Posted on 09/06/2004 4:06:31 PM PDT by Bostton1
BRUSSELS — Italy is blaming France's intelligence service for circulating forged documents that showed Iraq trying to buy uranium from Niger in an elaborate ruse to embarrass Britain and the United States. Italian diplomats say privately that France was behind the forged documents that at first appeared to prove Iraq was seeking yellowcake uranium in Niger — evidence used by Britain and the United States to press the case for war with Iraq. They say that France's intelligence services used an Italian-born middleman to circulate a mixture of genuine and bogus documents to "trap" the two leading proponents of war with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein into making unsupportable claims. The French intelligence service, asked to comment publicly on the charges, has yet to respond. The Italian diplomats have given the Sunday Telegraph a photograph they claim shows the Italian go-between, sometimes known as "Giacomo" — who cannot be identified for legal reasons — meeting a senior French intelligence officer based in Brussels. "The French hoped that the bulk of the documents would be exposed as false, since many of them obviously were," an Italian official said. "Their aim was to make the allies look ridiculous in order to undermine their case for war." According to an account given to the Sunday Telegraph, France was driven by "a cold desire to protect their privileged, dominant trading relationship with Saddam, which in the case of war would have been at risk." French officials angrily deny the account. Last month, reports first surfaced that Giacomo claimed to have been unwittingly used by Sismi, Italy's foreign intelligence service, to circulate the false documents..........
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I am shocked that the French would do such a thing.
NOTE TO U.S. Military: Next time France is invaded, please remember to ship to boxes of spitballs.
Looks like they outsmarted themselves. Those documents where a prime factor in the war. I guess they should stick to wine and cheese.
U.N. Oil For Food Program.
Always follow the money.
The French are not our friends or allies. They have not been for a long time. And I do not see their behavior changing anytime soon. The sooner the American public sees that the better off we will be. Always count on the French to do the opposite of what is the right thing to do.
Egg on the face for John 'French Fraud' F'n Kerry and the DNC.
The French have been a US enemy for most of the past 230 years.
So, any suggestions for a U.S. response if this story is found out to be true???
Hating France gets easier and easier every day.
France outsmarted themselves. They were trying to protect their trade with Iraq, a reminder that our "containment" of Iraq had all but unraveled by the time Bush decided to do something about it.
They decided to sabotage Bush, and cover up real transactions at the same time. Because Iraq really did approach Niger looking for uranium, and Niger (and France) really did sell uranium to Libya.
They commissioned the creation of fake documents, passed them to the US, and then exposed them publicly as frauds, without mentioning that they were the authors of the fraud.
But Bush decided to go with his instinct, and went ahead and removed Saddam anyway; despite France's manufactured scandal Bush's supporters decided to trust him anyway; and France is now banned from doing business in Iraq for at least as long as Bush remains in office.
So they are left to yearn for a Kerry victory which will open doors that the overthrow of Saddam has closed to them.
they are already being invaded!!!
Muslims will account for 40% of the population in 25 years!!
These are interesting times my friend, interesting indeed!
I agree. We should drop most favorable trade status while Chirac remains in office, and until Paris acknowledges what they did.
And we should start working to replace France on the Secutiry Council with India. The EU doesn't need more than one seat, and they already have Britain.
The French are treacherous. We have known it for a long time, but I doubt that most of us thought they could stoop this low. They are despicable.
France sucks!
Like falling off a log, isn't it?
The next time France is invaded, we should send at least three divisions to direct the invading traffic to Paris.
How much did Chirac contribute to the Kewwy campaign?
The French lost in Vietnam even without Kewwy's help.
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