdf
I understand the State Department conducted an internal review of Glaspie's actions during the build-up to the Gulf War. I don't know what the findings were with regards to Wilson, but I'd sure like to find out. He wasn't exactly promoted to Secretary of State before he left State for the NSC and retired at the age of 48.
Interesting. "According to some reports", though--do we have a source on that? Cannistraro was saying something like that about Castelli and I'd want that from a source independent of him (since I don't trust him as far as I can throw him). It'd make sense that Thielmann saw those early reports, though, so that sounds plausible.
Hi! :-)
I think this qualifies you as a PhD in Wilsongate.
Seriously, you have assembled an almost dizzying case for your thesis. Moreover, it puts in one place a comprehensive accounting of the facts surrounding this bogus effort to nail Bush and the administration. My hat is certainly off to you. I plane to read this thing from start to finish. Thank you for the great effort.
Cautor
That's almost scary--I think that means I know more about Joseph Wilson than I ever wanted to, LOL.
Thanks, Cautor! :-)
I think you know more about Joe Wilson than he knows or anyone else for that matter. I expect Libby's legal counsel would like a copy of this.
Great work. I've saved it for a complete reading.
Yup...this thing has so many connections to so many other scandals, it is hard to keep under control. Every time I want to post info I keep having to remember which Word file I put the info in (was it "Rove"? Was it "Cannistraro"? Was it "My Theory"?), it's driving me crazy, LOL! Your info is a great resource for anyone that has not kept up to speed on this. Thanks for all your work!
Apart from oil-for-food, one other thing you should include is that there is some connection between uranium production and gold mines (something to the effect that uranium is or can be a by-product of gold mining?), which potentially further amplifies the connection between Wilson's business dealings and the possible French aspiration to serve as Saddam's covert uranimum supplier. Once again, sorry I don't have the link, but it's something I read somewhere on FR.
I'm going to read the whole thing when I get a chance, but do you have a one paragraph "elevator pitch."
It sounds like your filing woes are similar to mine, LOL.
"Joe Wilson is a traitor"
;)
The first instalment gives a detailed account of the origins of the documents (or most of them, my note) up to the autumn of 2001 when Nicolò Pollari passed the false SISMI dossier to Rome CIA station chief, Jeff Castelli. In a previous diary I had alluded to the possible role of Castelli in the Nigergate scandal. Castelli wrote a report and forwarded it to the Greg Thielmann's Bureau of Intelligence which eventually dismissed this first report as unfounded.
It is a known fact that a report on the bogus, made-in-Rome dossier ended up at the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence—in the Office of Strategic, Military and WMD Proliferation Affairs.
Strategic Affairs is not a big place. At the time, 16 analysts worked there under the direction of Greg Thielmann. Thielmann tells La Repubblica: I received the report in fall of 2001. We thought that Langley had acquired it from their field officer in Italy. The agent in the field reports that Italian intelligence permitted him see some papers documenting the attempt by Iraq to acquire 500 tons of uranium ore from Niger.
I know I saw a better source on this, however, will see what I can find. I don't like sourcing from moonbat sites blaming the Italians, LOL!
In 1999, French intelligence had begun investigating the security of uranium supplies in Niger, where uranium production was controlled by a consortium led by the French mining company COGEMA, a division of the French state-owned nuclear energy firm AREVA.
From the current post:
Alamoudi was a member of the Saudi-Ethiopian Alamoudi dynasty, which was heavily invested in the segments of the African economy Wilson was seeking to penetrate. The Alamoudi oil empire, centered around the Saudi-based company Delta Oil, included African ventures such as Arab-African Petroleum Company (ARAPCO), created in 2002 to buy oil concessions in Africa and develop them with foreign partners.40 Alamoudi investments in African telecommunications included a Pan-African telecommunications project launched in 2001 by Pan African Communications Network (PACONET) with financing from a fund chaired by former South African President Nelson Mandela and cofinanced by the International Finance Corporation (IFG), the American International Group (AIG, a group including the Houston-based company El Paso Energy Corporation), and the African Development Bank (ADB).41 Alamoudi investments in African gold included MIDROC Gold Mine Private Limited Company, a subsidiary of the Alamoudi company MIDROC (Mohammed International Development Research Organization & Companies) launched in 2003.
SNIP
Although Wilson does not identify his clients who had an interest in Niger gold investments, it may be observed that during the time frame referenced by his comments, the first gold mine in Niger, known as the Samira Hill Gold Project, was being developed by a pair of Canadian-based companies, Etruscan Resources and Semafo.
Something I had in a previous draft of the current post which I think I may have cut out in the editing process is that COGEMA and AREVA's management overlapped with the management of TotalFinaElf. If there's a connection I'd expect it'd be there.
In summary, Wilson’s words, actions, and associations suggest three distinct but related motives for his behavior:
1) A business motive for his two trips to Niger.
2) A foreign policy motive, shared by his business associates, for opposing the War on Iraq.
3) A partisan political motive, shared by foreign opponents of the war and elements of the Democratic Party, for trying to unseat Bush and Blair.
The "Means" section is summarized in its opening paragraph:
If Wilson’s motive was to help the perpetrators of Operation Nigergate and the Rockefeller Plan unseat Bush and his allies, the next question to be tackled is, by what means did Wilson and his accomplices attempt to carry out their coup? In the realm of public relations at least the assassination weapon of choice is the poison pen, which is mightier than the sword, so the selected means of attack was a propaganda campaign against Bush, targeting his case for war. For purposes of analysis and discussion, this propaganda campaign can be broken down into four phases:
1. Developing antiwar talking points.
2. Planting the forgery.
3. Publicizing the forgery.
4. Mop-up: Publicizing the alibi.
The first two phases began prior to Wilson’s activation in Phase 3, where he came to center stage.
This is the gist of the "Opportunity" section:
The evidence considered so far verifies that: 1) With respect to motive, Wilson explicitly expressed an intent, motivated by disagreement over Middle Eastern and Iraq policy, to use the Niger forgery controversy to bring about Bush’s impeachment as well as Tony Blair’s downfall; and
2) With respect to means, Wilson had potential access to information from inside sources about the Niger forgeries, as well as actual access to media outlets to publicize this information.
Did Wilson also have actual opportunity to channel inside information? Data which help answer this question has already been assembled in the course of prior discussion, but it remains to address the question directly, and to address Wilson’s alibi.
SNIP
A review of Wilson’s statements prior to his July 6, 2003 New York Times article reveals no less than six occasions where Wilson or someone quoting him stated or implied he had inside knowledge of the Niger forgeries. . .
SNIP
According to Cannistraro’s account, he had to call a contact at CIA headquarters to get information about the forgeries. So how was it that a day after ElBaradei went public, in response to an inquiry about a Washington Post article asked by a CNN reporter who just “happened by” and just happened to be doing an investigation of the forgeries, Joseph Wilson just happened to be there at the scene suggesting, as he characterized his comments in his book, “that if the U.S. government checked its files, it would, I believed, discover that it knew more about the case than the spokesman was letting on”?
I hope that helps!
Thanks! I think some of that may be alluded to in the Senate report on prewar intelligence, minus the names of the personnel involved, so we might try crossreferencing against that for corroboration.
bttt
We've missed you in the Hobbit Hole. How are ya doin?
mark
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