TRUTHOUT: Jason Leopold - State Dept Memo: '16 Words' Were False

[Hissyspit]

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041706Y.shtml

State Department Memo: '16 Words' Were False
By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Report

Click here to view a digitized copy of the memo.

Monday 17 April 2006

Eleven days before President Bush's January 28, 2003, State of the Union address in which he said that the US learned from British intelligence that Iraq had attempted to acquire uranium from Africa - an explosive claim that helped pave the way to war - the State Department told the CIA that the intelligence the uranium claims were based upon were forgeries, according to a newly declassified State Department memo.

The revelation of the warning from the closely guarded State Department memo is the first piece of hard evidence and the strongest to date that the Bush administration manipulated and ignored intelligence information in their zeal to win public support for invading Iraq.

On January 12, 2003, the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) "expressed concerns to the CIA that the documents pertaining to the Iraq-Niger deal were forgeries," the memo dated July 7, 2003, says.

Moreover, the memo says that the State Department's doubts about the veracity of the uranium claims may have been expressed to the intelligence community even earlier.

MORE AT LINK

[babylonsister]

1. Beyond a shadow of a doubt we were coerced into this war by

these evil men; can we talk about impeachment now?

[Hissyspit]

3. Apparently all we can do is talk about it. Strange world we're living in.

[savemefromdumbya]

2. was this before Colin Powell showed us those fake chemical depots

I couldn't believe that Colin Powell had the audacity to stand up before millions of people and show them aerial photos of fake chemical factories etc.

[Hissyspit]

4. His address was February 5, 2003? I'm doublechecking.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/02/20030205-1.html

[Hissyspit]

5. February 11, 2003:

http://www.harpers.org/ColinPowell.html

2003

Week of Jan 14
Bush Administration sources said they had largely completed their plans for administering Iraq after the war and securing the Iraqi oil fields; Colin Powell recently stated that the goal is to “protect those fields and make sure that they are used for the benefit of the people of Iraq.” »

Week of Jan 28
Secretary of State Colin Powell was said to be “incandescent” with rage at the new opposition, which took him by surprise and has purportedly undermined his position among President Bush's advisers. »
Colin Powell told participants that it would be useless to give the inspectors more time. »

Week of Feb 4
The president said that Secretary of State Colin Powell will soon present new evidence of Iraq's evildoing, including its alleged ties to Al Qaeda, to the United Nations Security Council. »

Week of Feb 11
Colin Powell presented the United Nations Security Council with America's latest case against Iraq. He played recordings of what he said were intercepted conversations of Iraqis discussing the removal of “forbidden ammo” from weapons sites, and he showed satellite photos in which trucks appeared to be parked next to warehouses. »
“If the Security Council were to allow a dictator to lie and deceive, the Security Council will be weakened.” The British government admitted that its new “intelligence” dossier on Iraq, which purported to provide “up-to-date details of Iraq's network of intelligence and security” and which Colin Powell cited approvingly in his presentation to the United Nations, was largely plagiarized from various published articles, including one by a student that described Iraqi intelligence activities in 1990 and 1991. »
France, Germany, and Belgium vetoed a NATO plan to reinforce Turkey's defenses in anticipation of an attack from Iraq; American officials were said to be “livid,” and Colin Powell said the action was “inexcusable.” There was talk of a “crisis of credibility.” Ansar al Islam, the militant group that supposedly has links both to Saddam Hussein and to Al Qaeda, gave reporters a tour of the camp that Colin Powell identified as a poison factory. »

[Rose Siding]

6. Somewhere in someone's bowels- Isn't that what Rice said?

Didn't she say that's where the correct information was lodged?

How can we expect them to keep track of all the things they know that we know they know? :crazy:

[WiseButAngrySara]

7. Who declassified it, and Why? K & R. ....n/t

[Catherine Vincent]

8. Recommended!

And I'll say again...This illegal war will be Bush's downfall.

[dchill]

12. It should already have been...

his downfall. Thanks to him and the compliant press, it has already been the "downfall" of 2377 US troops. He knew the yellow cake line was a lie, just like every other line that has ever come from his smirking mouth. He is stupid. He is death. It is and has long been the responsibility of Congress and the press to deliver his downfall. They are to blame.

[Beam Me Up]

13. "Congress apnd the press" -- and the COURTS, don't forget.

If it weren't for some Supremes, * wouldn't even BE in office.

[dchill]

22. True that.

And NOW they've got ScAlito!

[stevedeshazer]

9. A great story and previously discussed here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=948537

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x952493

This is, to say the least, IMPORTANT.

[Hissyspit]

10. Yeah, saw Will's post after I posted it. Good to have it here in LBN

I guess, since it's too late to delete it.

[stevedeshazer]

11. It's all good

Max exposure. K & R!

[mike_c]

14. we've known this since well before the invasion....

How many more memos need to be revealed? How many more former insiders need to come forward and report that Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld had a hard-on for Iraq and Iran from the day they took office? WHY THE FUCK HAVE THESE EVIL SHITS NOT BEEN FROG MARCHED OFF TO THE HAGUE YET? What will it take to wake the sheep up, for christ's sake?!

[babylonsister]

20. mike_c, I share your frustration.

It's officially known this war was started under false pretenses; why isn't anyone punishing those responsible? Seems pretty cut and dried.

[liberalhistorian]

24. Well, it doesn't involve the Clenis,

or a blow job in the Oval Office, therefore the all-knowing, almighty "librul" (snicker) media and the American sheeple have determined that it simply isn't important, gag.

[LynnTheDem]

15. In OCTOBER 2002 the CIA ordered the Niger claim taken OUT of bush's speech

The CIA TOLD BUSH the claim was false.

So how did that claim get put into bush's SOTU speech (the one where he was photo-oped poring over his speech, making changes to it)

Of course he knew.

[LynnTheDem]

16. October 2002;

An effort was made to include in that speech the specific claim that uranium was sought from Niger, but the CIA had that claim removed from the speech.

President George W. Bush then included the 16 words in his January 2003 speech that uranium had been sought from Africaeven after the CIA had expressed reservations in October 2002.

The National Intelligence Estimate of October 2002 said, "the claims of Iraqi pursuit of natural uranium in Africa are, in INR's assessment, highly dubious".

On 11 December 2005, the Los Angeles Times reported that French intelligence had warned the Bush Administration repeatedly that there was no evidence that Saddam sought uranium from Niger.

http://fairuse.1accesshost.com/news2/latimes975.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A56336-2003Jul14?language=printer
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=10506
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_C._Wilson

6 October 2002: CIA Director Tenet intercedes with Deputy NSC Chief Hadley to remove reference regarding Iraq trying to acquire uranium from planned speech ...

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?031027fa_fact

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

17. No blowjob, no foul.

:crazy:

[SlavesandBulldozers]

21. really.

when do we find out about the sex life of somebody in the WH? I mean all this going on and on about dead Iraqis and American troops, for no reason, gets quite tiresome. When do we get to the nitty-gritty of a little hanky-panky, that's when we will truly know that there's a there there.

[oasis]

18. Bush exposed. again.

[Pab Sungenis]

19. 16 words, "16 days to a bomb."

Is there some mystical or occult significance to the number 16 I'm not aware of?

[Supersedeas]

23. will gossip of lacross and holloway drown out this FACTOID

[lovuian]

25. It all was a freakin Lie and they have the MEMO to prove it

Bush lied and Republicans helped...