Unofficialbmw.com

[TnSlim]

Don't know how I overlooked this...
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Intelligence backs claim Iraq tried to buy uranium
By Mark Huband in Rome

Published: June 27, 2004

Illicit sales of uranium from Niger were being negotiated with five states including Iraq at least three years before the US-led invasion, senior European intelligence officials have told the Financial Times.

Intelligence officers learned between 1999 and 2001 that uranium smugglers planned to sell illicitly mined Nigerien uranium ore, or refined ore called yellow cake, to Iran, Libya, China, North Korea and Iraq.

These claims support the assertion made in the British government dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programme in September 2002 that Iraq had sought to buy uranium from an African country, confirmed later as Niger. George W. Bush, US president, referred to the issue in his State of the Union address in January 2003.

The claim that the illicit export of uranium was under discussion was widely dismissed when letters referring to the sales - apparently sent by a Nigerien official to a senior official in Saddam Hussein's regime - were proved by the International Atomic Energy Agency to be forgeries. This embarrassed the US and led the administration to reverse its earlier claim.

But European intelligence officials have for the first time confirmed that information provided by human intelligence sources during an operation mounted in Europe and Africa produced sufficient evidence for them to believe that Niger was the centre of a clandestine international trade in uranium.

Officials said the fake documents, which emerged in October 2002 and have been traced to an Italian with a record for extortion and deception, added little to the picture gathered from human intelligence and were only given weight by the Bush administration.

According to a senior counter-proliferation official, meetings between Niger officials and would-be buyers from the five countries were held in several European countries, including Italy. Intelligence officers were convinced that the uranium would be smuggled from abandoned mines in Niger, thereby circumventing official export controls. "The sources were trustworthy. There were several sources, and they were reliable sources," an official involved in the European intelligence gathering operation said.

The UK government used the details in its Iraq weapons dossier, which it used to justify war with Iraq after concluding that it corresponded with other information it possessed, including evidence gathered by GCHQ, the UK eavesdropping centre, of a visit to Niger by an Iraqi official.

However, the European investigation suggested that it was the smugglers who were actively looking for markets, though it was unclear how far the deals had progressed and whether deliveries of uranium were made....
http://www.nytimes.com/financialtimes/business/FT1087373295002.html

[markf]

OFF TOPIC but an Interesting observation: there are hundreds of missiles here. at least 5 different kinds.
some bigger than the scud.
But Saddam's generals never purchased a single launch facility for them. The Scuds were the only ones he could launch. He spent 100's of millions on missiles he couldn't deploy. They're laying all over the place in disrepair.. leaky seals, etc..

Perhaps he had some master plan.
Perhaps he's an Idiot.
Perhaps the idiot had a master plan.

Whatever.. they really make for a nice fireworks display.

you have to wonder what he would have done with Uranium. ...nuclear car bombs? (unlimited range provided it carrys a gas card and sticks to the hiway)

[Billo]

Yeah, that and finding an 1800 ft tall ramp to detonate one on...

Bill

[TnSlim]

You don’t need a missile if you have large enough an airplane and a suicidal nut-job to fly it. Gee, now where could we find a suicidal nut-job ...?

An airburst will produce more blast damage but a surface (AKA ‘dirty’) burst will cause more fallout and the earth at ‘Ground Zero’ will be ‘hot’ longer. I don’t know as I can reckon which the Terrs would find preferable.

[ 07-06-2004: Message edited by: Tennessee Slim ]

[panzerkeil302]

"However, the European investigation suggested that it was the smugglers who were actively looking for markets, though it was unclear how far the deals had progressed and whether deliveries of uranium were made...."

This is from your article above - your subject line says "Saddam WAS shopping for uranium" How very contradictory.

[TnSlim]

quote:

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Originally posted by Tennessee Slim:
...Illicit sales of uranium from Niger were being negotiated with five states including Iraq at least three years before the US-led invasion, senior European intelligence officials have told the Financial Times....

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[panzerkeil302]

"apparently sent by a Nigerien official to a senior official in Saddam Hussein's regime"

If I recap what this article tells us;

A Nigerien smuggling ring wanted to sell nukes to various nations, and Iraq was one of the nations THEY approached.

In legal terms, if a coke dealer approaches you and says "want to score" and you walk away and say no...you don't have a crime.

This reminds me of the Osama/Saddam link...where Osama asked Iraq for money and a place to train, and Saddam told him no.

There is a very large absence of malice, which the article above does not provide.

Now if you had the uranium in Iraq, and you had documentation of the sale (traced the money from Iraq) you'd have something called "proof".

[patrick66]

Panzerboy, you and Moore need to colloborate on something, because you both live in the same fantasy world.

[TnSlim]

quote:

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Originally posted by panzerkeil302:
In legal terms, if a coke dealer approaches you and says "want to score" and you walk away and say no...you don't have a crime....

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Attempting to sell cocaine is a felony in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and American Samoa. panzer, only your wrong-headedness is more astonishing than your ignorance.

[panzerkeil302]

saying no to a coke dealer makes you a criminal?

Where did you get your law degree?

There you go again, slim, attacking the man instead of the facts.

Here's a fact for you;

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said weapons of mass destruction may never be found in Iraq, but he insisted former leader Saddam Hussein posed a threat to "the wider world."

Looks like the whole Sarin gas as a wmd thing never really panned out.

[ 07-06-2004: Message edited by: panzerkeil302 ]

[panzerkeil302]

come on, pat66 - panzerboy? How would you like it if I called you deanieweanie?

[TnSlim]

"...On Wednesday in London, Lord Butler will publish his report into the quality of the intelligence on which rested Britain's case for going to war with Iraq. The report is said to be critical of some of Tony Blair's claims, supportive of others. And, among the latter, he says that the statements about Iraq and Niger are justified and supported by the intelligence. In other words, the British Government did learn that Saddam Hussein did seek significant quantities of uranium from Africa...."

"...Bush didn't LIE!!!! He was right, and the CIA were wrong. That doesn't mean they LIED!!!! either. Intelligence is never 100 percent. You make a judgment, and in this instance the judgments of the British and Europeans were right, and the judgment of the principal intelligence agency of the world's hyperpower was wrong. That should be a cause of great concern -- for all Americans...."
http://www.suntimes.com/output/steyn/cst-edt-steyn11.html

[TnSlim]

I didn't tell you zip Sparky. If you've got a problem with the FACTS, address them to Lord Butler.

[TnSlim]

quote:

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Originally posted by Henry:
...i do not plan to waste anymore of my time responding to your bu**shi*....

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Figure the odds.

quote

Quote:

...your take is the same as the take committed nazis had in the face of official lies....

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