[Fedora]

¹⁰¹Remarks of Pat Roberts to Senate, “Making Minority Party Appointments”, Congressional Record, January 14, 2003, Page S281-S283, online at Federation of American Scientists, http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_cr/s011403.html; Jeff Gannon, “Rockefeller Threatened to Make Intel Committee Partisan in 2002”, Talon News, http://www.talonnews.com/news/2003/november/1110_intel_memo.shtml, archived at http://web.archive.org/web/20040504140314/http://www.talonnews.com/news/2003/november/1110_intel_memo.shtml, November 10, 2003; Robert Novak, “Ruining the Intelligence Committee: Partisan animosity that has brought operations of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to a standstill reached new depths on the early evening of Nov. 5.”, Townhall.com, http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/robertnovak/2003/11/17/170453.html, November 17, 2003.

¹⁰²Doug Thompson, “Dems plan to undermine America to beat Bush”, CapitolHillBlue, January 6, 2003, archived at FreeRepublic.com, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/830866/posts.

¹⁰³Â“Raw Data: Dem Memo on Iraq Intel”, FOXNews.com, November 6, 2003, reproduced at http://www.intelmemo.com/. For additional sources see “News Articles” and “Congressional Record” links at intelmemo.com, http://www.intelmemo.com/.

¹⁰⁴United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 108th Congress, Report on the U.S. Intelligence CommunityÂ’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, Chapter 2, “Niger”, 57, 72 (pdf pages 22, 37); Hersh, “Who Lied to Whom?”; “Democratic Efforts to Address Misuse of Intelligence Have Been Repeatedly Blocked by Republicans”, Harry Reid, http://reid.senate.gov/record2.cfm?id=248135, November 2, 2005.

¹⁰⁵United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 108th Congress, Report on the U.S. Intelligence CommunityÂ’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, Chapter 2, “Niger”, 69 (pdf page 34).

¹⁰⁶Letter, Carl Levin to Hans Blix, June 9, 2003, online at Carl Levin, http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/supporting/2003/061103BlixLetter.pdf attached to ”Levin Statement on CIA's Sharing of Intelligence on WMD with the UN”, Carl Levin, http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/release.cfm?id=216418, June 16, 2003.

¹⁰⁷Karin Fischer, “Rockefeller returns from Middle East trip”, Charleston Daily Mail, February 25, 2003; Peter Hardin, “Warner Delegation Hears Anti-U.S. Views”, Richmond Times-Dispatch, February 25, 2003.

¹⁰⁸”War in Iraq, Why Now?”, Nightline, March 4, 2003, transcript online at U.S. Senator John McCain: News: Interviews, http://mccain.senate.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=Newscenter.ViewInterview&Content_id=768; Wilson, The Politics of Truth, 321-323.

¹⁰⁹Joby Warrick, “Some Evidence on Iraq Called Fake: U.N. Nuclear Inspector Says Documents on Purchases Were Forged”, The Washington Post, March 8, 2003, Page A01, online at NewsMine.org, http://newsmine.org/archive/war-on-terror/iraq/pre-invasion/bush-appeals/some-iraq-evidence-fake.txt.

¹¹⁰Joseph Wilson on CNN Saturday, March 8, 2003, transcript online at CNN.com, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0303/08/cst.07.html.

¹¹¹Wilson, The Politics of Truth, 325-327.

¹¹²Â”DiplomatÂ’s ‘outrageÂ’ finds political outlet”, The Boston Herald, October 25, 2003, archived at FreeRepublic.com, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1007776/posts; Wilson, The Politics of Truth, 410-411, 442. On Beers cf. .Laura Blumenfeld, ”Former Aide Takes Aim at War on Terror”, The Washington Post, June 16, 2003, Page A01, online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A62941-2003Jun15?language=printer: “Five days before the war began in Iraq, as President Bush prepared to raise the terrorism threat level to orange, a top White House counterterrorism adviser unlocked the steel door to his office, an intelligence vault secured by an electronic keypad, a combination lock and an alarm. . .Beers's resignation surprised Washington, but what he did next was even more astounding. Eight weeks after leaving the Bush White House, he volunteered as national security adviser for Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), a Democratic candidate for president, in a campaign to oust his former boss.”; Ronald Brownstein, “Kerry is shaping his foreign policy: His network of experts spans a range of opinions”, Los Angeles Times, April 11, 2004, online at deseretnews.com, http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595055360,00.html: “Probably the closest analogue to Bush's Vulcans have been a group of Kerry advisers who hold a weekly conference call directed by Rand Beers. . .That group has included Lee Feinstein, the former deputy director of policy planning at the State Department, and Joe Wilson. . .Most observers considered the Kerry campaign's signing of Beers last May a major coup. . .”

¹¹³Hersh, “The Stovepipe”; Ward, “Double Exposure”; cf. Wilson, The Politics of Truth, 3, 330-331.

¹¹⁴Nicholas Kristof, “Missing in Action: Truth”, The New York Times, May 6, 2003, online at Common Dreams NewsCenter, http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0506-02.htm.

¹¹⁵Walter Pincus, “CIA Did Not Share Doubt on Iraq Data: Bush Used Report of Uranium Bid”, The Washington Post, June 12, 2003, Page A01, online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A46957-2003Jun11&notFound=true (cf. Walter Pincus, “CIA Says It Cabled Key Data to White House: But Officials Say Document Lacked Conclusion on Iraqi Uranium Deal”, The Washington Post, June 13, 2003, Page A16, online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A52813-2003Jun12&notFound=true; Walter Pincus, “Report Cast Doubt on Iraq-Al Qaeda Connection”, The Washington Post, June 22, 2003, Page A01, online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A19822-2003Jun21?language=printer).

¹¹⁶John B. Judis and Spencer Ackerman, “The First Casualty: The Selling of the Iraq War”, The New Republic, post date June 19, 2003, print date June 30, 2003, online at http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?pt=0cQNpJfYxhSff7JJVl4q9T%3D%3D.

¹¹⁷Andrew Buncombe and Raymond Whitaker, ”Ministers knew war papers were forged, says diplomat: US official who identified documents incriminating Iraq as fakes says Britain must have been aware of findings”, Independent, June 29, 2003, online at http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article110890.ece. Cf. Nicholas Watt, “Admission on Niger claim, “ The Guardian, June 28, 2003, online at http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,3605,986738,00.html: “Mr Ehrman. . .asked Mr Straw to comment on recent reports in the US press that a retired US ambassador concluded in February last year, after a visit to Niger, that the allegations were false.”

¹¹⁸See Note 65.

¹¹⁹Wilson, “What I DidnÂ’t Find in Africa”, The New York Times, July 6, 2003, online at Common Dreams News Center, http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0706-02.htm .

¹²⁰Richard Leiby and Walter Pincus, “Ex-Envoy: Nuclear Report Ignored: Iraqi Purchases Were Doubted by CIA”, The Washington Post, July 6, 2003, Page A13, online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A13536-2003Jul5&notFound=true.

¹²¹Joseph Wilson interview with Andrea Mitchell, Meet the Press, July 6, 2003, transcript online at JustOneMinute: Footnotes, http://justoneminute.typepad.com/footnotes/2004/07/joe_wilson_with.html; Wilson, The Politics of Truth, 333-334.

¹²²Â”Kucinich: What Else Was The Vice President Hiding? Vice PresidentÂ’s Office Knew Niger Evidence Was Unreliable Almost A Year Before The State Of The Union”, Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich, http://kucinich.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=28165, July 8, 2003; Carl Levin, floor statement, “Iraqi Intelligence”, Congressional Record, 108th Congress, First Session, July 15, 2003, online at Federation of American Scientists, http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_cr/levin071503.html; “Kucinich, Former Intelligence Officers To Hold News Briefing On The Administration's Use Of Intelligence In the Lead-Up To The War In Iraq”, July 11, 2003, online at Common Dreams NewsCenter, http://www.commondreams.org/news2003/0711-06.htm; Edward Spannaus, “CheneyÂ’s ‘Shadow GovernmentÂ’ Comes Into the Sunlight”, EIR: Executive Intelligence Review, Volume 30, Number 29, July 25, 2003, http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2003/3029cheney_exposed.html.

¹²³David Corn, “A White House Smear”, The Nation: Blog: Capital Games, http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?bid=3&pid=823, July 16, 2003; cf. Wilson, The Politics of Truth, 4, 349.

¹²⁴Matthew Cooper, Massimo Calabresi and John Dickerson, “A War on Wilson? Inside the Bush Administration's feud with the diplomat who poured cold water on the Iraq-uranium connection”, posted July 17, 2003 at TIME.com, http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,465270,00.html.

¹²⁵Alex Johnson with Andrea Mitchell, ”CIA Seeks Probe of White House: Agency asks Justice to investigate leak of employeeÂ’s identity”, MSNBC, September 27, 2003, online at Common Dreams NewsCenter, http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0927-01.htm.

¹²⁶See Note 65.

¹²⁷Wilson, The Politics of Truth, 442.

¹²⁸”June 16 Testimony of Joseph Wilson”, AfterDowningStreet.org: Evidence, http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/288. Cf. Leiby and Pincus, “Ex-Envoy: Nuclear Report Ignored”; Wilson, The Politics of Truth, 3-4, 328-332.

¹²⁹Ron Fournier, “Kerry Says Bush Misled Americans On War”, Associated Press, June 18, 2003, online at Common Dreams NewsCenter, http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0618-09.htm.

¹³⁰Audrey Hudson, “Senators reject KerryÂ’s claim Bush misled U.S.”, The Washington Times, June 23, 2003, http://www.washtimes.com/national/20030623-122726-4425r.htm. On Rockefeller and KerryÂ’s West Virginia campaign, see Martha Bryson Hodel, “Byrd urges vote for Kerry: Says GOP misleading voters on religion”, The Cincinnati Enquirer, September 28, 2004, online at http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/09/28/loc_loc1abushykerry.html; “A Byrd in Hand CanÂ’t Beat Two-Termer Bush: West Virginians Rejected ByrdÂ’s Support Of Liberals Al Gore And John Kerry”, National Republican Senatorial Committee, http://www.nrsc.org/newsdesk/document.aspx?ID=77.

¹³¹Central Intelligence Agency, Putting Noncombatants at Risk: Saddam's Use of "Human Shields", online at http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_human_shields/.

¹³²Â”Phyllis Bennis”, Institute for Policy Studies, http://www.ips-dc.org/bios.htm#Phyllis%20Bennis; “National Teach-In on Iraq (Produced by IPS; $15.00 DVD)”, United for Peace and Justice: Merchandise: Videos, http://unitedforpeace.org/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/73; ”CBS and CNN Avoid Labeling a Far-Left Think Tank”, Media Research Center: Cyberalert, Volume Eight, Number 31, February 18, 2003, http://www.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2003/cyb20030218.asp#4. On the UPJ see excerpts from John J. Tierney, The Politics of Peace: WhatÂ’s Behind the Anti-War Movement?, Washington, DC: Capital Research Center, March 2005, online at Capital Research Center, http://www.capitalresearch.org/pubs/pubs.asp?ID=446; “Jakarta Peace Conference: Iraq & the Global Peace Movement: Strategy Conference of the Global Peace Movement, Jakarta, Indonesia, 19-21 May 2003”, Transnational Institute, http://www.tni.org/history/index.htm. On the PCPJ and VVAW see John E. OÂ’Neill and Jerome R. Corsi, Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2004, 115-116, 124-125, 131, 157; “Hanoi John: Kerry and the Antiwar MovementÂ’s Communist Connections”, wintersoldier.com, http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/staticpages/index.php?page=Fedora3; Max Friedman, “Did The KGB Use John Kerry?”, wintersoldier.com, http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/staticpages/index.php?page=KGBKerry, July 6, 2005; Federal Bureau of Investigation, Information Digest Special Report on VVAW, August 25, 1972, FBI file HQ 100-448092, Section 32, pdf pages 31-45, reproduced online with notes at “Information Digest Special Report on VVAW: 8/25/72”, wintersoldier.com, http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/staticpages/index.php?page=InfoDigestonVVAW. On the lineage from the PCPJ through the UPJ, cf. Friedman [“The same basic leadership showed up in the various Mobes and their successors, including such CPUSA and pro-communist individuals as. . .Leslie Cagan (eventually aligned with the CP faction known as COC). . .”]; “Guide to the Committees of Correspondence (U.S) Records, 1991-1997”, The Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, http://dlib.nyu.edu:8083/tamwagead/servlet/SaxonServlet?source=/coc.xml&style=/saxon01t2002.xsl∂=body; David Horowitz, “People Against the American Way”, FrontPageMagazine.com, http://www.townhall.com/columnists/davidhorowitz/dh20030514.shtml, May 14, 2003.

¹³³Â”The 2002 Iraq Forum, June 15-16, 2002, Washington, D.C.”, EPIC: Education for Peace in Iraq Center , http://www.epic-usa.org/Default.aspx?tabid=157.

¹³⁴”Transcripts: Striking First: a Jim Lehrer NewsHour with Phyllis Bennis, 1 July 2002”, Transnational Institute: TNI History: 2002, http://www.tni.org/history/index.htm.

¹³⁵”Testimony Prepared for Hearings on Iraq Policy, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 31 July 2002, Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies”, Institute for Policy Studies, http://www.ips-dc.org/comment/Bennis/iraqtestimony.htm.

¹³⁶”CBS and CNN Avoid Labeling a Far-Left Think Tank”, Media Research Center: Cyberalert, Volume Eight, Number 31, February 18, 2003, http://www.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2003/cyb20030218.asp#4.

¹³⁷Stephen Zunes, “Seven Reasons to Oppose a U.S. Invasion of Iraq: FPIF Policy Report, August 2002”, online at FPIF: Foreign Policy in Focus, http://www.fpif.org/papers/iraq2.html; Stephen Zunes, “FPIF Talking Points: Why Not to Wage War with Iraq: August 2002”, Institute for Policy Studies, http://www.ips-dc.org/downloads/0208iraq.pdf.

¹³⁸Stephen Zunes, “The Case Against War”, The Nation, September 30, 2002, online at http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020930/zunes.

¹³⁹Readers and David Cortright, “Killing Sanctions in Iraq”, The Nation, January 21, 2002, online at http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020121/letter.

¹⁴⁰Phyllis Bennis, “The UN, the US and Iraq”, The Nation, November 11, 2002, online at http://www.thenation.com/doc/20021111/bennis; Phyllis Bennis, “Half a Victory at the UN”, The Nation, December 2, 2002, online at http://www.thenation.com/doc/20021202/bennis.

¹⁴¹Alexander Cockburn, “The Antiwar Movement and Its Critics”, The Nation, December 2, 2002, online at http://www.thenation.com/docprem.mhtml?i=20021202&s=cockburn; Alexander Cockburn, “The Anti-War Movement and Its Critics: Merle Haggard Locates Osama; General Hitchens, Hie Thee to Fort Bragg; Whose Left Is It Anyway”, Counterpunch, http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn1114.html, November 14, 2002.

¹⁴²Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, ”Memo for: President Bush Re: War on Iraq”, CounterPunch, http://www.counterpunch.org/vips02082003.html, February 8, 2003.

¹⁴³David Corn, Marc Cooper & Alexander Cockburn, “Debating the Antiwar Movement”, The Nation, December 23, 2002, posted December 4, 2002 at http://www.thenation.com/doc/20021223/exchange.

¹⁴⁴The Nation, March 3, 2003, online at http://www.thenation.com/issue/20030303.

¹⁴⁵Wilson, The Politics of Truth, 318, 354.

¹⁴⁶”September 2003” Common Dreams NewsCenter: Views Archive, http://www.commondreams.org/views03/september2003.htm.

¹⁴⁷Joseph Wilson, “How Saddam Thinks”, San Jose Mercury News, October 13, 2002, online at , http://www.politicsoftruth.com/editorials/saddam.html.

¹⁴⁸Note 64.

¹⁴⁹Note 65.

¹⁵⁰“Lott: Dems Used Focus Groups to Attack Bush on War”, NewsMax.com, http://www.newsmax.com/scripts/showinside.pl?a=2003/3/21/100946, March 21, 2003.

¹⁵¹Dana Priest, “U.S. Not Claiming Iraqi Link To Terror”, The Washington Post, September 10, 2002, Page A01, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59403-2002Sep9.html, archived at NewsMine.org, http://newsmine.org/archive/war-on-terror/iraq/pre-invasion/no-iraq-alqaeda-link.txt; Julian Borger, “White House 'exaggerating Iraqi threat': Bush's televised address attacked by US intelligence”, The Guardian, October 9, 2002, online at http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,807286,00.html; Bradley Graham and Dana Priest, “Pentagon Team Told to Seek Details of Iraq-Al Qaeda Ties: Effort Bypasses Regular Intelligence Channels; CIA Rift Disputed”, The Washington Post, October 25, 2002, Page A24, online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14056-2002Oct24.html. Contrast with CannistraroÂ’s comments in Julian Borger, “Saddam link to Bin Laden: Terror chief 'offered asylum' in Iraq? US says dealings step up danger of chemical weapons attacks”, The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,314700,00.html, February 6, 1999; Julian Borger, “Iraq-Bin Laden boat bomb link: USS Cole: 17 dead mourned as experts piece together attack”, The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4078596,00.html, October 19, 2000; Al-Qaida's desire for ever more deaths raises spectre of germ, chemical or nuclear attacks”, The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/september11/oneyearon/story/0,12361,786137,00.html, September 5, 2002.

¹⁵²Michael White and Brian Whitaker, “UK war dossier a sham, say experts: British 'intelligence' lifted from academic articles”, The Guardian, February 7, 2003, online at http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,890916,00.html. On Rangwala, CASI, Voices in the Wilderness, and the Emergence Committee on Iraq, see “Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq: Newsletter: January 1999”, CASI - Cambridge Solidarity with Iraq, http://www.casi.org.uk/newslet/jan99.html; “House of Commons”, CASI - Cambridge Solidarity with Iraq, http://www.casi.org.uk/info/ukcommons.html; Note 65.

¹⁵³Warrick, “Some Evidence on Iraq Called Fake”. Cf. “Inspectors Dispute Iraq Allegations”, The Guardian, January 29, 2003, http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-2360883,00.html, online at NewsMine.org, http://newsmine.org/archive/war-on-terror/iraq/pre-invasion/inspections/dispute-aluminum-tubes.txt; Joby Warrick, “Doubts Remain About Purpose Of Specialized Aluminum Tubes”, The Washington Post, February 6, 2003, Page A29, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32110-2003Feb5.html, online at NewsMine.org, http://newsmine.org/archive/war-on-terror/iraq/pre-invasion/inspections/doubts-aluminum-tubes.txt.

¹⁵⁴”News Release: Decoding the New UN Resolution on Iraq: Myth-Shattering Analysis at Accuracy.org/un2”, IPA: Institute for Public Accuracy, http://www.accuracy.org/newsrelease.php?articleId=588, November 13, 2002; ”News Release: Some Analysis of PowellÂ’s Speech”, IPA: Institute for Public Accuracy, http://www.accuracy.org/newsrelease.php?articleId=557, February 6, 2003; Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, “Intelligence Officers Challenge Bush”, Bainbridge Neighbors for Peace, http://www.bnfp.org/neighborhood/VetIntPro_for_Sanity.htm, May 1, 2003; Kristof, “Missing in Action: Truth”; Note 65; Dan Plesch and Glen Rangwala with Ffion Evans, John Fellows, and Gwenllian Griffiths, A Case to Answer: A first report on the potential impeachment of the Prime Minister for High Crimes and Misdemeanours in relation to the invasion of Iraq., Adam Price MP, August 2004, online at ImpeachBlair.org, http://www.impeachblair.org/report.shtml.

¹⁵⁵IraqÂ’s Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Assessment of the British Government, September 24, 2002, 25 (pdf page 28; cf. p. 6/pdf p. 9), online at 10 Downing Street, http://www.number-10.gov.uk/files/pdf/iraqdossier.pdf.

¹⁵⁶Gian Marco Chiocci, “Parla lÂ’ex 007 Rocco Martino ‘Ecco la verita sul Nigergate’”, il Giornale, September 21, 2004, 4, online at Ministero della Difesa, http://www.difesa.it/files/rassegnastampa/040922/5X9BK.pdf, English translation at TPMCafe, http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/10/11/3229/1796. Cf. Bruce Johnston and Kim Willsher, “Italy blames France for Niger uranium claim”, telegraph.co.uk, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/05/wuran05.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/09/05/ixworld.html, May 9, 2004; Mark Huband, “French Probe Led to ‘Fake Niger Uranium Papers’”, Financial Times, August 2, 2004 online at Global Policy Forum, http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/justify/2004/0802niger.htm; Chairman Rt. Hon. The Lord Butler of Brockwell KG GCB CVO, Review of Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction: Report of a Committee of Privy Counsellors, London: The Stationery Office, July 14, 2004, 123 (pdf pages 137), online at http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/14_07_04_butler.pdf.

¹⁵⁷“Italian journalist claims she supplied Iraq-Niger uranium documents to US”, ClariNews, http://quickstart.clari.net/qs_se/webnews/wed/bi/Qus-iraq-niger-italy.Rt17_DlJ.html, July 19, 2003; Hersh, “The Stovepipe”; Bonini and DÂ’Avanzo, ”Doppiogiochisti e dilettanti tutti gli italiani del Nigergate”.

¹⁵⁸On Carl Ford and Cassidy & Associates, see “Carl Ford Jr.”, LobbySearch: Lobbyist Profile, http://www.lobbysearch.com/cgi-bin/display_player.pl?id=20031013154400; cf. Jim Lobe, “African Governments Spend Millions in Lobbying”, CorpWatch, http://www.corpwatch.org/news/PND.jsp?articleid=98, May 20, 2001. On Thielmann and VIPS, see Kristof, “Save Our Spooks”;Wolf, “U.S. Insiders Say Iraq Intel Deliberately Skewed”; Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, “Memo For: Colleagues in Intelligence: Subject: One Person Can Make a Difference”, CounterPunch, http://www.counterpunch.org/vips10142003.html, October 14, 2003.

¹⁵⁹United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 108th Congress, Report on the U.S. Intelligence CommunityÂ’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, Chapter 2, “Niger”, 57-59 (pdf pages 22-24).

¹⁶⁰Vernon Loeb, "CIA Is Stepping Up Attempts To Monitor Spread of Weapons", Washington Post, March 12, 2001, Page A15, online at “RANSAC Nuclear News, March 14, 2001”, RANSAC: Russian American Nuclear Security Advisory Council, http://www.ransac.org/Projects%20and%20Publications/News/Nuclear%20News/2001/03_14_01.html; United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 108th Congress, Report on the U.S. Intelligence CommunityÂ’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, Chapter 2, “Niger”, 38-39 (pdf pages 3-4); Ward, “Double Exposure”; Wilson, The Politics of Truth, 424; Ray McGovern, “Conscience Before Career”, TomPaine.com, October 2, 2003, online at Common Dreams NewsCenter, http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1003-11.htm; Ray McGovern, “More at Stake in Bolton Nomination Than Meets the Eye”, TomPaine.com, April 25, 2005, online at truthout, http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/38/10642.

¹⁶¹Hersh, “Who Lied to Whom?”

¹⁶²Hersh, “The Stovepipe”.

¹⁶³United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 108th Congress, Report on the U.S. Intelligence CommunityÂ’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, Chapter 2, “Niger”, 59, 69 (pdf pages 24, 34).

¹⁶⁴United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 108th Congress, Report on the U.S. Intelligence CommunityÂ’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, Chapter 2, “Niger”, 60-61 (pdf pages 25-26).

¹⁶⁵Hersh, “Who Lied to Whom?”

¹⁶⁶Hersh, “The Stovepipe”.

¹⁶⁷Cf. Chairman Rt. Hon. The Lord Butler of Brockwell KG GCB CVO, Review of Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction: Report of a Committee of Privy Counsellors, London: The Stationery Office, July 14, 2004, 121-125 (pdf pages 135-139), online at http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/14_07_04_butler.pdf.

¹⁶⁸United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 108th Congress, Report on the U.S. Intelligence CommunityÂ’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, Chapter 2, “Niger”, 61-62 (pdf pages 26-27).

¹⁶⁹Summarized by parnasokan at “NIGERGATE: THE ANTI BUSH AND BERLUSCONI NETWORK”, FreeRepublic.com, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1511734/posts, October 29, 2005.

¹⁷⁰”Levin Floor Statement on the Situation in Iraq”, January 9, 2003, online at Carl Levin, http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/release.cfm?id=210449; Letter, Senator Carl Levin to President George W. Bush, January 24, 2003, attached to “Levin Urges President to Share U.S. Intelligence Information with Weapons Inspectors”, January 24, 2003, online at Carl Levin, http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/release.cfm?id=209011; Letter, Carl Levin to Hans Blix, June 9, 2003, online at Carl Levin, http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/supporting/2003/061103BlixLetter.pdf attached to ”Levin Statement on CIA's Sharing of Intelligence on WMD with the UN”, Carl Levin, http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/release.cfm?id=216418, June 16, 2003.

¹⁷¹United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 108th Congress, Report on the U.S. Intelligence CommunityÂ’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, Chapter 2, “Niger”, 69 (pdf page 34).

¹⁷²Maura Reynolds, “Time Is Running Out, Bush Cautions: He and the British premier, united yet differing, press the U.N. to act quickly on Iraq.”, The Los Angeles Times, February 1, 2003.

¹⁷³See Note 106.

¹⁷⁴Hersh, “The Stovepipe”; cf. “Who Lied to Whom?” Cf. Judis and Ackerman, “The First Casualty”.

¹⁷⁵United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 108th Congress, Report on the U.S. Intelligence CommunityÂ’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, Chapter 2, “Niger”, 67 (pdf page 32).

¹⁷⁶Walter Pincus and Dana Priest, “U.S. Had Uranium Papers Earlier: Officials Say Forgeries on Iraqi Efforts Reached State Dept. Before Speech”, Washington Post, July 18, 2003, online at GlobalResearch.ca, http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/PIN307A.html; Richard Leiby and Walter Pincus, “Ex-Envoy: Nuclear Report Ignored: Iraqi Purchases Were Doubted by CIA”, The Washington Post, July 6, 2003, Page A13, online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A13536-2003Jul5&notFound=true.

¹⁷⁷Ian Traynor, “UK nuclear evidence a fake: British intelligence claims that Saddam Hussein has been trying to import uranium for a nuclear bomb are unfounded, according to UN nuclear inspectors ”, The Guardian, March 8, 2003, online at http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,909946,00.html; Sally Bolton and agencies, “Blix attacks US war intelligence, “The Guardian, April 22, 2003, online at http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,941231,00.html. Cf. Hersh, “Who Lied to Whom?”: “What is generally agreed upon, a congressional intelligence-committee staff member told me, is that the Niger documents were initially circulated by the British--President Bush said as much in his State of the Union speech--and that ‘the Brits placed more stock in them than we did.’”

¹⁷⁸Chairman Rt. Hon. Ann Taylor, MP, Intelligence and Security Committee: Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction - Intelligence and Assessments, Colegate, Norwich: Her MajestyÂ’s Stationery Office (HMSO), St. Clements House, September 2003, 28 (pdf pages 33), online at GlobalSecurity.org, www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/reports/2003/isc-iwmdia_sep2003.pdf; Chairman Rt. Hon. The Lord Butler of Brockwell KG GCB CVO, Review of Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction: Report of a Committee of Privy Counsellors, London: The Stationery Office, July 14, 2004, 123 (pdf page 137), online at http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/14_07_04_butler.pdf; Dana Priest and Susan Schmidt, “FBI Probes Fake Evidence of Iraqi Nuclear Plans”, The Washington Post, March 13, 2003, Page A17, online at Information Clearing House, http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2095.htm.

¹⁷⁹See Note 107.

¹⁸⁰See Note 108.

¹⁸¹See Notes 110-111.

¹⁸²See Note 109.

¹⁸³Rajiv Chandrasekaran, “Stopping War Not 'Up to Us,' Iraqi Says: Hussein Aide Sees Conflict As Inevitable“, The Washington Post, January 26, 2003, Page A1.

¹⁸⁴See Note 111.

¹⁸⁵Matthew Cooper, Massimo Calabresi and John Dickerson, “A War on Wilson? Inside the Bush Administration's feud with the diplomat who poured cold water on the Iraq-uranium connection”, posted July 17, 2003 at TIME.com, http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,465270,00.html.

¹⁸⁶”ADL: Ted Turner HasnÂ’t Learned From His Mistakes”, Anti-Defamation League, http://www.adl.org/PresRele/HolNa_52/4629_52.htm, January 26, 2005; “An Eason Jordan Timeline of Events”, Easongate.com, http://billroggio.com/easongate/archives/2005/02/an_eason_jordan.php, February 11, 2005.

¹⁸⁷Cf. David Halberstam, The Powers That Be, New York: Knopf, 1979.

¹⁸⁸Pincus, “Anonymous sources: Their use in a time of prosecutorial interest”, Nieman Reports, Volume 59, Number 2, Summer 2005, online in pdf format at Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University: Nieman Reports, http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/contents.html and in html format at Nieman Watchdog: Showcase, http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Showcase.view&showcaseid=0019, July 6, 2005; Joe Strupp, “Pincus: Woodward ‘Asked Me to Keep Him OutÂ’ of Plame Reporting”, Editor & Publisher, http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001523334, November 16, 2005. Cf. Bob Woodward, Bush at War, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002; Bob Woodward, The Secret Man: The Story of WatergateÂ’s Deep Throat, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005. On some of the problems with WoodwardÂ’s claim that Mark Felt was Deep Throat, cf. Carl Limbacher, “General Haig: Deep Throat Not Lone Source”, NewsMax.com, http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/5/31/211941.shtml, May 31, 2005; email from Jim Hougan, posted at “More on Mark Felt, Deep Throat, and Bennett”, Cannonfire, http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2005/05/more-on-mark-felt-deep-throat-and.html, May 31, 2005; Jim Hougan, “Deep Throat, Bob Woodward and the CIA: Strange Bedfellows”, CounterPunch, http://www.counterpunch.org/hougan06082005.html, June 8, 2005.

¹⁸⁹John W. Dean, “More vicious than Tricky Dick: John Dean says the Bush team's leaks are even viler than his former boss's -- and that Plame and Wilson should file a civil suit.”, Salon.com, http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2003/10/03/dean/index_np.html, October 3, 2003. On Dean and Watergate see Jim Hougan, Secret Agenda: Watergate, Deep Throat and the CIA, New York: Random House, 1984; Len Colodny and Robert Gettlin, Silent Coup: The Removal of a President, (New York: St. MartinÂ’s Press, 1991).

¹⁹⁰United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 108th Congress, Report on the U.S. Intelligence CommunityÂ’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, Chapter 2, “Niger”, 64-66 (pdf pages 29-31); Dana Priest and Karen DeYoung with Glenn Kessler, "CIA Questioned Documents Linking Iraq, Uranium Ore", Washington Post, March 22, 2003, online at Common Dreams NewsCenter, http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0322-04.htm; Walter Pincus and Dana Priest, “U.S. Had Uranium Papers Earlier: Officials Say Forgeries on Iraqi Efforts Reached State Dept. Before Speech”, Washington Post, July 18, 2003, online at GlobalResearch.ca, http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/PIN307A.html; Michael Duffy and James Carney, ”A Question of Trust”, TIME, July 21, 2003, online at http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,464405,00.html; Julian Borger, “Democrats step up pressure on uranium claims: Attempt to blame 'tainted' intelligence on CIA boss adds to woes for Bush”, The Guardian, July 14, 2003, online at Forgotten History, http://www.lossless-audio.com/usa/index0.php?page=1101548993.htm; Timothy Noah, “Is Libby the Phantom Bigfoot? An exclusive report from Slate's guesswork unit.”, Slate, http://www.slate.com/id/2085803/, July 17, 2003; ”Head of CIA Weapons Analysis Program Leaving”, Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=reutersEdge&storyID=3422015, September 10, 2003, archived at ”Head of CIA Weapons Analysis Program Leaving”, FreeRepublic.com, http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/979978/posts, September 10, 2003; Ray McGovern and David MacMichael, interview, ”“The Crazies Are Back”: Bush Sr.Â’s CIA Briefer Recalls How the First Bush Administration Referred to Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld and Cheney”, Information Clearing House, http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4736.htm.

¹⁹¹Hersh, “The Stovepipe”.

¹⁹²McGovern, “Conscience Before Career”.

¹⁹³Sidney Blumenthal, “There was no failure of intelligence: US spies were ignored, or worse, if they failed to make the case for war”, The Guardian, February 5, 2004, online at http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1141401,00.html. On LangÂ’s background and relation to Wilson see Note 59.

¹⁹⁴Michael Rubin, “Web of Conspiracies: False rumors go from fringe staff go mainstream-again and again.”, National Review Online, http://www.nationalreview.com/rubin/rubin200405180836.asp, May 18, 2004.

¹⁹⁵Wilson, The Politics of Truth, 313-314; cf. 325-326.

¹⁹⁶Wilson, The Politics of Truth, 17.

¹⁹⁷Reed Kramer, “Kansteiner To Leave Top Africa Post, Key Embassies in Transition”, allAfrica.com, http://allafrica.com/stories/200310010765.html, October 1, 2003; ”Board”, The Corporate Council on Africa: About CCA, http://www.africacncl.org/About_CCA/board.asp; “Walter H. Kansteiner, III”, The Scowcroft Group: Who We Are, http://scowcroft.com/html/whoweare.html.

¹⁹⁸See Note 128.

¹⁹⁹Letter, Representative Henry A. Waxman to President George W. Bush, March 17, 2003, online at Representative Henry Waxman: 30th District of California, http://www.house.gov/waxman/text/admin_iraq_march_17_let.htm. Cf. Harry Kreisler interview with Tom Engelhardt, “Taking Back the Word: Conversation with Tom Engelhardt”, April 23, 2004, online at Institute of International Studies: Conversations with History, http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people4/Engelhardt/engelhardt-con4.html; Jeffrey Steinberg, “The Henry Waxman Letter: Who Knew What, and When?”, Executive Intelligence Review, Volume 30, Number 23, June 13, 2003, http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2003/3023wmd_fraud.html.

²⁰⁰Note 110 and David Ensor segment on “U.N. Saying Documents Were Faked”, American Morning, March 14, 2003, transcript online at CNN.com, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0303/14/ltm.14.html; Dana Priest and Susan Schmidt, “FBI Probes Fake Evidence of Iraqi Nuclear Plans”, The Washington Post, March 13, 2003, Page A17, online at Information Clearing House, http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2095.htm; Hersh, “Who Lied to Whom?”; Kristof, “Missing in Action: Truth”.

²⁰¹See Note 70.

²⁰²David Ensor segment on “U.N. Saying Documents Were Faked”, American Morning, March 14, 2003, transcript online at CNN.com, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0303/14/ltm.14.html. Cf. Ray Close, “Whose Deliberate Disinformation? A CIA Analyst on Forging Intelligence”, CounterPunch, http://www.counterpunch.org/close03102003.html, March 10, 2003; Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, “Memo to the President: Forgery, Hyperbole, Half-Truth: A Problem”, Common Dreams NewsCenter, http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0319-08.htm, March 19, 2003; Ray Close, “Why the Lies About WMD Matter: A Crime Against American Values”, CounterPunch, http://www.counterpunch.org/close06102003.html, June 10, 2003.

²⁰³Â“Senator RobertsÂ’ Statement on the Niger Documents”,United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, http://intelligence.senate.gov/030711.htm, July 11, 2003.

²⁰⁴Wilson, The Politics of Truth, 3, 332. Cf. comments by manyoso, “The Theory of the Two Notebooks”, The Next Hurrah, http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2005/10/the_theory_of_t.html, October 11, 2005: “I contacted that Independent article author and tried to get him to tell me the name of the ambassador when it came out. He refused, but he put me on the trail... a few days later I contacted someone else who _did_ give me his name. I published Wilson's name and the next day he wrote his op-ed for the NY Times, so Wilson was right... his name was about to come out.”

²⁰⁵See Note 65.

²⁰⁶For some timeline resources, see “Plame affair timeline”, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plame_scandal_timeline; “Plame Leak timeline”, dKosopedia, http://www.dkosopedia.com/index.php/Plame_Leak_timeline; “July 14, 2004: The Joseph Wilson / Valerie Plame Timeline”, JustOneMinute, http://justoneminute.typepad.com/footnotes/2004/07/the_joseph_wils.html; Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane, “Senator Pat Roberts (R - KS) Helps to Fix the Intel”, The Raw Story, http://rawstory.com/robertsintel.htm.

²⁰⁷On Pincus and the CIA, see Pincus, “How I Traveled Abroad on CIA Subsidy”, San Jose Mercury, February 18, 1967, 14; “Walter Pincus”, NNDB, http://www.nndb.com/people/233/000044101/. On Pincus and IPS, see James L. Tyson, Target America: The Influence of Communist Propaganda on U.S. Media, with preface by Reed Irvine, Chicago: Regnery Gateway, 1981, 160-168; Powell, Covert Cadre, 57.

²⁰⁸See Notes 110. On Ensor and Close, see Note 202.

²⁰⁹See Note 111.

²¹⁰See Note 114.

²¹¹See Note 115.

²¹²Walter Pincus, “Report Cast Doubt on Iraq-Al Qaeda Connection”, The Washington Post, June 22, 2003, Page A01, online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A19822-2003Jun21?language=printer

²¹³See Note 65.

²¹⁴See Note 116.

²¹⁵See Note 117.

²¹⁶See Note 119.

²¹⁷See Note 120.

²¹⁸See Note 121.

²¹⁹See Note 7.

²²⁰Cf. Pincus, “Report Cast Doubt on Iraq-Al Qaeda Connection”.

²²¹United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 108th Congress, Report on the U.S. Intelligence CommunityÂ’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, Chapter 2, “Niger”, 45 (pdf page 10).

²²²United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 108th Congress, Report on the U.S. Intelligence CommunityÂ’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, “Additional Comments”, 442-445 (pdf pages 2-5).

²²³Joshua Micah Marshall, “July 14, 2004”, Talking Points Memo, http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_07_11.php#003169, July 17, 2004.

²²⁴Dana Priest and Karen DeYoung, “CIA Questioned Documents Linking Iraq, Uranium Ore”, The Washington Post, March 22, 2003, online at Common Dreams NewsCenter, http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0322-04.htm.

²²⁵Chairman Rt. Hon. Ann Taylor, MP, Intelligence and Security Committee: Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction - Intelligence and Assessments, Colegate, Norwich: Her MajestyÂ’s Stationery Office (HMSO), St. Clements House, September 2003, 27-28 (pdf pages 32-33), online at GlobalSecurity.org, www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/reports/2003/isc-iwmdia_sep2003.pdf.

²²⁶See Note 224.

²²⁷United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 108th Congress, Report on the U.S. Intelligence CommunityÂ’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, Chapter 2, “Niger”, 40 (pdf page 5).

²²⁸United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 108th Congress, Report on the U.S. Intelligence CommunityÂ’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, Chapter 2, “Niger”, 36, 38 (pdf pages 1, 3).

²²⁹United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 108th Congress, Report on the U.S. Intelligence CommunityÂ’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, Chapter 2, “Niger”, 41 (pdf page 6).

²³⁰See Note 222.

²³¹Wilson on Paula Zahn Now, July 19, 2004, online at “Interview With Carmen bin Laden; Interview With Barbara Walters”, CNN.com, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0407/19/pzn.00.html.

²³²See Note 65.

²³³See Note 7.

²³⁴Hersh, “The Stovepipe”.

²³⁵Wilson, The Politics of Truth, 326.

[Fedora]

Ping. My ping list for this is somewhat disorganized so I apologize if I missed anyone or mis-pinged someone.

[bism]

Well, what do you know? Finally a true depiction.

[Cboldt]

!!! -bump- !!!

[freema]

Can't wait to read this. Gonna go get my jammies on and get comfy.

[malia]

bump

[malia]

bump

[pollyannaish]

Wow. Thank you so much for your thorough work. I am actually printing this so I can study it.

[Range Rover]

The MSM have damn good reason to be wetting their collective pants. Nowhere in the collective "News" will you see this level of detail. You are the king of the pajamadeen, sir. I doff my cap to you.

Time to run a ream through Mr. Printer.

[dalight]

bump.. whew!

[Gritty]

Kudos for the great research!

[beebuster2000]

btt

[Kimberly GG]

As always......excellent work Fedora!

Kimberly

[ravingnutter]

Wow. Good work! A few things though, one from your previous post:

In 1999, French intelligence had begun investigating the security of uranium supplies in Niger, where uranium production was controlled by a consortium led by the French mining company COGEMA, a division of the French state-owned nuclear energy firm AREVA.

What Wilson Didn’t Say About Africa

This is backed up by:

Iraq and four other countries were attempting to purchase uranium from Niger as far back as 1999, European intelligence officials told the Financial Times.

The unidentified sources told the newspaper illicit sales were being negotiated at least three years before last year's U.S.-led invasion.

They said between 1999 and 2001, uranium smugglers planned to sell the ore or refined ore called yellow cake, to Iran, Libya, China, North Korea and Iraq.

An official said meetings between Niger officials and would-be buyers from the five countries were held in several European countries. Intelligence officers were convinced that the uranium would be smuggled from abandoned mines in Niger, circumventing official export controls.

Washington Times

European intelligence officers have now revealed that three years before the fake documents became public, human and electronic intelligence sources from a number of countries picked up repeated discussion of an illicit trade in uranium from Niger. One of the customers discussed by the traders was Iraq.

Information gathered in 1999-2001 suggested that the uranium sold illicitly would be extracted from mines in Niger that had been abandoned as uneconomic by the two French-owned mining companies-Cominak and Somair, both of which are owned by the mining giant Cogema-operating in Niger.

"Mines can be abandoned by Cogema when they become unproductive. This doesn't mean that people near the mines can't keep on extracting," a senior European counter-proliferation official said.

Human Events

IOW, you are correct that the forgeries were not the reason for Wilson's trip, but it is important to note that it was the French report of the possibility of illicit mining. But once the forgeries emerged, all reports became suspect and were discounted.

You also note Cannistraro's relationship with the Vatican and his prior knowledge of the forgeries, but people may not connect the two without this bit of info:

Two other names just crept into this...Niger Ambassador Adamou Chekou, who was in charge at the Embassy when the break-in and forgeries occurred and Wissam al-Zahawiah, Iraqi Ambassador to the Holy See. Seems Italian Intelligence was eavesdropping on these two and discovered their "hotline" between the Niger Embassy and the Vatican.

This is important because al Zahawie also had foreknowledge of the forgeries as evidenced by his statement below (info from piasa):

JANUARY 2003 : (AL ZAHAWIE, "RETIRED IN JORDAN" - IS RECALLED BACK TO BAGHDAD, IRAQ; HE IS TAKEN TO MEET UN WEAPONS INSPECTORS) But last January, al-Zahawie was summoned back to Baghdad for what he had expected would be a request to help Iraq's Foreign Service plan for deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz's planned visit to the Vatican. Instead, upon landing in Baghdad, al-Zahawie was taken to meet with UN weapons inspectors. Five inspectors interviewed him in a 90-minute session, he says.

"They asked why I went [to Niger], why I was chosen, when I left Rome and whether there were any other Iraqi diplomats at the Vatican," he says. "But then they asked who had the seal of the embassy and where I had left it." That's when al-Zahawie got wind of some kind of foul play. Italy had handed over cables from al-Zahawie to the Niger government announcing the trip, and other documents had pointed to his presence in Niger. But the inspectors were particularly interested in a July 6, 2000, document bearing al-Zahawie's signature, concerning a proposed uranium transaction. The inspectors refused to show him the letter, he says, but al-Zahawie was sure he had never written it. "If they had such a letter, it had to have been a forgery," he says. The tell-tale signs of the forgery were quite obvious, he stresses. [* My note: How would he know the 'tell-tale sign' if they refused to show the letters to him? Shades of Joe Wilson's foreknowledge of the docs?]

Also of note from the previous link:

In winter 2002, the Ambassador of Niger to Rome, Chekou, is recalled to Niamey “for consultations.” He is expected to return to Italy but instead never sets foot in Italy again. Chekou is relieved of his post and on 2 December 2002 he is replaced by Mrs. Hadjio Abdoulmoumine, serving as chargé d’affaires and head of the Counselor Section. Is this a routine changeover? Or is it—as Repubblica’s intelligence source hints, the result of the discovery by the Government of Niger the some wrongdoing in its Rome embassy has occured? Niamey is convinced that the bizarre robbery of January 2001 was, in reality, merely the cover necessary for the removal of the stationery from Via Baiamonte needed to compile the phony dossier?

While that source continues to blame the Italians...an idea that, IMHO, was "planted" by Cannistraro, as was the second attempt to blame it on Libya (who also blamed Libya for the Lockerbie incident)after the Italians issued a public denial of involvment...the Vatican connections are too large to ignore. Therein, I believe, lies the connection to Cannistraro and his foreknowledge.

Also of interest is Cannistraro also "planted" the disinformation that Alan Wolf and Duane Clarridge were the actual forgers and tried to connect them to Michael Ledeen, based on Ledeen's connection to Iran Contra. Cannistraro worked directly with Clarridge during Iran Contra, so he has alot of nerve bringing that up in connection to Ledeen. Cannistaro also cites the Dec 2001 Ledeen meeting in Rome as supposed "proof", when Cannistraro himself was in Rome in Nov 2001, giving an interviewabout a possible attempt on the Pope's life by Al Qaeda.

Another interesting tidbit (#47) that I discovered is that Wolf and Clarridge worked with Aldrich Ames, who outed Plame to the Russians in the 90's. Coincidence? I think not. Cannistraro trying to kill two birds with one stone to cover his own carcass seems to be the more likely answer. To sum it up, with all these connections, Cannistraro has to be more deeply involved in this than you have currently documented. It would also back up Seymour Hersch's quotations from his sources that these documents were deliberately forged by members of the CIA because they were pissed at Cheney.

“The agency guys were so pissed at Cheney,” the former officer said. “They said, ‘O.K, we’re going to put the bite on these guys.’ ” My source said that he was first told of the fabrication late last year, at one of the many holiday gatherings in the Washington area of past and present C.I.A. officials. “Everyone was bragging about it—‘Here’s what we did. It was cool, cool, cool.’ ” These retirees, he said, had superb contacts among current officers in the agency and were informed in detail of the sismi intelligence.

New Yorker

What puts some credibility to Hersch's story is...why would Hersch make up these quotes? He is a certified leftwing moonbat and has no reason to exhonerate Bush in this. It doesn't make sense unless the VIPS group was the source of the actual forgeries, as Hersch asserts. Once you have all the above connections and Hersch's quotes, everything fits into place in the puzzle.

[popdonnelly]

Thank you, Fedora, for your excellent work. Obviously must reading.

[Howlin]

Excellent.

[Cautor]

I think this qualifies you as a PhD in Wilsongate.

Seriously, you have assembled an almost dizzying case for your thesis. Moreover, it puts in one place a comprehensive accounting of the facts surrounding this bogus effort to nail Bush and the administration. My hat is certainly off to you. I plane to read this thing from start to finish. Thank you for the great effort.

Cautor

[nickcarraway]

I'm going to read the whole thing when I get a chance, but do you have a one paragraph "elevator pitch."

[sauropod]

mark

[showme_the_Glory]

War and Peace not Readers Digest. Holy Cow. Bump for long flight.

[Paulus Invictus]

WOW! What a lot of work! I read it too.