Book Names Iraqi in Alleged '99 Bid to Buy Uranium (washingtonpost.com) : "Book Names Iraqi in Alleged '99 Bid to Buy Uranium
It was Saddam Hussein's information minister, Mohammed Saeed Sahhaf, often referred to in the Western press as 'Baghdad Bob,' who approached an official of the African nation of Niger in 1999 to discuss trade -- an overture the official saw as a possible effort to buy uranium.
That's according to a new book Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former ambassador who was sent to Niger by the CIA in 2002 to investigate reports that Iraq had been trying to buy enriched 'yellowcake' uranium. Wilson wrote that he did not learn the identity of the Iraqi official until this January, when he talked again with his Niger source.
That knowledge has not altered Wilson's much-expressed view that the Bush administration distorted intelligence on Iraq's weapons capabilities to help make the case for going to war. Wilson maintains that someone in the administration retaliated against him by disclosing to columnist Robert D. Novak that his wife was a CIA operative, a leak now the subject of a grand jury investigation. The revelation about Sahhaf, contained in 'The Politics of Truth: Inside the Lies that Led to War and Betrayed My Wife's CIA Identity,' adds an odd bit of detail to the uranium saga."
So wait a minute. First it was a big deal when this guy accused Bush of making up the "Iraq getting uranium from Niger" story. Now he says Iraq really was trying to get uranium. Will this story be as big as the first one? Of course not.
It was Saddam Hussein's information minister, Mohammed Saeed Sahhaf, often referred to in the Western press as 'Baghdad Bob,' who approached an official of the African nation of Niger in 1999 to discuss trade -- an overture the official saw as a possible effort to buy uranium.
That's according to a new book Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former ambassador who was sent to Niger by the CIA in 2002 to investigate reports that Iraq had been trying to buy enriched 'yellowcake' uranium. Wilson wrote that he did not learn the identity of the Iraqi official until this January, when he talked again with his Niger source.
That knowledge has not altered Wilson's much-expressed view that the Bush administration distorted intelligence on Iraq's weapons capabilities to help make the case for going to war. Wilson maintains that someone in the administration retaliated against him by disclosing to columnist Robert D. Novak that his wife was a CIA operative, a leak now the subject of a grand jury investigation. The revelation about Sahhaf, contained in 'The Politics of Truth: Inside the Lies that Led to War and Betrayed My Wife's CIA Identity,' adds an odd bit of detail to the uranium saga."
So wait a minute. First it was a big deal when this guy accused Bush of making up the "Iraq getting uranium from Niger" story. Now he says Iraq really was trying to get uranium. Will this story be as big as the first one? Of course not.
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