[Satadru]

Unnamed sources rock.

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[rintense]

Now why am I not surprised the French had a role in this?

[MizSterious]

Weasel alert!

"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."

[AntiGuv]

How precisely does this rise above the level of sheer idle speculation? The CIA asserts the intelligence is faulty, Blair insists it's genuine but cannot be shared, so someone simply decides it cannot be shared because the French are withholding permission. Where's the substance?

[marron]

British officials... 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."

[William McKinley]

Click!

A big question has been 'why would the British government not share the other intelligence about Niger'? Jack Straw stood by the British intelligence, saying there was more than just the documents that Wilson claims to be fake (though Wilson never saw them).

We now know why. French secret service 'kept CIA in the dark over Iraq and uranium':

"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."

As I said in the blog entry linked above (click Straw's name): What did the Clinton's know, and when did they know it?

Remember this:

"France's first lady expressed her support for a presidential run by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, saying that such a candidacy would be an inspiration to women worldwide."

Folks, there really is a Watergate style scandal coming. But it is not going to be about the administration. It is going to be about the Democrats.

[Mean Daddy]

Uck the rench.

[aculeus]

Why is Bush/Tenet/everyone else so defensive about this matter?

Tony Blair is right ... sticking to his guns.

[A. Pole]

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.

Blame the French, cool.

[Irish Eyes]

I hope that Blairs visit next week will clear up some of this.

[DPB101]

The Washington Post reported several months ago that the forged Niger documents entered the intelligence communist from French intelligence.

Worthy of note that the documents were exposed as fake almost immediately after being made public.

[gitmogrunt]

Hmmm....... ABC Radio headlines all afternoon:" the uranium-gate controversy continues to be a growing problem for President Bush"yeah...thanks to all the usual leftist weenie suspects, and now the damn French again!

[mystery-ak]

And people want to lighten-up on the French boycott......NEVER!

[b4its2late]

Those Frenchies..............

[redbaiter]

bump for later reference. This is going to be interesting.

[Semper Paratus]

I was hoping the lid could stay on until the Cogressional hearings got started on 'Nigerian/Uraniumgate.

"Does the Administration wish to call witness? Just one Mr Chairman, Double-Agent aka Chief Inspector Closeau."

[irish guard]

What always blows my mind in these situations is the silence on our part regarding the French failure to release this information. Why? What do we have to lose? If the sources are French, then they should take it up with their government.......unless, the sources are folks we are trying to protect.....which is the silent component in the article. There is the nub.

[PGalt]

Outstanding! Right on the button, comments bump!

[Calpernia]

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