The Missing Link, Who Forged The Yellow Cake/Niger Documents

[dbonds]

While we are on the topic of Joe Wilson, lets look at what he discovered. The Niger Documents saying Iraq was buying yellow cake from Niger was forged. He easily proved it to be a bad forgery. But where did these come from? How did the come to our or whoever gave them to us (the UK if I remember) attention? Why would someone forge these unless they wanted to make a case that Iraq was trying to ramp up its WMD programs?

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. The right-wingers are saying it was the French

I guess the French are the new liberals.

[HockeyMom]

10. More likely Italians

Break in at the Niger Embassy in Rome.




http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/Newsweek/2003/07/28/308794?extID=10032&oliID=213

[Beaverhausen]

23. You mean they're not blaming it on the Clenis?

[blm]

2. My bet is Michael LeDeen set it up. It's his line of work for the BFEE.

.

[seemslikeadream]

6. Who is Michael Ledeen? What does he say? Who does he influence?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3037473

The Power of Nightmares / BBC exposes the American NeoCons
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2876040

[blm]

8. I'm posting poe's post here. It really is excellent.

poe (554 posts)
Mon Jan-31-05 11:25 PM
Original message



Who is Michael Ledeen? What does he say? Who does he influence?







Ledeen has become the driving philosophical force behind the neoconservative movement and the military actions it has spawned.”

“Ledeen’s ideas are repeated daily by such figures as Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz…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.”

In fact, Ledeen’s influence goes even further. The BBC, the Washington Post and Jim Lobe writing for the Asia Times report that Michael Ledeen is the only full-time international affairs analyst consulted by Karl Rove. Ledeen has regular conversations with Rove. The Washington Post said, "More than once, Ledeen has seen his ideas faxed to Rove, become official policy or rhetoric.

“Ledeen has become the driving philosophical force behind the neoconservative movement and the military actions it has spawned.”

In 1999, Ledeen published his book, Machiavelli on Modern Leadership: Why Machiavelli’s Iron Rules Are as Timely and Important Today as Five Centuries Ago. (Truman Talley Books, St. Martin’s Griffin, N.Y. 1999.)




The American Enterprise Institute...........

"Creative destruction is our middle name, both within our own society and abroad. We tear down the old order every day, from business to science, literature, art, architecture, and cinema to politics and the law. Our enemies have always hated this whirlwind of energy and creativity, which menaces their traditions (whatever they may be) and shames them for their inability to keep pace. Seeing America undo traditional societies, they fear us, for they do not wish to be undone. They cannot feel secure so long as we are there, for our very existence -- our existence, not our politics -- threatens their legitimacy. They must attack us in order to survive, just as we must destroy them to advance our historic mission." -Michael Ledeen

"When those states which have been acquired are accustomed to live at liberty under their own laws, there are three ways of holding them. The first is to despoil them; the second is to go and live there in person; the third is to allow them to live under their own laws, taking tribute of them, and creating within the country a government composed of a few who will keep it friendly to you. Because this government, being created by the prince, knows that it cannot exist without his friendship and protection, and will do all it can to keep them. What is more, a city used to liberty can be more easily held by means of its citizens than in any other way, if you wish to preserve it...in truth there is no sure method of holding them except by despoiling them. And whoever becomes the ruler of a free city and does not destroy it, can expect to be destroyed by it, for it can always find a motive for rebellion in the name of liberty and of its ancient usage..."

This is the agenda in Iraq. Machiavelli and Leo Strauss (who was an avid student of Machiavelli) have been the guiding lights of the colonial ambitions of American foreign policy for a long time. Good Cop Bad Cop is how this is done so that the entire establishment is not discredited. They always need a fall guy to do the dirty work.

[seemslikeadream]

15. Ledeen has regular conversations with Rove.

Thanks blm

:hi:

[seemslikeadream]

24. ROVEGATE - Rove & Ledeen & Calipari & Gladio

from bloom

68. ROVEGATE - Rove & Ledeen & Calipari & Gladio
<>By mentioning both the Milan and Genoa cases, Cossiga may have unintentionally linked the two. The parallel intelligence network is reportedly the outgrowth of a Gladio network consisting of six divisions that operated in Italy, North Africa, and the Middle East during the Cold War. The P-2 Lodge, headed by fascist leader Licio Gelli, reportedly maintained close links to former Secretary of State Alexander Haig and his one-time foreign affairs adviser, Michael Ledeen.

A number of SISMI agents and assets have also been tied to the group, including Francesco Pazienza, an SISMI agent, and Rocco Martino, who said he was the source of the faked Niger yellowcake uranium documents that were laundered through Rome and used as proof by the Bush White House that Saddam Hussein was shopping for uranium in Niger. That charge prompted the CIA to send Ambassador Joseph Wilson to Niger, resulting in a retaliatory outing of Wilson's wife as a covert CIA operative and exposure by the White House of the CIA's covert weapons of mass destruction counter-proliferation network.

Italian sources report that the Milan case against the Americans and the Genoa case against the private Italian network may be linked in another way. The reported CIA station chief in Milan, Honduran-born Robert Seldon Lady (whose name may be an alias and whose CIA connections may be incorrect or overstated) was, prior to his assignment in Milan, in charge of a covert American unit in Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua charged with penetrating anti-American groups and taking them over. It is now believed that Lady was in charge of a similar operation to turn Abu Omar and others into intelligence assets for the Americans. Abu Omar, according to Albanian intelligence sources, assisted the U.S. with intelligence on Islamic militants in Albania.

It is also believed that the late deputy SISMI chief, Nicola Calipari, became aware of information in Iraq that linked the control of terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere to a "third level" in "an anti-terrorism country." Calipari was shot to death by U.S. troops while transporting freed Italian hostage and journalist Giuliana Sgrena to Baghdad International Airport. The U.S. ruled the shooting an "accident."


http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/070605Madsen/070605madsen.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4081103&mesg_id=4091943

[The Magistrate]

3. If Recollection Serves, Ma'am

The original source seems most likely Italy, where a genuine fascist now rules. Whether it was done in an attempt to please, or on commission to the task, remains unclear....

[Must_B_Free]

39. Are you suggesting that the Nation of Italy undertook this fraud?

That is a broad accusation as the country has many many citizens.

Furthermore, I have not seen you present any evidence that there was an attempt to please or a commission to the task that would support the conclusion you have drawn.

[dbonds]

40. Reading some of the other post and links the refer to...

It is an organization called Gladio, that was in Italy that has PNAC/Rove connections.

[BurtWorm]

4. Let's be clear: Wilson did not prove that those documents were forged.

He never even saw those documents. He's said so several times.

[dbonds]

5. I believe he did prove it.

The signatures on the document were not even from people in office on the date of the documents. Some had not been in office for over 10 years. It was a bad forgery attempt.

[BurtWorm]

11. No he did not. He never said he did. He said he never saw them.

From his Times op-ed piece:

http://www.yuricareport.com/NY%20Times/The%20Ambassador%20Verifies%20Lies.html


"(As for the actual memorandum, I never saw it. But news accounts have pointed out that the documents had glaring errors — they were signed, for example, by officials who were no longer in government — and were probably forged. And then there's the fact that Niger formally denied the charges.)"

And from his response to the Senate Intelligence Committee:

http://www.yuricareport.com/Impeachment/WilsonDefendsHimselfInLtrToSenate.html#anchor411105

"The first time I actually saw what were represented as the documents was when Andrea Mitchell, the NBC correspondent handed them to me in an interview on July 21. I was not wearing my glasses and could not read them. I have to this day not read them. I would have absolutely no reason to claim to have done so. My mission was to look into whether such a transaction took place or could take place. It had not and could not. By definition that makes the documents bogus.

[dogday]

22. You are both right

He proved it by going to Niger and filing his report. He had nothing to do with the False Documents, nor did he ever see them....

[BurtWorm]

36. But you're right. He was sent to see if he could clear up a dispute

between CIA and DIA on the one hand and the State Dept. on the other that stemmed from a disagreement over the likely authenticity of the Niger documents. State was very skeptical. Defense (not surprisingly) and CIA, oddly enough, were open to the possibility that they were authentic.

But Wilson never saw the documents. He was going to get information on what really happened.

Another weird fact about Wilson's involvement that a lot of DUers seem to miss: His fact-finding mission actually turned up evidence that Iraqis did in fact meet with Nigerien officials who said they understood it was because the Iraqis were probably trying to see if they could score some yellowcake. But Wilson also confirmed that they didn't actually succeed in getting it.

[William Seger]

38. IAEA proved them to be forgeries

Powell referred to the documents, specifically, in his UN presentation in February 2003 (which was after *'s State of the Union), so they were turned over to ElBaradei, director general of the UN IAEA. ElBaradei called them "obvious fakes."

[DURHAM D]

7. I read somewhere they came from Italy . However, probably

not from Italians but from the cell of ex-CIA operatives working within Italy. This cell is probably a neocon operation. Perhaps the same guys that kidnapped an Italian citizen and hauled him off to the middle east to torture.

This whole thing is the war between the CIA and Neocons. Between career analysts and true believers.

[blm]

13. LeDeen has strong connex to Italy's intel operatives

.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

9. AND Who forged the memo about Plame ????

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/5/212837/3714


<snip>

December 26, 2003 - The leak to Talon News is mentioned in the Washington Post in an article by By Mike Allen and Dana Milbank...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A30842-2003Dec25¬Foun d=true


Sources said the CIA is angry about the circulation of a still-classified document to conservative news outlets suggesting Plame had a role in arranging her husband's trip to Africa for the CIA. The document, written by a State Department official who works for its Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), describes a meeting at the CIA where the Niger trip by Wilson was discussed, said a senior administration official who has seen it.
CIA officials have challenged the accuracy of the INR document, the official said, because the agency officer identified as talking about Plame's alleged role in arranging Wilson's trip could not have attended the meeting.

"It has been circulated around," one official said. CIA and State Department officials have refused to discuss the document.

On Oct. 28, Talon News, a news company tied to a group called GOP USA, posted on the Internet an interview with Wilson in which the Talon News questioner asks: "An internal government memo prepared by U.S. intelligence personnel details a meeting in early 2002 where your wife, a member of the agency for clandestine service working on Iraqi weapons issues, suggested that you could be sent to investigate the reports. Do you dispute that?"

Interestingly, these reporters weren't leaked the memo either... just relied on a "senior administration official" who had seen it to provide all the background. And once again, the CIA would not discuss the document.

[kittenpants]

14. talon news, what a surprise!

[Jose Diablo]

25. Say, where have I heard about Talon news before?

Wait, I think I remember, wasn't that Jeff Gannon's internet news company?

Edit: Or is his name Guckert?

[kittenpants]

12. I read on DU long ago

that a study concluded the documents were forged w/in the US. Sorry I don't have a link--I may be wrong since this conflicts w/ what everyone else remembers, but does anyone else recollect reading this?

[Jose Diablo]

16. I think it was Chalabi

from the Office of Special Plans (OSP), Rumsfield's child in the Pentagon, used as a surrogate for the CIA to cook intelligence for the administration.

Edit: Then the document was 'passed' to Italian intelligence and from there to British intelligence to be presented back to US intelligence, seemingly from a foreign source.

A circular route to be sure, but think of it like laundering cash to make the original source hard to track down, each step further from the original source.

And in the end, both Tony and George could point the finger at each other or someplace else.

[SittingBull]

37. As I remember- so it was

looks like their way

[cynatnite]

17. I keep hoping that Fitzgerald looks into it in connection

with rover leaking Plame's name.

[Quixote1818]

34. I am sure he is

This runs much deeper than just revenge on Wilson. I believe the Whitehouse was really worried about this CIA faction competing whith them heading up to the war. The DSM show intellegence was being fixed and Wilson was on to what was going on. The ONLY reason Rove would take such risky measures as outing Plame would be to cover all the other illegal things they were doing. Their were reports on Capitol Hill Blue that Bush was acting very strange about that time:
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/060804_coup_detat.html


THE SWARM

There are a multitude of signs that the Bush administration is being "swarmed" in what is becoming a feeding frenzy as opposition is surfacing from many places inside the government, including the military. The signs are not hard to find.

The June 3rd issue of Capitol Hill Blue, the newspaper published for members of Congress, bore the headline "Bush Knew About Leak of CIA Operative's Name". That article virtually guaranteed that the Plame investigation had enough to pursue Bush criminally. The story's lead sentence described a criminal, prosecutable offense: "Witnesses told a federal grand jury President George W. Bush knew about, and took no action to stop, the release of a covert CIA operative's name to a journalist in an attempt to discredit her husband, a critic of administration policy in Iraq."

A day later, on June 4th Capitol Hill Blue took another hard shot at the administration. Titled "Bush's Erratic Behavior Worries White House Aides", the story's first four paragraphs say everything.

President George W. Bush's increasingly erratic behavior and wide mood swings has the halls of the West Wing buzzing lately as aides privately express growing concern over their leader's state of mind.

In meetings with top aides and administration officials, the President goes from quoting the Bible in one breath to obscene tantrums against the media, Democrats and others that he classifies as "enemies of the state."

Worried White House aides paint a portrait of a man on the edge, increasingly wary of those who disagree with him and paranoid of a public that no longer trusts his policies in Iraq or at home.

"It reminds me of the Nixon days," says a longtime GOP political consultant with contacts in the White House. "Everybody is an enemy; everybody is out to get him. That's the mood over there."

The attacks have not stopped. On June 8th, the same paper followed with another story headlined, "Lawyers Told Bush He Could Order Suspects Tortured".

Journalist Wayne Madsen, a Washington veteran with excellent access to many sources has indicated for this story that the Neocons have few remaining friends anywhere. All of this is consistent with a CIA-led coup.

[dbonds]

35. Would he have authorization and scope to follow the links back?

If he does it seems like there is not just a trail but 4 lane hiway back to DSM and other events. Or will there need to be another investigator or change of scope for this?

[dogday]

18. That is what I want to tie in with the Valerie Plame story,

It is important to say why this happened. For many reasons, one of the obvious is the State Of The Union speech, but that the false Niger documents proved Joe Wilson's claim and this also proves the intent in which the WH tried to retaliate against them....

[dbonds]

26. Right

The smear of Plame, was in retaliation of wilson exposing the truth about some claims bush made in the state of the union address. These claims were based on forged(or bogus for another term) documents that the administration should have known to be false. Someone had to have as an agenda to make it look like Iraq was ramping up its WMD program, that group created the documents (or had them created). And lets see, do we have on record where anyone was saying they wanted to fix the intelligence for an invasion of Iraq?

I don't think any of these connections is over-reaching. One consistent flow of events.

[fob]

19. Search Talkingpointsmemo.com, Josh Marshall has many posts

and even names the person responsible for peddling them, begins with an "R", I can't think of the name.

Rocco Martin or something like that.

[understandinglife]

20. Some TPM links:

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_09_19.php#003506

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_08_01.php#003235

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_06_26.php#005936

And a recent dKos diary on Niger documents and Ledeen:
http://sparky-mcgruff.dailykos.com/story/2005/7/4/10362/61305

WATCH IT; SPREAD IT http://www.bushflash.com/right.html

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[bloom]

21. I'm so glad you asked:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4081103#4091943

[seemslikeadream]

27. Hi bloom I just quoted you up thread

:hi:

[bloom]

28. :hi:

:hi:

[dbonds]

29. WOW, are there any links between Gladio and PNAC?

[dbonds]

30. Never Mind, saw the link in a previous post.

[bloom]

31. Ledeen is a huge link

Lots of stuff people have posted on that thread.

Rove is linked to Ledeen.

And Gladio is linked to yellowcake.

It's just about all linked.

You might have to piece it together. But there is a lot there. :hi:

[DURHAM D]

32. We need a name for the illegal Neocon intelligence operation.

Any suggestions ?

Nixon had the Plumbers - idea being to stop leaks.

Bush has the _____________ - to fix intelligence.

[dogday]

33. nominated