Several U.S. and foreign intelligence sources, along with investigators, say an Iranian exile with ties to Iran-Contra peddled a bizarre tale of stolen uranium to governments on both sides of the Atlantic in the spring and summer of 2003.
The story that being peddled -- which detailed how an Iranian intelligence team infiltrated Iraq prior to the start of the war in March of 2003, and stole enriched uranium to use in their own nuclear weapons program -- was part of an attempt to implicate both countries in a WMD plot.
<snip>
Tall Tale of Uranium
During the spring and summer of 2003, Congressman Curt Weldon (R-PA) made several visits to Paris to meet with a source believed to have important military intelligence information.
Unbeknownst to Weldon, the informant that he would dub simply "Ali" was already peddling a tale of stolen uranium traveling between Iraq and Iran that had been deemed false by most intelligence agencies.
<another interesting snip here>
Upon learning this information, Weldon recounts in his book, Countdown to Terror, that he immediately notified then-CIA head George Tenet.
"Tenet appeared interested, even enthusiastic about evaluating Ali and establishing a working relationship with him. He agreed to send his top spy, Stephen Kappes, the deputy director of operations, along with me to Paris for another debriefing of Ali. It was at this point that I entered the 'wilderness of mirrors.' On the day of our scheduled second meeting with Ali in Paris, Kappes bowed out, claiming that "other commitments" compelled him to cancel. . . . Later, the CIA claimed to have met with Ali independently. But I discovered this to be untrue. . . . Incredibly, I learned that the CIA had apparently asked French intelligence to silence Ali." Countdown to Terror.
<snip>
He then went on to explain that the "stash" was buried in an underground facility and he also recounted, much like Weldon did, that neither the CIA, the Defense Department or the State Department would listen to his concerns.
Asked if his source was Ghorbanifahr, Ledeen said "No," but was unable to tell the identity of his source for fear said source might be "put in danger."
Who arranged the meetings and their ultimate purpose remains unclear. One intelligence official, however, described the series of events and the market of intelligence trafficking as follows: "If you were going to launder intel to make up a war, you could easily send some fool on an errand."
read full article here:
Intelligence sources reveal stymied attempt to tie Iran, Iraq in nuclear arms plot, bypassing U.S. intelligence agencies - Larisa Alexandrova – Rawstory.com Please read the enire article there are several good parts that are not in the highlighted verson above. I think we have a whole new round of questions.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
