Posted on 04/27/2006 7:19:49 PM PDT by hipaatwo
Very interesting stuff going on in the Mary McCarthy files. It appears many of us missed a few important connections:
One aspect of her background so far comparatively unexamined is her West African uranium connection. She served in a key government position concerned with West African nations producing yellowcake uranium at the same time that Joseph Wilson was working in the area. The two may be considered members of the “yellowcake community” within the Clinton national security apparatus of the 1990s.
There are more questions than answers for the moment, but yellowcake uramium is not only of strategic importance for WMD puposes, it is also a highly profitable commodity traded under UN supervision and restrictions, a set of circumstances known to produce extraordinary opportunities for both profit and corruption, as in Oil-for-Food. These comparatively still waters may run deep. Investigators equipped with both subpoena power and security clearance may be called for.
Mary McCarthy held positions in both African and Latin American analysis desks at Langley while Wilson was U.S. Ambassador to the Gabonese Republic from 1992 to 1995. Gabon was a producer of yellowcake uranium. Wilson’s powerful position in Gabon from 1992 to 1995 raises questions about his official trip to Niger to discredit President Bush’s claim that Iraq had sought quantities of uranium from Africa.
During his time in Gabon, Wilson must have been deeply knowledgeable about uranium production and trade there, and must have been familiar with officials of the French energy giant COGEMA, now consolidated into the French Areva Group, a firm closely involved with the French government which appoints members of its board. Joe Wilson has his own French connection.
So, who better to send to Africa to dig up dirt to refute intelligence findings of both the US and Great Britain concerning the Iraq-Africa yellowcake trade?
The article then goes into great detail about the loophole the UN institued to allow:
certain nuclear materials to be maintained and traded even by countries known to be covertly developing a nuclear capability or who supported terrorist groups.
And ask’s the question, what else could have been gained by this cabal of intelligence officials:
Speaking of dealing in commodities, this whole affair brings us back to square one and Mary McCarthy. One of her previous employerswas Beri, SA. Possibly by coincidence Beri provides a Mineral Extraction Risk Assessment service for up to 145 countries that are expected to show rapid growth in oil, gas, and mineral extraction capacity. If one had advance access to economic intelligence and had fostered close business ties over the years with uranium producers, huge financial gains would be possible. Could the Wilson-McCarthy-Africa connection may indicate another instance of US intelligence and Foreign Service personnel taking advantage of regulatory loopholes and lax security in third world countries for personal gain?
Macranger, the former intelligence official, believes he knows what is coming next:
I can’t tire of telling you how important it is that Mary Loose Lips has been brought down. More than just a random ‘discovery’ - she is the key to the lock. Guys at the agency and the DOJ knew exactly where to target - and they hit it dead on. In the coming days you will see why Senator Rockefeller HAD to make such an emergency visit to Syria in 2002. For a little tip, read here.
The “here” he is referring to is a Italian article that points out Rockefeller’s business dealings with none other, Cogema. Cogema runs the Niger uranium trade.
Ping a ling!!! There's more to the article. Finish it up at the link.
Ping!
btt
BTTT
Are we sure it's Jay Rockefeller’s business dealings .. and not the family's in general??
check this out
I wouldn't be surprised if the whole family is corrupt.
Let's not forget that Wilson himself is now an international business consultant, whose "portfolio" of business "expertise" (how to do a deal) is specifically targeted with "business opportunities" in Africa. This is not so unusual for former ambassador types who did not have major "commericial" careers before their state deparment service. But, there is a history of these types using their "diplomatic" expertise and "in side the beltway" connections to further the financial aims of themselves and their clients, at the expense of U.S. foreign policy and national security concerns.
Is it no logical to wonder if Wilson's major financial friends in France - whose businesses have the most extensive business activities in Africa in the sale and extraction of strategic commodities - were actually concerned about too much scrutiny of Niger.
Let's not forget (1)the history of Iraq's nuclear program begins with France helping Sadaam get it started, (2)the "forged documents" intended to discredit interest in Niger have the fingerprints of the French intelligence service all over them (3)France was, duplicitously, (a)the unnamed source of the uncontrovertible evidence of Saddam attempting to make a uranium deal with Niger (an actual letter between Iraq and Niger confirming Saddam's desire), (b)yet they then told the US that they had also seen the "forged documents" and vouched for them as well, when internally they had already decided they were forged, (c)then waited until after the US presentation of evidence to the UN to tell the U.S. they had erred in their earlier assessment of the forged documents - which is a lie, because the "error" was in lieing to us that they ever supported the veracity of the forged documents, and (4)Wilson's personal French connections and personal connections with businesses looking to make deals in Africa - is it too much to suspect that Wilson, French business interests and French intelligence are actually hiding something with respect to Niger and uranium?
The Dumbrats hawk their "culture of corruption" mantra while UAE/Dubai puts $14 million into a westcoast consultancy who then pays millions to Bill Clinton to go make America bashing speeches in Dubai and hires Madeline Halfbright and others to get the Dubai ports deal safely through the secret CFI commission process. A lieing ex-ambassador, an idiot ex-state dept head, a lieing ex-president and all intertwined as shills for hire to some of the most unscrupulous wheelers and dealers on the planet. Whose corrupt, and whose corruption threatens our national security??
Interesting, but I tend to think Joe's trip to Niger was a free ride and board, he was already going there on business apparently.
But a Rockefeller - Desmarais conspiracy would be nice!
Bookmark & BTTT
This thing has long tentacles...and lots of them, apparently!
Agreed ... but if this can be connected directly to Senator Rockefeller ... then he is some deep trouble
And IF true .. a Democrat U.S. Senator selling the country out for money will sink the Party
The comment from the former intelligence official was interesting also
ping!
I cannot keep up! Or get it straight.
Hi, Jet. Thanks for the ping. I'll read this more carefully tomorrow. What a tangled web, huh?
I'm glad I'm not the only one....my head is spinning..but I am SO praying that Rockefeller goes DOWN...before the November elections..
I have no expectations, but I do find this oh so interesting.
LOL .. same here
Gets more and more interesting, doesn't it?
...Macranger, the former intelligence official, believes he knows what is coming next:I can’t tire of telling you how important it is that Mary Loose Lips has been brought down. More than just a random ‘discovery’ - she is the key to the lock. Guys at the agency and the DOJ knew exactly where to target - and they hit it dead on. In the coming days you will see why Senator Rockefeller HAD to make such an emergency visit to Syria in 2002. For a little tip, read here.
The “here” he is referring to is a Italian article that points out Rockefeller’s business dealings with none other, Cogema. Cogema runs the Niger uranium trade....
WOW, WOW, WOW ... and I KNEW Fenton Comm. was an integral spoke in the wheel, if not the/a hub. WOW!! Does it not seem logical that she sent Wilson to Niger???? GREAT job.
A leaking Senator on the Intel Committee would explain Blair's odd comment about not being able to tell the US details about its sources for the Africa uranium intel.
Word out of the Defense Intelligence Agency and law enforcement sources has the FBI and the Department of Justice comparing notes and dates on who in the U.S. Senate received national security briefings on both the overseas terrorist prisons and the NSA overseas terrorist monitoring programs, and when those briefings took place.
"The number of Senators who received briefings is not as large as people think," says one law enforcement source. "These were programs with a limited 'Need to Know" list on Capitol Hill."
Federal investigators looking into the leaks of both those programs to the press are zeroing in on the Senate, and are expected to continue to hold interviews of both Senators and their senior staff in the coming days. "This investigation is moving forward at a pretty fast clip," says the law enforcement source. "We're not looking at a two-year probe. We're talking about moving fast."
As yet, cooperation from the media outlets -- the Washington Post and the New York Times has been minimal, but investigators aren't sure they will need full cooperation to make the case. "The Hill may be all we need," says the source.
Focus of the investigation remains on the staffs of two Senators, Sen. Jay Rockefeller and Sen. Dick Durbin, as well as committee staff for the Senate Intelligence Committee and career intelligence staff detailed to U.S. Senate offices and committees. Last week, it was revealed that on February 17 Senator Rockefeller had sent a letter to the White House claiming that the Bush Administration had illegally leaked classified materials to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward for a book project he was working on with cooperation from the Bush White House.
A number of people of Capitol Hill and in the intelligence community interpreted the letter as an attempt by Rockefeller to play defense...
BTTT!
Culture of corruption or socialistic economics radiates!!!
I can't either and I've found that drinking more coffee is of no help whatsoever. Maybe I should try a couple of cocktails and try again this evening.
The UN’s Yellowcake Loophole
But this begs the question: how could yellowcake deals proceed with nations that were already under restrictions established in the UN’s Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), and presumably under the watchful eye of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)?
The answer is simple: in 1972 the IAEA itself enacted changes to its own regulations that allowed certain nuclear materials to be maintained and traded even by countries known to be covertly developing a nuclear capability or who supported terrorist groups.
It is important to understand that yellowcake cannot be directly introduced to the enrichment process. It must first be converted to uranium dioxide. In its final report, the Iraqi Survey Group (ISG) noted that Iraq had over 4,500kg of natural uranium dioxide that was under IAEA safeguards. There was also over 6.5 tons of uranium dioxide that had not been declared to the IAEA and was therefore not monitored by the UN. Saddam had a huge amount of material that given the proper equipment could have been immediately enriched to make nuclear fuel for a reactor or a nuclear weapon.
Then there was the problem of the 500 tons of yellowcake, some of which had slipped under the IAEA radar. But a key notation appears on the ISG inventory next to all of the yellowcake finds at Al-Tuwaitha: not subject to safeguards according to INFCIRC/153 corrected.
So, according to the ISG, the baseline material that is used to manufacture uranium dioxide, which is required to be under IAEA safeguards, is itself not subject to those same safeguards! In other words, the UN has regulated a loophole to countries that might want to manufacture enriched nuclear fuel by allowing them to have the milled yellowcake to start the enrichment process. The regulation explains the rationale for this deceptive practice: To avoid hampering the economic and technological development of the State or international co-operation in the field of peaceful nuclear activities, including international exchange nuclear material…[and] To avoid undue interference in the State’s peaceful nuclear activities, and in particular in the operation of facilities….
The Information Circular is very specific that safeguards shall not apply to material in mining or ore processing activities – that means milled yellowcake. You read that right; not all of Iraq’s uranium was subject to safeguards – so that ostensibly it could aid in its economic development. Therefore, any tin pot dictator could acquire and trade in processed yellowcake, just as long as they declared it to the IAEA. Apparently, the UN felt that it could ferret out any hidden equipment or facilities that could be used to enrich converted uranium.
Thanks to the release and analysis of the huge collection of seized documents and recordings, we now know that the UN’s confidence in preventing banned equipment from being imported to Iraq was wildly misplaced.
This regulatory loophole also answers the question of why Saddam was allowed to retain this yellowcake at Al-Tuwaitha, even though his known nuclear reactors and enrichment labs were long ago destroyed and never repaired. It’s because he could; and possibly because the profit potential of trading in yellowcake is very lucrative.
The value of uranium has skyrocketed in the last three years. When Operation Iraqi Freedom was winding down in April of 2003, the spot price of milled yellowcake was $10.75 per pound; the current price has boomed to $41.00 per pound. Today, the former dictator’s stockpile of yellowcake is worth well over $41 million. The market price will probably increase since the global demand for oil is finally causing developed nations to take another look at nuclear power in order to reduce demand for petroleum
now that I have picked myself up off of the floor....
Holy crap!
Just a thought, but one to which I have no answer.......
Would it be possible for Rockefeller/Standard Oil to manipulate oil prices?
or is that tin foil thinking?
That just doesn't sound right ; )
This is interesting when one considers Iran.
Thanks for the ping!
Good 'ole Mary M. You did it for the good of the country. The question is, which country?
Diverse intelligence agencies find themselves in front of the following picture: the French in Cogema are in business with the oil magnates, including the Rockefeller group. This name brings immediatley to mind the world’s second largest petrol company: Exxon, a company present in Niger through the activities of the Esso Exploration & Production Niger. Interesting indeed but there’s more, the other partner: the French Elf Aquitaine. The link, according to a number of observers on the banks of the Thames, is of particular interest, espeially due to the fact that a well known member of the Rockefeller family is currently vice president of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Who investigated the Oil-for-food scandal alongside Paul Volcker? Miranda Duncan, the niece of David Rockefeller. Duncan resigned from the commission following the polemic brought about by the conflicts of interest between the United Nations and the commission. Duncan, David Rockefeller’s niece, was working in the front line of the investigation. A conspiracy? It’s still too early to say, Volcker (the president of the commission who has a CV full of ties to the Rockefellers) produced the Oil-for-food report on October 27 2005.
Ping-a-ling!
Today Wilson claims to be a business agent for "African mining companies." But Niger's mines are owned by a French consortium, which operates cheek-by-jowl with the Quai d'Orsay. Niger itself is a semi-colony of France. No uranium sales go on there without the full knowledge and consent of the French government. Valerie Plame was quoted in a CIA memo as saying that "my husband has good relations with both the PM [prime minister] and the former Minister of Mines (not to mention lots of French contacts)..." Lots of French contacts, indeed.
Joseph C. Wilson IV: The French Connection
And lots of interesting speculation here
Thanks for the ping!
Jay Rockefeller('54) went to school at Phillips Exeter with John Heinz('56) and John Negroponte('56).
Rockefeller's middle name is Davison. It comes from the Rockefeller's family friend Henry P. Davison, one of the secret members in attendance at the meeting on Jekyll Island that laid out the plan to establish the Federal Reserve System in the United States.
Phillips Exeter is a lot like Phillips Andover where they send a lot of their grads into the halls of power, specifically in the spook community.
Henry Davison was representing the banking interests of JP Morgan & Co at Jekyll Island. The Rockefeller's National City Bank(now Citibank) were represented by Frank Vanderlip. Also at the meeting was a Benjamin Strong. I don't know if he is of any relation to Maurice Strong. However, every single one of the Jekyll Island participants were enthusiastic supporters of the UN.
Wow! It is hard to put all of this together. Even being of the conspiracy-bent mind!
But why would Joe Wilson risk having people take a closer look at him and expose all of these connections? If you had all this stuff going on, wouldn't you keep a lower profile?
Why do so many of them insist on going Na-na-na-na-pooh-pooh? That's not rhetorical, I really wonder... hubris, thrill, spy-vs-spy-vs-spy???
Puzzling Pinz
A lot of things don't make sense. When the Nicholas Biddle was trying to renew the lease on the 2nd Bank of the United States he hired flacks to argue against rewewing the lease. He was trying to control the opposing arguments to his financial interest so he merely started funding their writings knowing at any point that he could withdraw those funds.
Jay Rockefeller's admission that he told Syrian President Assad that the United States was going to war with Iraq during his 2002 visit was an example of Rockefeller doing what he could to protect the interests of his supporters, ie banks.
Wars are the dirtiest business of all in today's world because there really isn't ever a clear cut winner. Wars are no longer won, they are simply fought.
I hate conspiracy theory at the root. It makes for great fiction and film, but what other reason did Rockefeller have for making an emergency visit to Syria to meet with a state sponsor of terrorism? Friendly greetings?
If even a quarter of this is true, no small wonder Rockefeller has no allegiance to the U.S.
Ever read Taylor Caldwell's book, The Captain and the Kings? To International Citizens, the best business climate is a war. It's so foreign to me, I don't tend to see that sort of scenario. But it cerainly is looking more and more that way.
Wonder if I still have a copy of that somewhere in the house...
I need to make myself plow through all of the Wilson links and threads, but just know that I'm shaking my head and stomping my feet every inch of the way. :-(
Pray for President Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Snow. They are all fighting the good fight on our behalf.
Pinz
He'd only worry about connections being exposed if someone could prove wrongdoing in a court of law, and he knows that would be difficult to do--both because much of the evidence is not easily obtained (some of it buried in the files of his wife's CIA unit where even a Senate subcommittee found difficulty getting at it, some of it in African countries controlled by the French and not subject to US jurisdiction) and because his political friends (Al Gore, Brent Scowcroft, the Saudis, etc.) have powerful legal connections--so he figures he can get away with it, as he did when Clinton was President. It may also be he's not in a position to say no to his handlers. And it's obvious he likes the negative attention he gets from sticking a thumb in George Bush's eye.
Espinoge isn't really legal at all. Almost all of the activities of espinoge are explicitly illegal. The question is politics. Does the chief law enforcement officer have the evidence or the will to pursue the investigation?
Iran-Contra was almost impossible to investigate because the banks were so deep in the game it became a US national interest NOT to see the feds close in on the banks. US Banks were looking to enter new energy rich markets such as UAE, Pakistan, etc. What's often in the interest of US enterprise is also becomes the interest of the United States. The same is true for France, Russia, China, etc. Helping to make your commerce more valuable is closely tied to making your citizens more valuable.
I do not know whose interests Joe Wilson was representing in Africa during his trips. The CIA doesn't always dispatch officers for the United States. They also have key interests in maintaining relationships with other political entities with power -- Russia, France, China, etc. The CIA may have been trying to obtain information to help the espinoge activities of another country like France in dispatching Wilson and other officers to Niger.
According to this President's Memo on Disclosures to the Congress the following people would have been told (including House members).
bookmark
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