Evidence of Niger uranium trade 'years before war'

FT ^ | 06/27/04 | Mark Huband

[oolatec]

I have always suspected that the whole British intelligence document was a setup... it wouldn't surprise me if Wilson himself took part in it... The rest of this article, while disturbing, is rather good news... I sure hope we hear more about this...

[mattdono]

Bump for reference.

Well, Wilson is a puke. And, Baghdad Bob was the potential buyer.

[oceanview]

exactly, it was a poison pill designed to discredit the entire story - the story itself was and is true, but this falsified evidence plant serves to discredit the entire story.

[Shermy]

Ping.

[Shermy]

"As Niger's other main export is goats, some intelligence officials have surmised uranium was what Mr Sahaf was referring to

[muawiyah]

This is older, recycled, misleading news.

Mot folks who have encountered the Niger documents assume they were deemed "forgeries" because everything was handwritten, even the LOGO.

Some reporters even said that the "forgeries" were "crude" because no one would ever believe the documents to be authentic which contained hand drawn letterheads!

Actually, the documents in question are not the originals ~ rather they are holographic copies ~ which is to say someone with access to the originals sat down and copied them by hand, including the logo.

The "forgery" part of the story would entail WHAT was written, not HOW it was transcribed. After all these folks, as with most folks in this world, live without photocopy machines at the ready.

Now, how do we educate our modern reporters to the realities of life in the rest of the world ~ how about this one ~ we strip them down buck naked except for a dhotti and drop them into a Lagos slum. They are to come back fully clothed, well fed, with new shoes and a great story about street crime.

Does that seem like a fair test for these guys? Bet they'd get over that nonsense about imagining Africa as being a modern electronic wonderland.

[cyncooper]

I have always suspected that the whole British intelligence document was a setup...

Indeed, as some of us have suspected, the forged documents were created to cast a question over the earlier intelligence that is most likely true.

Note the forgeries appear on the scene in October 2002. That is months after Joe Wilson's February 2002 trip.

Also the infamous British Dossier was written up in September 2002. Again, before the forgeries were introduced to taint the story.

Remember that almost exactly at the same time the Wilson story started being disseminated in the press anonymously in June 2003, the British ball started rolling on a very similar story: The "Sexed-Up" Document story that turned out to be false.

I have often stated I think these were twin planned attacks on both Bush and Blair--both with a similar accusation: "Bush Lied" and "Blair Lied". And yes, I think Wilson was involved with that plot to bring down these two men.

[piasa]

I hadn't heard that before. Where did you come across the info that the letterheads had been hand-copied? I'd like to include that in my records.

I found this amusing:

When thieves stole a steel watch and two bottles of perfume from Niger's embassy on Via Antonio Baiamonti in Rome at the end of December 2000, they left behind many questions about their intentions. The identity of the thieves has not been established.

One question that comes to mind, which should have been explained by the journalist, is how he came to the conclusion that there was more than one thief? And from whom did this info on the theft originate?

The rest of the article seems to hang on this mere guess, a theory which is simply not justified given the available info :

But one theory is that they planned to steal headed notepaper and official stamps that would allow the forging of documents for the illicit sale of uranium from Niger's vast mines.

Well, isn't that special? Here's my theory, using the KISS method:

There is a report that two bottles of perfume were stolen, along with a watch, but no evidence has been mentioned of anything else tampered with or removed from the premises. In the absence of such evidence, there isn't much reason to be baffled about the thief's intention... the most obvious explanation is just that he or she intended to steal some perfume and a watch.

The alleged robbery - and so the alleged forgery if the claim is that it is derived from paper obtained in it- occured AFTER the Iraqi met with the Nigerien official mentioned by Wilson, and also AFTER the even earlier confirmed and well-known visit to Niger of the Iraqi trade mission which invited the president of Niger to visit Baghdad.

[muawiyah]

Way back when ~ the earliest stories about the sales documents being "forgeries" contained the business about them having been handwritten/handdrawn!

The folks making the claim about "forgery" were not commenting on the nature of the copies, which were always described as "copies". The originals were left behind in the hands of the targets of the espionage that resulted in the holographic "copies" falling into the hands of various intelligence services.

My comment refers to the initial story that starts this thread ~ it's not the documents themselves that are forgeries, but the contents of the "copies" ~ because the intelligence agencies do not have the originals!

[piasa]

Another interesting tidbit is that the documents are alleged to have arrived in the hands of the Italian journalist in precisely the same month- October- that the US NIE was completed and released- and the same time as the UK media reports defector's claims that an Iraqi agent named Nadhim Jabouri had been sent to arrange for the acquisition of specialized aluminum tubes for its enrichment process from South Africa. The info comes from an INC source who, if I'm not mistaken, was apparently correct about Iraq's effort to obtain magnets from Germany.

My note: Also in October there were rumblings about a North Korean attempt to procure uranium from Congo.

[piasa]

OK, thanks... I did a little digging around and I think this may be one of the sources, since it refers to the logo being badly drawn. BUt later it says the logo was stamped, which would make me think it was a poorly made stamp rather than a hand drawing. Note also that so far there is no proof the docs the reporter had are the same docs the IAEA received. (A side note : this article also says the docs were given to the CIA instead of to the State Dept as the thread's lead article says.):

The Guardian via TheAge.com.au, of http://www.theage.com.au/cgi-bin/common/popupPrintArticle.pl?path=/articles/2003/07/17/1058035132835.html

-- "Iraq uranium forgeries crudely done, newspaper reveals," By Sophie Arie, Rome, July 18 2003

Forged documents on which the US, Britain and Australia allegedly based their case that Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger were so crudely drafted that it is unlikely they would have survived more than a few hours' - or minutes' - scrutiny by any specialist, it has emerged.

The letters and paperwork, which surfaced in Italy's left-of-centre daily La Repubblica on Wednesday, reveal how amateurish the forgeries were.

Although they run to only eight pages, they contain more than a dozen easily checkable errors. A logo, supposedly the national symbol of Niger, is badly drawn and missing much of the detail normally used in government documents.

US President George Bush used the forged documents to build the case for war with Iraq. The US has since accepted they were bogus and blamed British intelligence for supplying the information.

At prime minister's questions in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Mr Blair insisted the British claim was based not on the forged documents but on independent intelligence.

He said the link between Niger and Iraq was not an invention of the the CIA or Britain.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations body responsible for non-proliferation, reminded Britain on Wednesday that it had a duty to hand over any new intelligence for verification.

The forged documents were passed in February this year by the US to the IAEA, which a month later declared them to be forgeries. The IAEA has not released the documents. But it is understood the documents are the same as those leaked to La Repubblica.

The paper claimed the forged documents were passed to British intelligence in Rome and their contents given to the CIA.

The documents, apparently from senior Niger authorities in Niamey to the country's ambassador in Rome, and a telex, from Niger's embassy in Rome, all relate to alleged negotiations for Iraq to buy 500 tonnes of uranium from Niger. The letters, in French and stamped with the Niger Government seal, are scattered with spelling mistakes and contain several glaring inconsistencies.

One letter is dated July 30, 1999, although it talks of negotiations between Niger and Iraq after that date, on June 29, 2000.

Italy has repeatedly denied formally handing the documents to other countries, but the head of a parliamentary commission on intelligence and security, Enzo Bianco, said on Wednesday he could not deny that Italy may have passed on the documents in an informal way.

- Guardian

This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/17/1058035132835.html

[Imal]

A thread with another related article by Mark Huband:

Intelligence backs claim Iraq tried to buy uranium

[cyncooper]

Don't want you to miss this.

Also, see link at #13 for link to another thread on article by same reporter.

[okie01]

I have often stated I think these were twin planned attacks on both Bush and Blair--both with a similar accusation: "Bush Lied" and "Blair Lied". And yes, I think Wilson was involved with that plot to bring down these two men.

And just who would spawn such a plot? I can think of three candidates:

1. The Democrats?

2. The Saudis?

3. al-Qaeda

Joe Wilson is known to work for two of the above. I would not put it past him to work for the third...

[cyncooper]

And remember, the BBC figured prominently in "reporting" the "Sexed-up Document" charge against Blair (using David Kelly as a source--Kelly later killed himself when it was discovered he was speaking, unauthorized, with Gilligan).

Before Wilson penned his editorial proclaiming himself to be the until-then anonymous diplomat who had ventured to Niger, stories given to reporters telling Wilson's tale appeared in---the BBC (citing a "CIA official).

[Peach]

Thanks! Last night we were getting a T storm and so I quickly freepmailed this to myself to deal with it in the morning...saving to file.

[Matchett-PI]

"The suspected forger' real name is known to the FT, but cannot be used because of legal constraints. He did not return telephone calls yesterday, and is understood to be planning to reveal selected aspects of his story to a US television channel."

[piasa]

Speaking of Italy:

JULY 2001 : (ITALY : IRAQI INTELLIGENCE AGENT AL-MAMOURI DISAPPEARS FROM HIS JOB, SHORTLY AFTER HE MET 9/11 HIJACKER MOHAMMAD ATTA; BOTH HAD BEEN SEEN TOGETHER IN HAMBURG GERMANY & PRAGUE, CZECHOSLAVAKIA BEFORE) One of Saddam’s intelligence agents, Habib Faris Abdullah al-Mamouri, was sent to be the new headmaster of a school for Iraqi diplomats in Italy. The bogus headmaster has not been seen in Rome since July, shortly after he also met Atta. The pair are also said to have been together in Hamburg and Prague. There is no proof the men were in direct contact, but as one intelligence source in Madrid said [later in the year] : “They chose a strange time and place to take a holiday.” The Rome daily Il Messaggero, quoting Western intelligence sources, said of Mr al-Mamouri that “he spent more time pursuing contacts helpful to the Iraqi regime among fundamentalist Islamic groups than he had on his supposed teaching duties”. Italian officials say that Mr al-Mamouri held the rank of general in the Iraqi secret service, and from 1982 to 1990 worked in the Special Operations Branch forging Baghdad’s links with Islamic fundamentalist groups in Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Gulf and Sudan. He was transferred to his “teaching duties” in 1998, although all the Iraqi Embassy will say of his sudden departure is that “he had money problems”. - "Hijacker 'given anthrax flask by Iraqi agent'," by DANIEL MCGRORY, The London Times, SATURDAY OCTOBER 27 2001

[Enchante]

Searching around on the web for anything new or overlooked, I came upon this important article (2 years old) and found it had already been posted on FR 3X...... everyone gets caught up in timelines and debates about the forged documents, but there is A LOT of juicy info about uranium smuggling from Niger, Libyan uranium supplies which cannot be fully accounted for by official records, Libya investing in Niger uranium, etc.

When will we finally learn the real facts about Niger, uranium, Libya, and Iraq???? If any one of the following is indeed true, it would prove beyond a shadow of doubt (what is obvious to those willing to think) that Joe Wilson's absurd 'mission' was a set-up, designed to come up with only one (wrong) answer. If even one of these 4 points is true then Wilson is discredited completely: (1) Libya did obtain undeclared (illegal) uranium supplies from Niger (or elsewhere); (2) Niger officials and/or smugglers DID hold talks about smuggling uranium outside of IAEA oversight; (3) Iraq did at least ask about starting surreptitious shipments of uranium from Niger; (4) Niger's uranium mines were NOT so completely secured from smuggling and off-the-books transactions (giving the lie to a good part of Joe Wilson's expressed confidence that there could not be such smuggling). If ANY of the 4 points above are true (and the article below asserts that ALL of them are true) then Joe Wilson is revealed decisively as the fraud artist that he is.

So why are both the US gov't and the MSM so completely incapable of resolving these issues for the public???

------------------------------------------------------

The FT has now learnt that three European intelligence services were aware of possible illicit trade in uranium from Niger between 1999 and 2001. Human intelligence gathered in Italy and Africa more than three years before the Iraq war had shown Niger officials referring to possible illicit uranium deals with at least five countries, including Iraq. This intelligence provided clues about plans by Libya and Iran to develop their undeclared nuclear programmes. Niger officials were also discussing sales to North Korea and China of uranium ore or the "yellow cake" refined from it: the raw materials that can be progressively enriched to make nuclear bombs. The raw intelligence on the negotiations included indications that Libya was investing in Niger's uranium industry to prop it up at a time when demand had fallen, and that sales to Iraq were just a part of the clandestine export plan. These secret exports would allow countries with undeclared nuclear programmes to build up uranium stockpiles. One nuclear counter-proliferation expert told the FT: "If I am going to make a bomb, I am not going to use the uranium that I have declared. I am going to use what I acquire clandestinely, if I am going to keep the programme hidden." This may have been the method being used by Libya before it agreed last December to abandon its secret nuclear programme. According to the IAEA, there are 2,600 tonnes of refined uranium ore - "yellow cake" - in Libya. However, less than 1,500 tonnes of it is accounted for in Niger records, even though Niger was Libya's main supplier. Information gathered in 1999-2001 suggested that the uranium sold illicitly would be extracted from mines in Niger that had been abandoned as uneconomic by the two French-owned mining companies - Cominak and Somair, both of which are owned by the mining giant Cogema - operating in Niger. "Mines can be abandoned by Cogema when they become unproductive. This doesn't mean that people near the mines can't keep on extracting," a senior European counter-proliferation official said.