Some woman named Flavia on Tucker Carlson said last night that Fitzgerald had interviewed Italian authorities in Rome about the break-in at the Nigerian Embassy there. If you will remember, it has been suggested that the letterhead and seals that were stolen were used to produce the forgeries.
"Nigerian embassy." Is this the embassy of the Republic of Niger, or the embassy of Nigeria? I'd guess the former but haven't followed the details on the forged documents.
"Safavian also told the committee that he had "overlooked" two other clients while preparing his initial submissions for the OMB position. He did not initially mention work as a registered foreign agent for Gabon, a country persistently rated by the United States as having a "poor" human rights record, or his work as a registered foreign agent for Pascal Lissouba, the former president of the Republic of Congo who has been tried in absentia for treason and embezzlement..."
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Is this too implausible?
Who was formerly Ambassador to Gabon?? Who's former wife has been a trade rep for the government of Gabon and also a consular officer at the French Embassy???
Do I need to start buying stock in Reynolds Aluminum?
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And then ... there's THIS
"It wasn't just Wilson who lied-- it was the CIA. Again, from Vanity Fair: Phelps and Royce [of the July 22,2003 Newsday story] also cited a "senior intelligence official" who said that Plame did not recommend her husband for the Niger job, adding, "There are people elsewhere in the government who are trying to make her look like she was the one who was cooking this up, for some reason. I can't figure out what it could be. We paid his (Wilson's) airfare. But to go to Niger is not exactly a benefit. Most people you'd have to pay big bucks to go there.
Here is what this looks like to me. There are widespread indications that the CIA is incompetent. Vice President Cheney was pressuring the CIA to do a better job. The CIA decided to fight back. They are, after all, experts in information and disinformation. So they gave Wilson the Niger mission to simultaneously pretend they were making efforts to investigate and to create a news story to embarass Cheney."