For Your Joe Wilson/Niger Uranium File

Easy one-stop shopping for people wondering exactly what was misrepresented, and by whom, in recent stories at the Post that mention Joe Wilson's Excellent Adventure. I'm posting this because it probably got lost in my first meandering item item this morning.

As NRO's Stephen Spruiell notes, a recent AP story about Richard Armitrage meeting with Bob Woodward falsely states that Wilson was "unable to verify the claim" that Iraq tried to acquire uranium from Niger. Spruiell:

Repeat after me: Wilson reported back to the CIA, and the report based on his debrief very much indicated that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger....

Mainly because a former Niger* prime minister believed that was Iraq's aim when it inquired about expanded "commercial" relations. Opinions vary, but no one can truthfully state Wilson found nothing to verify the claim.

Hey, I said truthfully. As I noted last month, we had a non-truth trifecta:

• Howard Kurtz, July 12: Novak triggered one of the capital's most tangled investigations with a July 2003 column reporting that Plame had suggested sending her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, to Niger to investigate whether Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was trying to obtain nuclear material from that country -- an unsupported claim that was included in President Bush's State of the Union speech.
• Eric Weiss and Charles Lane, July 14: Wilson had been sent by the CIA to investigate whether Iraq had sought nuclear weapons material from Niger. He reported that the charge could not be proved, but Bush nevertheless asserted in his 2003 State of the Union address that intelligence existed that Iraq had tried to buy uranium in Africa.
• Daniela Deane, July 15: Wilson said yesterday that he told the administration repeatedly that, after two missions to Niger to investigate, he had "found no evidence" that former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was attempting to buy yellowcake uranium in Niger for nuclear weapons.

For unknown reasons these folks refuse to rely on Susan Schmidt, July 10, 2004, who accurately wrote of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee report:

Wilson's report, rather than debunking intelligence about purported uranium sales to Iraq, as he has said, bolstered the case for most intelligence analysts.

All of which I mentioned to ombudsman Deborah Howell over a month ago. Howell cordially replied she'd look into it. Although I know she has a full hopper over there, I don't believe everything she's written about since then is equally significant. Profanity in the newsroom? Who knew.

*"Nigerian" changed to Niger. Oops.

Comments

[Kuni]

For YOUR Joe Wilson/Niger Files.

Some people are still trying to claim that because Iraq sent a trade delegation to Niger, it MUST have been for uranium. And if that was all we knew; they might have a point. At the end of the day; Wilson was correct in his conclusions.

But we know so much more now; that, to keep claiming that Iraq was trying to get uranium from Niger indicates a very, very serious mental disorder.

Forgetting the obvious that Iraq visited four African countries during that trip and that Iraq had a track record of using other countries to get around sanctions; we have overwhelming and unassailable Intelligence now that Iraq was not trying to get uranium.

To start; we have the ISG (Duelfer) Report that is the work of 1,500 people who spent more than a year looking into this stating to following:

https://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/chap4.html#sect4
ISG has not found evidence to show that Iraq sought uranium from abroad after 1991 or renewed indigenous production of such material—activities that we believe would have constituted an Iraqi effort to reconstitute a nuclear weapons program. . .

For people to believe that Iraq was trying to get uranium; they have to believe that 1,500 professionals are either lying or very stupid. But it get’s better.

They have to believe that Bush himself is involved in the ‘cover-up’. On February 6 of 2004, Bush personally set up an ‘Independent Commission’ to look into the Intelligence failures.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/02/20040206-3.html
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. Today, by executive order, I am creating an independent commission, chaired by Governor and former Senator Chuck Robb, Judge Laurence Silberman, to look at American intelligence capabilities, especially our intelligence about weapons of mass destruction. . .

And guess what the “Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction” had to say about Iraq and Niger? President Bush’s own Commission supports the ISG finding.

http://www.wmd.gov/report/report.html
. . . This failure touched all the most salient pieces of evidence relied on by our intelligence agencies, including the aluminum tubes, reporting on mobile BW, uranium from Niger, and assertions about UAVs. . .

. . . The final section contains our findings concerning the causes of the Intelligence Community's failures on the aluminum tubes issue and the now-infamous Niger story. . .

. . . Uranium from Niger. Although the NIE did not include uranium acquisition in the list of elements bolstering its conclusion about reconstitution, it did note that Iraq was "vigorously trying to procure uranium ore and yellowcake" from Africa. This statement was based largely on reporting from a foreign government intelligence service that Niger planned to send up to 500 tons of yellowcake uranium to Iraq. The status of the arrangement was unclear, however, at the time of the coordination of the Estimate and the NIE therefore noted that the Intelligence Community could not confirm whether Iraq succeeded in acquiring the uranium. Iraq's alleged pursuit of uranium from Africa was thus not included among the NIE's Key Judgments. For reasons discussed at length below, several months after the NIE, the reporting that Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger was judged to be based on forged documents and was recalled. . .

. . . The Iraq Survey Group also found no evidence that Iraq sought uranium from abroad after 1991. 113 With respect to the reports that Iraq sought uranium from Niger . . .

Next they have to believe that our allies, the Brit’s are also involved in some vast cover-up on this, with the IAEA. The Brits sent the IAEA all the Documents they had on the alleged deal.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmfaff/813/3062707.htm
Q1269 Sir John Stanley: I am sorry, Security Council Resolution 1051 was ongoing at the time we are talking about. We are talking about fresh intelligence which came to your Government and which underpinned putting into the September 2002 dossier the detailed statements that were made in emphatic terms about uranium supplies to Africa. That intelligence was under the obligation of your Government to pass on to the IAEA. When was it done?

Mr Ehrman: The intelligence came from a foreign service and we understand that it was briefed to the IAEA in 2003

And the IAEA has said this about the Documents:

http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Statements/2003/ebsp2003n006.shtml
. . . The IAEA has made progress in its investigation into reports that Iraq sought to buy uranium from Niger in recent years. The investigation was centred on documents provided by a number of States that pointed to an agreement between Niger and Iraq for the sale of uranium between 1999 and 2001.

The IAEA has discussed these reports with the Governments of Iraq and Niger, both of which have denied that any such activity took place. For its part, Iraq has provided the IAEA with a comprehensive explanation of its relations with Niger, and has described a visit by an Iraqi official to a number of African countries, including Niger, in February 1999, which Iraq thought might have given rise to the reports. The IAEA was also able to review correspondence coming from various bodies of the Government of Niger, and to compare the form, format, contents and signatures of that correspondence with those of the alleged procurement-related documentation.

Based on thorough analysis, the IAEA has concluded, with the concurrence of outside experts, that these documents - which formed the basis for the reports of recent uranium transactions between Iraq and Niger - are in fact not authentic. We have therefore concluded that these specific allegations are unfounded. However, we will continue to follow up any additional evidence, if it emerges, relevant to efforts by Iraq to illicitly import nuclear materials. . .

Add to that the Senate Intelligence Committee Report; the Report the mental midgets like to play word games with a small portion of, while overlooking the Actual Report’s Conclusions on Iraq’s Nuclear Program. That is where the meat is; if Iraq was trying to get uranium, then it was trying to restart its nuclear program. And NOWHERE in the ‘Niger Conclusions’ does the SIC Report say that Iraq was in fact trying to get uranium from Niger.

http://intelligence.senate.gov/108301.pdf
NUCLEAR CONCLUSIONS

(U) Conclusion 27. After reviewing all of the intelligence provided by the Intelligence Community and additional information requested by the Committee, the Committee believes that the judgment in the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear program, was not supported by the intelligence. The Committee agrees with the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) alternative view that the available intelligence "does not add up to a compelling case for reconstitution.

[Christopher Fotos]

Um, that's a very long way of saying there are dueling reports out there. The point is that the former Nigerian prime minister told Joe Wilson that he believed Iraq was seeking uranium; that Wilson did not mention this in most if not all of his public comments; that the Senate Select Intelligence Committee said key intelligence officials believed Wilson's briefing buttressed the case for Iraq seeking the uranium; and by the way the British intelligence apparatus never retracted its own claim.

The question isn't whether every intelligence agency on earth believes Iraq sought the uranium. The question is whether some credible analysts did, and sorry pal, they did, and still do, and Wilson lied about that. And the Post, among other news organizations, has repeatedly failed to report that fact--which may help explain why it hasn't penetrated your own analysis.

[Kuni]

There are no ‘conflicting reports’; there is word game going on, by some, regarding how the Nigerian PM “interpreted” the reasons for a meeting, BEFORE the meeting with the Iraqi’s took place.

Just because he thought, at the time, that the reason the Iraqi’s were asking for a meeting had something to do with uranium, is proof of nothing. Just that his thoughts, before the meeting, on why the Iraqi’s wanted to meet him were incorrect.

If I lost my license and had my car confiscated, and then I called you up and asked to meet; and you thought that I wanted to borrow your car: that doesn’t mean that I want to borrow your car. That the Niger PM word game in a nutshell.

Furthermore, the “former Nigerian Prime Minister” is on the record as saying that “Iraq did not try to buy uranium”: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3891503.stm

[Christopher Fotos]

That's an interesting story from back in 2004, Kuni, I'll nose around. However, it doesn't alter what Wilson said in his debriefing, which is where all this originates from, and the statement he concealed in his infamous OpEd.

So the statement Opinions vary, but no one can truthfully state Wilson found nothing to verify the claim still stands.

If you're looking for more more recent reporting of the Iraq-Niger uranium issue, Christopher Hitchens is probably the most up to date; just google.