[Peach]

Iraq had lots of yellowcake that the UN inspectors found and tagged before the war. It's what they were trying to buy illegally and without the UN's watchdogs guarding it that is the problem.

Lots of dirty deals in this matter and some familiar names starting to crop up.

[ravingnutter]

I was answering someone who said Michael Ledeen was involved in the forgeries and speaking of dirty deals and familiar names, the poster provided one...see the bolded part:

The first Niger Embassy break in was on January 02, the second on January 31, both in 2001, way before Ledeen went there:

http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/bulletin/EdDesk.nsf/0/a0f101466d6da341ca256d6b000ae3cc?OpenDocument

Rocco Martino received the forged documents in "late 2001". That makes Cannistraro just as suspicious as Ledeen if the dates of his visit to Rome are correct. Larry Johnson is a known liar and the Italians issued a press statement yesterday that they were not involved in the forgeries:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1509708/posts

This is also backed up by Martino, who said he was employed by the French:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1509091/posts

Ledeen has gone public and denied involvement:

I have absolutely no connection to the Niger documents, have never even seen them. I did not work on them, never handled them, know virtually nothing about them, don't think I ever wrote or said anything about the subject. I have left a voice mail for Cannistraro suggesting he should apologize and retract right away. I think you should get back to him and ask him if he didn't just make it up, or was repeating gossip. There can be no credible evidence for the claim, and you will not wish to be associated with it, I'm sure.

And you should also notice that you and Cannistraro have misspelled the acronym for the Italian Military Intelligence Service. It's SISMI not SISME. A good Italian like Cannistraro should at least know that!

Michael Ledeen

http://www.yuricareport.com/Corruption/StatementFromMichaelLedeen.html

And Cannistraro has a lot of nerve talking about Ledeen and Iran-Contra:

Cannistraro himself [along with Duane "Dewy" Clarridge, then Chief of the CIA's Latin American Division] headed Casey's original operation to arm the Contras, based on Reagan's March, 1981 decision.

http://www.constitution.org/ocbpt/ocbpt_10.htm

Did you notice what I just posted? Duane Clarridge and Cannistraro are old friends. If the Italians nailed Clarridge for the forgeries...what does that tell you?

Sorry I didn't have time to format the links, I have to run an errand, but wanted to get this info out. Clarridge was fingered by the Italians in the uranium forgery, according to Larry Johnson and Vincent Cannistraro. Seems Cannistraro and Clarridge go back a ways. Also, Cannistraro was in Rome in Nov 2001 according to that poster, so he has alot of nerve claiming it was Ledeen just because Ledeen had a meeting in Dec 2001. Sure wish I could find the exact date that Rocco Martino got the forgery in hand, all I can find is "late 2001". Will follow up when I get back.