 
CHANNELS SPACEWAR WIRE MILITARY SPACE UAV NEWS MILITARY COMMS CYBERWARS MISSILE NEWS RAYGUNS TERRORWARS SPACEDAILY TERRADAILY MARSDAILY SPACE TRAVEL SPACEMART SPACE DATABASE  SERVICES |  
A former US ambassador who investigated reports of sales of processed uranium by Niger to Iraq has concluded the government twisted intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat, according to an opinion piece published in the New York Times Sunday. Joseph Wilson, who served in the US foreign service from 1976 to 1998, was asked by the CIA in February 2002 to travel to Niger to investigate a report that it had sold processed uranium to Iraq in the late 1990s, Wilson revealed in his column, titled "What I didn't find in Africa." The CIA was seeking to answer questions from Vice President Dick Cheney about an intelligence report citing a memorandum of agreement between the two countries documenting the sale. Wilson said he spent eight days talking to dozens of people in Niger and concluded "it was highly doubtful that any such transaction had ever taken place." Niger's two uranium mines are run by French, Spanish, Japanese, German and Nigerian interests, he said. "If the government wanted to remove uranium from a mine, it would have to notify the consortium, which in turn is strictly monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency." "In short, there's simply too much oversight over too small an industry for a sale to have transpired," he said. Wilson briefed the US ambassador to Niger, the CIA and the State Department African Affairs Bureau of his conclusions, he wrote. "Though I did not file a written report, there should be at least four documents in the United States government archives confirming my mission," he said. "While I have not seen any of these reports, I have spent enough time in government to know that this is standard operating procedure." Wilson was surprised when, in December, the State Department published a fact sheet mentioning the Niger sale, and in January, President George W. Bush repeated the charges that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa. "If my information was deemed inaccurate, I understand (though I would be very interested to know why.) If, however, the information was ignored because it did not fit certain preconceptions about Iraq, then a legitimate argument can be made that we went to war under false pretenses," Wilson wrote. "Based on my experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war, I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat," he said. All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Quick Links
|
|
| The contents herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2002 - SpaceDaily. AFP Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |