NIGERGATE THE TRUTH: HOW THE FRENCH TRICKED THE USA

“I was employed by the French since 1996. I handed the false documents on the uranium trade between the Africa and Iraq to them” –-- With this startling declaration Rocco Martino, the freelance spy at the centre of the false Niger dossier, has confirmed that France was responsible for some of the information later used by Britain and the United States to promote the case for war with Iraq.

Before examining Martino’s deposition it’s worth taking a look at some of the details regarding France contained in the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's Report on the US Intelligence Community's Prewar Assessments on Iraq.

Page 59, paragraph 3: “On November 22, 2002, during a meeting with State Department officials, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director for Nonproliferation said that France had information on an Iraqi attempt to buy uranium from Niger. He said that France had determined that no uranium had been shipped, but France believed the reporting was true that Iraq had made a procurement attempt for uranium from Niger.”

Page 69, paragraph 3: “On March 4, 2003, the U.S. Government learned that the French had based their initial assessment that Iraq had attempted to procure uranium from Niger on the same documents that the U.S. had provided to the INVO.”

As emerges from Rocco Martino’s deposition the documents in question were the very same documents contained in the dossier that he had supplied in 2000 to his contact in the French secret services in Bruxelles.

Rocco Martino’s admissions, made under oath to the investigating magistrates in Rome, confirm that by commissioning him to procure and supply documents France’s secret services were the sole recipients of the dossier that would eventually lead to the scandal known today as the Nigergate affair.

Highly important details have emerged of the sworn depositions made by Rocco Martino to Italy’s most famous investigating magistrate, Franco Ionta. The freelance spy’s statements, made under oath, reveal once and for all not only the truth of the “French connection” to the false documents regarding the alleged trade in uranium between Niger and Iraq, but also the role of the media in distorting the truth.

Amongst his declarations to the investigating magistrates are the following: - to having been employed by a French intelligence service from 1996 until 2004; - how his contacts, held on a regular basis and regulated by a monthly consulting fee, with the French spies were held in Bruxelles; - that he supplied the false Niger documents exclusively to the French intelligence services in 2000; - how journalists from the American network CBS, desperate for a scoop, helped Martino to ‘escape’ from Italy in August 2004; - how CBS had intended to use him in a documentary that had to be scrapped when it was revealed that Martino was employed by a French secret service; and - how members of the British press circulated false information and accusations regarding the Niger documents.

The contents of Martino’s deposition, made under oath and subsequently transcribed and signed, reveal the truth behind a number of issues however, before examining them, it is important to understand the context in which they were made. Martino had not been charged or indicted however had the investigating magistrate suspected perjury then he, in his own words, “would not have hesitated for a moment before ordering Martino’s immediate arrest”. Rocco Martino fully understood the consequences of obstruction of justice for lying under oath, he knew that the proper functioning of Italian criminal justice rests, in large part, on the assurance that witnesses are telling the truth and that to ensure this those who don't are punished. Under oath Martino did the intelligent thing: he told the truth.

Contents of the depositions are contained in an article (www.ilgiornale.it/a.pic1?ID=65681), the first of a forthcoming series, published today in the Italian newspaper ‘Il Giornale’. In the piece, signed by Gian Marco Chiocci and Mario Sechi, a number of facts emerge that demolish once and for all a number of ‘conspiracy theories’ that have been circulating on both sides of the Atlantic. First of all the theory that the Italian military intelligence services (SISMI) were behind the documents is finally put to rest. In fact Martino’s declarations confirm that the Italians have been telling the truth all along: they had nothing whatsoever to do with the affair.

Martino’s admissions also contradict and prove as being false the declarations made by the ex French spy chief Alain Chouet in a recent interview with Italy’s La Repubblica and in today’s Los Angeles Times (www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-niger17feb17,0,6889656.story?coll=la-headlines-nation). In La Repubblica Chouet denied that Martino was working for the French secret services at the time the Niger documents emerged and in today’s Los Angeles Times denies that Martino was on the French payroll fulltime. These denials are very strange, very strange indeed as Alain Chouet should know all of the details regarding Martino’s employment: he was after all none other than Rocco Martino’s effective boss when, in 2000, he was Chief of Station in Bruxelles. In fact Alain Chouet was the very head of the structure that Martino consigned the false documents to. It would thus seem, to give Chouet an albeit undeserved benefit of doubt, that he has a very selective memory. It can be argued that Rocco Martino is no angel but it should also be remembered that the star witness in today’s Los Angeles Times feature has as yet to be awarded a set of wings. Lest we forget a short reminder: Alain Chouet left the intelligence community in absolute disgrace after having been fired on the spot from the French secret services for spying on the French President, Jacques Chirac. It would seem that Chouet’s credibility leaves a lot to be desired, a fact that seems to have completely escaped, or been completely ignored, by the Los Angeles Times.

The following is a translation of the article that was published earlier today by Il Giornale.

Rocco Martino had just returned from his ‘escape’ to the United States where he recorded an interview with CBS. The interview was destined to never be aired because of the fact that Martino omitted to tell the CBS television network that he had been working as a secret collaborator of the French 007’s all along. Martino explains to the investigating magistrate, Franco Ionta, that he had not worked for SISMI (the Italian military intelligence service) as had been falsely reported by a number of British journalists but had been employed by a completely different and unrelated foreign intelligence service.

“(…) I left the United States on August 8, I departed from New York and from there made my way to Liguria where I remained until yesterday before coming to Rome. On August 3 I was in Rome and from there I left for Munich in a car that CBS had rented for me. During all phases of my travels I used my own name (…). My activity after leaving the Carabinieri in 1983 consisted in procuring information for the Egyptian secret services resident officer in Rome, I informed an official of SISMI, Antonio Nucera, whom I met periodically until 1999 of this (…). The Egyptian paid me a very modest sum for my collaboration with their intelligence services. I also need to point out that in addition to my collaboration with the Egyptian services from time to time I carried out in Italy and abroad activities on behalf of Nucera. Another contact in SISMI was (…) who I met on a number of occasions until 1997/98. As of 1996 I began to collaborate very closely with a French secret service, I had a contact whose name I still have and am able to give to you. The French were particularly interested in the phenomenon of Islamic fundamentalism and I supplied information both on paper and orally. I never informed either the Egyptians or SISMI in regards to this collaboration. The French paid me regularly, somewhere in the region of 1.500/2.000 Euro a month plus expenses.”

At this point Martino discusses the false dossier and his source inside the Niger embassy in Rome explaining that it had been Nucera, just before retiring and several years after no longer being operative, that had passed him the contact. In this phase of the deposition Martino also discusses and denies the accusations published in the British press.

“If I remember correctly in 2000 Nucera asked me if I was interested in meeting a person who worked in an African embassy and who was capable of supplying documents and information including the embassy’s cipher codes. I accepted and met the lady (…) She knew Nucera’s identity but she called him “Francesco”. The lady supplied me with various pieces of information which I handed over to the French without informing Nucera (…). It was always the lady who supplied me with the documents related to the presumed trafficking of uranium between Niger and Iraq. I took all of these documents to my French secret services contact in Bruxelles. When it was ascertained that the documents were false I asked Ms. (…) for explanations, however to tell the truth she was very evasive. I know that the CBS journalist Matranga has interviewed her twice. In the first interview she stated that the responsibility was mine while, in the second interview, she said that the false documents were given to her by Colonel Nucera (…). I know the contents of the article, entitled “Italian spies changed Saddam’s documents”, by Nicholas Rufford published on August 1, 2004 by the Sunday Times. The contents of the article do not correspond in any way to the conversation, a preliminary to an interview, that I had with Nicholas Rufford in Bruxelles on July 29, 2004. I never told the journalist that I had been used by SISMI to plant the false documents concerning the trafficking of uranium. In reality I told Rufford that a person who worked for, or had worked for, SISMI assisted me in obtaining, through another person, the documents in question. I repeat once again that the documentation was given to me by Ms. (…) and that I do not know who confectioned it.”

In this deposition Martino is asked to explain the details of his meeting with the SISMI officer Nucera and the secretary from the Niger embassy.

“Around 10 or 11 on February 16 I met Nucera in Largo Gancia, he had organised the meeting with Ms. (…) who then joined us. Nucera made introductions and we went to a bar close by for a coffee. Once outside of the bar we had a conversation with Ms. (…). I recorded the conversation between me and Nucera and the subsequent conversation with Ms. (…) and the recording is in the material that I consigned (…). Before the meeting Colonel Nucera had offered to present me a person who worked in an African embassy thinking that I might be interested in meeting them due to my “intelligence” activities, they might have been able to supply me with information that interested me (…). My relations with Ms. (…) began in 2000 and were interrupted a little more than a year later, in any case the exact date can be found in the material that I consigned. On the occasion I contested the false documents that she had supplied me with and in particular those relative to a presumed trafficking of uranium between Niger and Iraq(…). My relationship with the lady was regulated by a monthly payment of around 500 Euro. Details of these payments are contained in the documentation that I consigned. The material relative to the presumed trafficking of uranium between Niger and Iraq was given to me exclusively by this lady”.

Here the translation ends and there it is, not simply Rocco Martino’s ‘version of the facts’ but the real facts.

The rest is history, the contents of the documents eventually came to form part of the basis of the information used by Britain and the United States to promote the case for war with Iraq. Only at the very last moment, on March 7, 2003 and only days before the invasion of Iraq, would the world discover, through a declaration by the IAEA, that the Niger documents were false.

As regards Martino’s depositions there is one last thing that needs to be borne in mind: Rocco was ‘running scared’, very scared. The long time professional spy believed that in his position the only strategy was to reveal the whole truth to the Italian magistrates as fast as possible. By doing so, a classic amongst spies in trouble, there would no longer be any reason for anyone to silence him. Martino’s depositions were made with exactly that eventuality in mind.

www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-niger17feb17,0,6889656.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

ear Administrator

I posted the following piece (see details below) and within 30 seconds it disappeared from the main 'threads page'. Did you remove it and if so could you please inform as to why.

Many thanks in advance for you reply,
Parnasokan

NIGERGATE THE TRUTH: HOW THE FRENCH TRICKED THE USA

Posted by parnasokan
On Bloggers & Personal 02/17/2006 11:12:20 AM PST · 8+ views

This is a little confusing. He states explicitly that he did not work for Sismi. But, he met the Niger embassy clerk through a Sismi officer. The clerk knew the Sismi officer personally. This does not, then, completely close the door on Sismi involvement.

He does make it plain that DGSI knew the docs were false. How they got into CIA hands is not yet plain. Did DGSI give them to CIA, or did Rocco pass them to CIA after knowing they were false? And did he do it at DGSI direction, or whose?

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.