Posted on 10/25/2005 2:04:14 PM PDT by Renfield
Russo Martino, the man behind the forged documents indicating Saddam had purchased uranium from Niger, which Joseph A. Wilson falsely claimed he had seen and warned the Administration about, has come forward and admitted that he did this in the pay of France to undermine the British and American justification for the war in Iraq:
The man, identified by an Italian news agency as Rocco Martino, was the subject of a Telegraph article earlier this month in which he was referred to by his intelligence codename, Giacomo.
His admission to investigating magistrates in Rome on Friday apparently confirms suggestions that by commissioning Giacomo to procure and circulate documents France was responsible for some of the information later used by Britain and the United States to promote the case for war with Iraq.
Italian diplomats have claimed that, by disseminating bogus documents stating that Iraq was trying to buy low-grade yellowcake uranium from Niger, France was trying to set up Britain and America in the hope that when the mistake was revealed it would undermine the case for war, which it wanted to prevent.
Italian judicial officials confirmed yesterday that Mr Martino had previously been sought for questioning by Rome. Investigating magistrates in the city have opened an inquiry into claims he made previously in the international press that Italys secret services had been behind the dissemination of false documents, to bolster the US case for war.
According to Ansa, the Italian news agency, which said privately that it had obtained its information from judicial and other sources, Mr Martino was questioned by an investigating magistrate, Franco Ionta, for two hours. Ansa said Mr Martino told the magistrate that Italys military intelligence, Sismi, had no role in the procuring or dissemination of the Niger documents.
ping
Ambassador Wilson of course was ambassador to Gabon, and his wife Jacqueline was hired by the President of Gabon as a lobbyist. Pierre Salinger is also working for Gabon, as is an interesting figure by the name of Safavian.
Safavian also worked for Pascal Lissouba, the former President of Congo. Congo is the country from which we obtained raw materials decades ago to begin our nuclear program.
That's the second time a Freeper has been threatened with regard to this story. Maybe somebody needs a visit from the FBI.
The CIA just keeps poppin' up...all over the news today, eh?
When I turn the lights out that cake glows in the dark!!!
Starting to get a little stinky, isn't it?
on multiple fronts.
Relations between the French and British governments has been its worst in many years lately.
This is going to piss off the Brits bigtime.
Ravingnutter, I am just back from a trip and have been news deprived. What is the theory you are all talking about?
Well......it's time. This is a huge prayer answered... that those things which are hidden......be revealed. I'd personally like to see JW and VP frog-marched to the pokey... along with all their cohorts. Let the meltdown begin!
That link goes to this very thread.
As if things weren't confusing enough already...
* head hurts *
The article in the Telegraph is dated September 19, 2004. It has probably already been discussed on Free Republic over a year ago. Why it took Clarice Feldman until today to notice it and write about it is a good question to ask, so I'm not going to post it anywhere else until I find out the answer.
Here's an ap wire thread just posted ,, Thanks for posting this.
Italian faces pre-war intelligence probe ^
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1509177/posts
With the exception of Coleman on Oil for Food, I can't think of one person in the Senate who isn't more worried about managing their own career than our national security or profile at the time of war. The President is put in the position to do the heavy lifting on absolutely every foreign policy issue while the likes of McCain criticize and demean the administration.
You said it perfectly. There are only a handful of men in Washington DC, and very few, if any, senators fit that description.
Ooops. Sorry. It was an accident. I was supposed to post a pointer to this thread in a different one.
Ping - ...and more about our 'friends', the French.
Some Democrats seem to have an abiding interest in killing this story about Saddam seeking uranium in Africa. Congressman Maurice Hinchey was on Hannity & Colmes. Hinchey backs Joe Wilson, and wants an investigation into whether Congress was lied to on this uranium matter. Wilson certainly has a knack for playing these politicians like a violin. I wonder how Hinchey or Wilson would explain the several hundred tons of yellowcake found in Iraq?
IIRC, the 500 tons of yellowcake stockpiled in Iraq was under UNSCOM seal and could not be used by Iraq without being caught. So, one could speculate that they needed a covert supply for their covert weapons development program.
Thanks for the ping!
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