THE WISDOM FUND: News & Views
Reuters
March 7, 2003

'Proof' That Iraq Sought Uranium Was Fake

by Louis Charbonneau

"Based on thorough analysis, the IAEA has concluded ... that these documents, which formed the basis for the reports of recent uranium transactions between Iraq and Niger, are in fact not authentic," El Baradei told the U.N. Security Council on Friday. . . .

El Baradei said extensive investigations of high-strength aluminium tubes Iraq attempted to purchase had confirmed that they were not suitable for a uranium enrichment centrifuge programme, as the United States had alleged.

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["El Baradei's disclosure, and his rejection of three other key claims that U.S. intelligence officials have cited to support allegations about Iraq's nuclear ambitions, struck a powerful blow to the Bush administration's argument on the matter."--"FBI Probes Fake Papers on Iraq," MSNBC, March 13, 2003]

["As the Bush administration tries to make the case to America and the world that Iraq is trying to rebuild its nuclear weapons program, some top United Nations officials contend that key evidence against Iraq is crumbling."--"Is Weapons Case Against Iraq Disintegrating?," ABC News, March 10, 2003]

["A key piece of evidence linking Iraq to a nuclear weapons program appears to have been fabricated, the United Nations' chief nuclear inspector said yesterday in a report that called into question U.S. and British claims about Iraq's secret nuclear ambitions."--Joby Warrick, "Some Evidence on Iraq Called Fake," Washington Post, March 8, 2003]

["Only one tip from U.S. intelligence is known to have produced results. In January, inspectors recovered a cache of documents at the home of an Iraqi nuclear scientist. Although the seizure made headlines, the documents concerned Iraq's long-abandoned efforts on laser enrichment of uranium and did not answer current questions about Iraqi weapons."--Bob Drogin and Greg Miller, "Top Inspectors Criticize CIA Data on Iraqi Sites," Los Angeles Times, March 8, 2003]

Don Sellar, "Who forged the Niger uranium papers?," Toronto Star, January 3, 2004

"Iraqi Nuclear Scientist Denies British Uraniun Claim," Associated Press, August 12, 2004

Peter Eisner, "How Bogus Letter Became a Case for War: Intelligence Failures Surrounded Inquiry on Iraq-Niger Uranium Claim," Washington Post, April 3, 2007

[Tony Blair's key claim that Saddam Hussein could develop a nuclear weapon in "between one and two years" was fabricated for public consumption.--Christopher Ames, "Revealed: the Iraq deceit," New Statesman, May 7, 2007]

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