Forging the Case for War (Bush Admin may be involved in Niger Forgeries)

[jsamuel]

http://www.amconmag.com/2005/2005_11_07/feature.html

Forging the Case for War

Who was behind the Niger uranium documents?

by Philip Giraldi

From the beginning, there has been little doubt in the intelligence community that the outing of CIA officer Valerie Plame was part of a bigger story. That she was exposed in an attempt to discredit her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, is clear, but the drive to demonize Wilson cannot reasonably be attributed only to revenge. Rather, her identification likely grew out of an attempt to cover up the forging of documents alleging that Iraq attempted to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger.

What took place and why will not be known with any certainty until the details of the Fitzgerald investigation are revealed. (As we go to press, Fitzgerald has made no public statement.) But recent revelations in the Italian press, most notably in the pages of La Repubblica, along with information already on the public record, suggest a plausible scenario for the evolution of Plamegate.

Information developed by Italian investigators indicates that the documents were produced in Italy with the connivance of the Italian intelligence service. It also reveals that the introduction of the documents into the American intelligence stream was facilitated by Undersecretary of Defense Doug Feith’s Office of Special Plans (OSP), a parallel intelligence center set up in the Pentagon to develop alternative sources of information in support of war against Iraq.

The first suggestion that Iraq was seeking yellowcake uranium to construct a nuclear weapon came on Oct. 15, 2001, shortly after 9/11, when Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his newly appointed chief of the Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare (SISMI), Nicolo Pollari, made an official visit to Washington. Berlusconi was eager to make a good impression and signaled his willingness to support the American effort to implicate Saddam Hussein in 9/11. Pollari, in his position for less than three weeks, was likewise keen to establish himself with his American counterparts and was under pressure from Berlusconi to present the U.S. with information that would be vital to the rapidly accelerating War on Terror. Well aware of the Bush administration’s obsession with Iraq, Pollari used his meeting with top CIA officials to provide a SISMI dossier indicating that Iraq had sought to buy uranium in Niger. The same intelligence was passed simultaneously to Britain’s MI-6.

...

Also saw an interview on Countdown (MSNBC).

[jsamuel]

1. updated title

[ewagner]

2. Un-be-lieve-able....

This guy's original article was in The American Conservative

He implied that the Berlusconi and Bush administrations were both complicit in forging documents to get us into war.

Even better...he directly mentioned the OSP in the Pentagon and their reason for existance. This was OLD, OLD OLD news to us on DU but, for the first time I can remember, the American public heard it on national TV.

wow

:wow: :woohoo: :bounce:

[mirandapriestly]

12. I LOVE it when they eat their own. nt

[mirandapriestly]

13. dupe, sorry nt

[fshrink]

3. And that's just outside...

Forging the case for won elections, forging the case for taxcuts, forging the case for privatized healthcare, forging the case for privatized education. The case that is being forged is that this has to be the adminstration that forged the most in history.

[Zhade]

4. K/R

Kick

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Michael Ledeen was a member of the Bush administration

during this period. He is the direct link for the Niger forgeries to the White House.



Enter Michael Ledeen, the Office of Special Plans’ man in Rome. Ledeen was paid $30,000 by the Italian Ministry of the Interior in 1978 for a report on terrorism and was well known to senior SISMI officials. Italian sources indicate that Pollari was eager to engage with the Pentagon hardliners, knowing they were at odds with the CIA and the State Department officials who had slighted him. He turned to Ledeen, who quickly established himself as the liaison between SISMI and Feith’s OSP, where he was a consultant. Ledeen, who had personal access to the National Security Council’s Condoleezza Rice and Stephen Hadley and was also a confidant of Vice President Cheney, was well placed to circumvent the obstruction coming from the CIA and State.

[UpInArms]

7. Who is Michael Ledeen?

http://www.alternet.org/story/15860/

Posted May 8, 2003

Most Americans have never heard of Michael Ledeen, but if the United States ends up in an extended shooting war throughout the Middle East, it will be largely due to his inspiration.

A fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, Ledeen holds a Ph.D. in History and Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin. He is a former employee of the Pentagon, the State Department and the National Security Council. As a consultant working with NSC head Robert McFarlane, he was involved in the transfer of arms to Iran during the Iran-Contra affair -- an adventure that he documented in the book "Perilous Statecraft: An Insider's Account of the Iran-Contra Affair." His most influential book is last year's "The War Against the Terror Masters: Why It Happened. Where We Are Now. How We'll Win."

Ledeen's ideas are repeated daily by such figures as Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz. His views virtually define the stark departure from American foreign policy philosophy that existed before the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001. He basically believes that violence in the service of the spread of democracy is America's manifest destiny. Consequently, he has become the philosophical legitimator of the American occupation of Iraq.

Now Michael Ledeen is calling for regime change beyond Iraq. In an address entitled "Time to Focus on Iran -- The Mother of Modern Terrorism," for the policy forum of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) on April 30, he declared, "the time for diplomacy is at an end; it is time for a free Iran, free Syria and free Lebanon."

With a group of other conservatives, Ledeen recently set up the Center for Democracy in Iran (CDI), an action group focusing on producing regime change in Iran.

...more...

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. Michael Ledeen's main goal in life

is to destabilize every country that he deems a threat to Israel.

"Stability is an unworthy American mission, and a misleading concept to boot. We do not want stability in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and even Saudi Arabia. The real issue is not whether, but how best to destabilize," - Micahel Ledeen


http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.16615,filter.all/pub_detail.asp

[NVMojo]

6. when you really think about it, did they think no one would ever figure

out that this was a smear campaign to throw flames in the wrong direction, away from the real fire? Their lies for war? What a pack of fools, really.

[MichiganVote]

9. Follow the money, all roads lead to Cheney and Rumsfeld

[jazzjunkysue]

10. HO. LY. CRAP. An ex CIA officer!

"Martino has since admitted to the Financial Times that both the Italian and American governments were behind the eventual forgery of the full Niger dossier as part of a disinformation operation. The authentic documents that were stolen were bunched with the Niger uranium forgeries, using authentic letterhead and Niger Embassy stamps. By mixing the papers, the stolen documents were intended to establish the authenticity of the forgeries. "

Philip Giraldi, a former CIA Officer, is a partner in Cannistraro Associates, an international security consultancy.


November 21, 2005 Issue

Major recommended!!!! Wooo Hooo!!!

[anotherdrew]

11. bush has to go down hard and soon

I think it's totally plausible that once the basis for the iraq war is shown i court to have been a knowing lie, bush and gang CAN and MUST be tried in state courts for MURDER.

[BattyDem]

14. If this is true ...

than Bush* should not be allowed to appoint ANYONE to the SC or the Federal Judiciary. In fact, all appointments he made since the documents were forged should be nullified. All the laws he signed since the documents were forged should be nullified. TRAITORS SHOULD NOT BE DECIDING THE FUTURE OF THIS COUNTRY!!!! :grr: :grr: :grr:

[nannah]

17. my feelings exactly!!!!!

It seems incredulous to me that this administration is able to continue imposing it's agenda on the US... without any call for them to be accountable for the results of their callous, corrupt governance or halting their destruction of this country.

[Gregorian]

28. I've been yelling the same thing.

Absolutely!

[OhNoTheyDidNot]

15. This implies there really was no break in to the Nigerian embassy in Italy

and that the Italian government was in on it with the US. This is really big news. The break in could have been faked ....

[MissMarple]

16. Countdown explained it QUITE clearly.

Too bad it's Halloween.

[alfredo]

18. Damn!

I wouldn't put anything pass the bush junta.

[Hissyspit]

19. Here are the other threads on this story I have compiled:

Latest Breaking News forum
Forging the Case for War (Bush Admin may be involved in Niger Forgeries)
Topic started by jsamuel on Oct-31-05 08:59 PM (18 replies)

Editorials & Other Articles forum
Who was behind the Niger documents (Bush? connection to Niger forgeries)
Topic started by papau on Oct-31-05 09:59 PM (1 replies)

GD: CIA Leak Case forum
YELLOWCAKE.... FORGING A CASE FOR WAR must read
Topic started by OmmmSweetOmmm on Oct-31-05 08:50 PM (18 replies)

GD: Everything Else forum
The American Conservative: Admin may be involved in Niger Forgeries
Topic started by jsamuel on Oct-31-05 08:54 PM (8 replies)

Olbermann was talking about the Niger Documents
Topic started by Cush on Oct-31-05 08:44 PM (2 replies)

Coming together now..... forging the case for war.... Giraldi, OSP
Topic started by 4MoronicYears on Oct-31-05 08:41 PM (1 replies)

[Hissyspit]

21. I didn't go back far enough: Trajan found it this morning...

Forging The Case For War ... The Bigger Story behind the Story ...
Topic started by Trajan on Oct-30-05 11:41 AM (2 replies)

[jsamuel]

22. thanks

[The Roux Comes First]

20. A little teamwork, hold the scruples

It also seems possible that a sort of "pilot project" was offered up by the Italians, presumably with considerable assistance from rogues with US citizenship, if not exactly working for our interests. This from TPM:

The Italian Connection

<snip>

For instance, the State-CIA IG report briefly noted a murky story about contacts between SISMI and the CIA in the summer of 2002. That summer SISMI had approached the CIA about an operation they intended to run against the Station Chief of Iraqi intelligence in Rome. The plan was to send disinformation about the Iraqi Station Chief back to Baghdad via a third country. And the subject of the disinformation was to be trade between Iraq and Niger. (The Americans did not object but declined to participate.)

<snip>

[JerseygirlCT]

23. Is this getting any traction yet in the MSM?

Boy, I hope so.

[jsamuel]

24. It was on Countdown (MSNBC) last night

[JerseygirlCT]

25. I did see that. I wonder if anywhere else yet.

Keith gets things most others don't -- or don't want to.

[Jim__]

26. This stuff is dynamite!

In January 2001, there was a break-in at the Niger Embassy in Rome. Documents were stolen but no valuables. The break-in was subsequently connected to, among others, Rocco Martino, who later provided the dossier to Panorama. Italian investigators now believe that Martino, with SISMI acquiescence, originally created a Niger dossier in an attempt to sell it to the French, who were managing the uranium concession in Niger and were concerned about unauthorized mining. Martino has since admitted to the Financial Times that both the Italian and American governments were behind the eventual forgery of the full Niger dossier as part of a disinformation operation. The authentic documents that were stolen were bunched with the Niger uranium forgeries, using authentic letterhead and Niger Embassy stamps. By mixing the papers, the stolen documents were intended to establish the authenticity of the forgeries.

I hope its not true. The January 2001 date must be wrong.

[Uncle Joe]

27. Meanwhile, the right wing media whores are saying, it least it's not...

http://www.dailykos.com/

Jon Stewart : So it's not a conspiracy. Therefore it is not...
Unidentified right-wing talking head: This is not Watergate. This is not nearly as serious as Watergate.
David Brooks: It's not Watergate.
Al Haig: It doesn't compare to Watergate, of course...
Bill Kristol: No Watergate.
Stewart: And as long as it's not Watergate...
David Frum: I think in this story is a lot of good news for the administration.
Stewart: Hooray for indictments!!! This is GREAT NEWS for the president! Wheeee!!! What an opportunity for President Bush. Now he gets to re-re-introduce integrity to the White House!
...minus the "re-re," of course. Cheers and Jeers smells the pungent stench of Watergate-like vapors in There's Moreville... RIGHTNOW!
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