Toronto Sun: THE LIES THAT LED TO WAR
"WELCOME TO the 'Italian Job.'
by Eric Margolis
In his 2003 State of the Union address, U.S. President George Bush cited British intelligence claims that Iraq had secretly imported uranium ore from Niger to make nuclear weapons. Bush's claims were based on crude forgeries, previously rejected by the CIA.
Now, new information from European intelligence sources is detailing how the forgeries made their way from the Niger embassy in Rome to the White House. An FBI investigation of this outrageous scandal is said to be at a critical phase.
In a classic example of what intelligence professionals term 'disinformation,' a shady Italian intermediary, 'Giacomo,' was told a lady at the Niger embassy had 'a gift' for him. 'Giacomo' has told The London Sunday Times he was given a sheaf of documents purporting to show Iraq had sought yellowcake uranium ore from Niger, a mineral used for nuclear fuel and weapons. 'Giacomo' then reportedly passed them on to American agents. He says the Niger documents were given to him through SISMI, Italy's foreign intelligence service.
SISMI has long been notorious for far-right leanings.
Senior SISMI officers were implicated with celebrated swindler Roberto Calvi, the notorious P2 masonic lodge, and other extreme rightist groups. SISMI works hand in glove with U.S., British and other intelligence agencies.
In the the 1960s and '70s, it was revealed that SISMI carried out numerous operations for the CIA, including bugging the Vatican, the Italian president's palace, and foreign embassies. Some of its officers have been accused in the past of perjury, blackmail and political interference. Italy's civilian intelligence service, SISDE, associated with Italy's political centre-left, has long been a bitter rival of SISMI.
In any event, although the CIA rejected the Niger file, it was taken up by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney who was urgently seeking reasons to invade Iraq. Cheney passed the now-discredited data to Bush, who used it in his January, 2003 address to the nation. Six months later, CIA director George Tenet admitted that the claim should never have been included in the State of the Union address.
A 2002 investigation by former U.S. Ambassador to Niger, Joseph Wilson, also concluded the documents were forgeries, but he was ignored by the White House. Wilson is now being smeared by Republicans. (GoPpIg thugs in Bush's Office chose his wife, CIA Valery Plame, to 'OUT" from her secret intelligence position with the CIA, an act of treason under the US Constitution. But of the few people who could have had that information, the "investigation" by another Chimp_junta operative is going nowhere. Women make easy targets for GoPigs. Many of them have beaten back assaults by the thugs/bullies over the years. *aj*)
Amazingly, Bush, Cheney, the neo-conservatives, and the media, all of whom kept beating the war drums over the alleged Iraqi nuclear threat, never seemed to have understood that yellowcake uranium ore is no more lethal than plain dirt.
To make nuclear weapons, the ore must be laboriously enriched by gaseous separation or centrifuge. Both processes require enormous plants and huge amounts of electric power -- easily observable by satellite. Iraq had no nuclear industrial infrastructure to enrich uranium, as everyone knew. What would it do with raw ore?
Iraq had no means to deliver nuclear warheads. The only way Iraq could get a nuclear warhead to the U.S. was by FedEx.
Who was behind the Italian Job? Who knows? Likely right-wing elements within Italy's government who are ideological soulmates of Bush. In any event, this appears to be SISMI's contribution to the cascade of lies that led to war.
In Great Britain, which also pushed the discredited Niger/uranium story, claiming it had independent confirmation from another source, MI6 provided other disinformation. Britain's respected Scotsman newspaper has just cited a report by investigative journalist Tom Mangold that Tony Blair's intelligence chief, John Scarlett, sent a secret message to British arms inspectors in Iraq, pressuring them to confirm 10 charges made by the British government -- which have now been disproved -- about Saddam's nefarious weapons of mass destruction.
These claims were the centerpiece of a key government report on the Iraqi threat justifying war. All, as it turned out, were bogus. Instead of being sacked, Scarlett was recently promoted to head MI6 by Blair. (?!? *AJ*)
Completing the farce, we now learn an astounding 15,000 tons of highly enriched uranium the U.S. sent around the world since the '50s for various research projects remain unaccounted for. It takes 10 kilos to build a basic nuclear weapon.
(These lying, war-criminal chimp_junta actors wonder why they are hated and disrespected all over the world? They sneer and mock leaders of other countries? This remains the key reason that John Kerry will beat the shit out of elchimpo. John Kerry generates more respect from the political stump than chimp can muster from the seat of power, to which he was so undeservedly elevated by criminal right wing neo con judges on the SCOTUS. *aj*)
by Eric Margolis
In his 2003 State of the Union address, U.S. President George Bush cited British intelligence claims that Iraq had secretly imported uranium ore from Niger to make nuclear weapons. Bush's claims were based on crude forgeries, previously rejected by the CIA.
Now, new information from European intelligence sources is detailing how the forgeries made their way from the Niger embassy in Rome to the White House. An FBI investigation of this outrageous scandal is said to be at a critical phase.
In a classic example of what intelligence professionals term 'disinformation,' a shady Italian intermediary, 'Giacomo,' was told a lady at the Niger embassy had 'a gift' for him. 'Giacomo' has told The London Sunday Times he was given a sheaf of documents purporting to show Iraq had sought yellowcake uranium ore from Niger, a mineral used for nuclear fuel and weapons. 'Giacomo' then reportedly passed them on to American agents. He says the Niger documents were given to him through SISMI, Italy's foreign intelligence service.
SISMI has long been notorious for far-right leanings.
Senior SISMI officers were implicated with celebrated swindler Roberto Calvi, the notorious P2 masonic lodge, and other extreme rightist groups. SISMI works hand in glove with U.S., British and other intelligence agencies.
In the the 1960s and '70s, it was revealed that SISMI carried out numerous operations for the CIA, including bugging the Vatican, the Italian president's palace, and foreign embassies. Some of its officers have been accused in the past of perjury, blackmail and political interference. Italy's civilian intelligence service, SISDE, associated with Italy's political centre-left, has long been a bitter rival of SISMI.
In any event, although the CIA rejected the Niger file, it was taken up by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney who was urgently seeking reasons to invade Iraq. Cheney passed the now-discredited data to Bush, who used it in his January, 2003 address to the nation. Six months later, CIA director George Tenet admitted that the claim should never have been included in the State of the Union address.
A 2002 investigation by former U.S. Ambassador to Niger, Joseph Wilson, also concluded the documents were forgeries, but he was ignored by the White House. Wilson is now being smeared by Republicans. (GoPpIg thugs in Bush's Office chose his wife, CIA Valery Plame, to 'OUT" from her secret intelligence position with the CIA, an act of treason under the US Constitution. But of the few people who could have had that information, the "investigation" by another Chimp_junta operative is going nowhere. Women make easy targets for GoPigs. Many of them have beaten back assaults by the thugs/bullies over the years. *aj*)
Amazingly, Bush, Cheney, the neo-conservatives, and the media, all of whom kept beating the war drums over the alleged Iraqi nuclear threat, never seemed to have understood that yellowcake uranium ore is no more lethal than plain dirt.
To make nuclear weapons, the ore must be laboriously enriched by gaseous separation or centrifuge. Both processes require enormous plants and huge amounts of electric power -- easily observable by satellite. Iraq had no nuclear industrial infrastructure to enrich uranium, as everyone knew. What would it do with raw ore?
Iraq had no means to deliver nuclear warheads. The only way Iraq could get a nuclear warhead to the U.S. was by FedEx.
Who was behind the Italian Job? Who knows? Likely right-wing elements within Italy's government who are ideological soulmates of Bush. In any event, this appears to be SISMI's contribution to the cascade of lies that led to war.
In Great Britain, which also pushed the discredited Niger/uranium story, claiming it had independent confirmation from another source, MI6 provided other disinformation. Britain's respected Scotsman newspaper has just cited a report by investigative journalist Tom Mangold that Tony Blair's intelligence chief, John Scarlett, sent a secret message to British arms inspectors in Iraq, pressuring them to confirm 10 charges made by the British government -- which have now been disproved -- about Saddam's nefarious weapons of mass destruction.
These claims were the centerpiece of a key government report on the Iraqi threat justifying war. All, as it turned out, were bogus. Instead of being sacked, Scarlett was recently promoted to head MI6 by Blair. (?!? *AJ*)
Completing the farce, we now learn an astounding 15,000 tons of highly enriched uranium the U.S. sent around the world since the '50s for various research projects remain unaccounted for. It takes 10 kilos to build a basic nuclear weapon.
(These lying, war-criminal chimp_junta actors wonder why they are hated and disrespected all over the world? They sneer and mock leaders of other countries? This remains the key reason that John Kerry will beat the shit out of elchimpo. John Kerry generates more respect from the political stump than chimp can muster from the seat of power, to which he was so undeservedly elevated by criminal right wing neo con judges on the SCOTUS. *aj*)
posted by A. J. Franklin @ 15:46
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