Pat Lang: Niger Mischief

[understandinglife]

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Among the various items brought to mind by present history is the question of the Niger Document. This was the paper which turned up in the hands of Italian intelligence which purports to establish Saddam's drive to buy semi-refined Uranium ore in Niger. This document seems to be well established as a forgery planted on the Italians. Was the US government involved? I know of nothing at this point that would demonstrate that.

The newsmedia have worked on this story for years now and several have well documented the result. A major TV news magazine hired me last year to help them look for those who knew the truth in this matter. They succeeded. A national wire service did the same thing without my help and has the result. The same is true of two other national news publications.

It is very clear now that this document was forged by a couple of the shadowy ex-government characters who dwell in the environs of Washington and was planted in Italy on the basis of the personal contacts of one of them with the intention of influencing the debate over Iraq in this country. How do I know that? Well, I just do in the way that intelligence officers learn things. Good sources, multiple sources, first person accounts, probabilities, that is how one learns things. Could I swear to it in court? No. Intelligence conclusions are not things that can be sworn to in court.

From Niger Mischief by Pat Lang

Posted at No Quarter:
http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2005/07/niger_mischief.html

July 17, 2005

Additional references on "Niger Mischief":
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2005/7/17/133522/208
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/7/17/135257/633

These materials will be referenced in American History 101: G. W. Bush, First Traitor President, but I thought it useful for everyone to have this reference available today as its own OP to ensure it is widely seen.

http://www.peacecandy.com/gwbush/remindus
REMIND US

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - How ever long it takes, the day must come when tens of millions of caring individuals peacefully but persistently defy the dictator, deny the corporatists their cash flow, and halt the evil being done in Iraq and in all the other places the Bu$h neoconster regime is destroying civilization and the environment in the name of "America."

[joemurphy]

1. Wow! Nice find!

I've always liked Pat Lang. Invariably knowledgeable and pragmatic.
I believe him.

[joemurphy]

2. Hmmm...Ledeen. How interesting!

[hootinholler]

3. One of the questions I have...

What third grader forged the Niger Documents? I mean after all, the mistakes were akin to signing a school absense excuse "My Mom".

-hoot

[understandinglife]

7. Indeed, the nature of the document is grossly amateur, but ...

... when you can steal elections, control the media, and have had a framework for aggressive war and world domination (PNAC), you tend to get sloppy. At least that's what's happened to every other imperialistic endeavor; the arrogance and the slovenliness metastasize and kill the enterprise.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[hootinholler]

8. We can always hope ;) n/t

[lovuian]

4. Wow the whole Iraq War just crumbles down!!!

Unfreakingbelievable!!!

[enough]

5. A little less cryptic is Pat Lang's long, beautiful and exhaustive essay,

"Drinking the Koolaid." Which REALLY crumbles the Iraq war, from the beginning.

http://www.mepc.org/public_asp/journal_vol11/0406_lang.asp

Highly recommended.

[understandinglife]

6. Time: How the Tale Unfolds - Bjerklie's version of the chronology

How The Tale Unfolds

A chronological look at the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame

By DAVID BJERKLIE

July 17, 2005

2001
The Italian government's intelligence agency obtains documents that appear to show that Iraqi officials attempted to buy yellowcake, a substance that can be enriched to produce weapons-grade uranium, from the African nation Niger. The evidence is shared with British and U.S. intelligence.


2002
February: The CIA, in response to concerns raised by Vice President Cheney's office, looks into British reports that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa. CIA officials dispatch ex-diplomat Joseph Wilson to Niger to investigate.

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More at the link:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1083895,00.html

A bit too terse; a bit too naive.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us