Source of Forged Niger-Iraq Uranium Documents Identified
a.. ELAINE SCIOLINO
and ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
Published: November 4, 2005
ROME, Nov. 3 - Italy's spymaster identified an Italian occasional spy named
Rocco Martino on Thursday as the disseminator of forged documents that
described efforts by Iraq to buy uranium ore from Niger for a nuclear
weapons program, three lawmakers said Thursday.
The spymaster, Gen. Nicoḷ Pollari, director of the Italian military
intelligence agency known as Sismi, disclosed that Mr. Martino was the
source of the forged documents in closed-door testimony to a parliamentary
committee that oversees secret services, the lawmakers said.
Senator Massimo Brutti, a member of the committee, told reporters that
General Pollari had identified Mr. Martino as a former intelligence informer
who had been "kicked out of the agency." He did not say Mr. Martino was the
forger.
The revelation came on a day when the Federal Bureau of Investigation
confirmed that it had shut down its two-year investigation into the origin
of the forged documents.
The information about Iraq's desire to acquire the ore, known as yellowcake,
was used by the Bush administration to help justify the invasion of Iraq,
notably by President Bush in his State of the Union address in January 2003.
But the information was later revealed to have been based on forgeries.
The documents were the basis for sending a former diplomat, Joseph C. Wilson
IV, on a fact-finding mission to Niger that eventually exploded into an
inquiry that led to the indictment and resignation last week of Vice
President ***** Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby.
Mr. Martino has long been suspected of being responsible for peddling the
false documents. News reports have quoted him as saying he obtained them
through a contact at the Niger Embassy here. But this was the first time his
role was formally disclosed by the intelligence agency.
Neither Mr. Martino nor his lawyer, Giuseppe Placidi, were available for
comment.
Senator Brutti also told reporters that Italian intelligence had warned
Washington in early 2003 that the Niger-Iraq documents were false.
"At about the same time as the State of the Union address, they said that
the dossier doesn't correspond to the truth," Senator Brutti said. He said
he did not know whether the warning was given before or after President
Bush's address.
He made the claim more than once, but gave no supporting evidence. Amid
confusing statements by various lawmakers, he later appeared to backtrack in
conversations with both The Associated Press and Reuters, saying that
because Sismi never had the documents, it could not comment on their merit.
There had long been doubts within the United States intelligence community
about the authenticity of the yellowcake documents, and references to it had
been deleted from other presentations given at the time.
Senator Luigi Malabarba, who also attended Thursday's hearing, said in a
telephone interview that General Pollari had told the committee that Mr.
Martino was "offering the documents not on behalf of Sismi but on behalf of
the French" and that Mr. Martino had told prosecutors in Rome that he was in
the service of French intelligence.
A senior French intelligence official interviewed Wednesday in Paris
declined to say whether Mr. Martino had been a paid agent of France, but he
called General Pollari's assertions about France's responsibility
"scandalous."
General Pollari also said that no Italian intelligence agency officials were
involved in either forging or distributing the documents, according to both
Senator Brutti and the committee chairman, Enzo Bianco.
Committee members said they were shown documents defending General Pollari,
including a copy of a classified letter from Robert S. Muller III, the
director of the F.B.I., dated July 20, which praised Italy's cooperation
with the bureau.
In Washington, an official at the bureau confirmed the substance of the
letter, whose contents were first reported Tuesday in the leftist newspaper
L'Unità. The letter stated that Italy's cooperation proved the bureau's
theory that the false documents were produced and disseminated by one or
more people for personal profit, and ruled out the possibility that the
Italian service had intended to influence American policy, the newspaper
said.
As a result, the letter said, according to both the F.B.I. official and
L'Unità, the bureau had closed its investigation into the origin of the
documents.
The F.B.I. official declined to be identified by name.
After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Italy's military intelligence service
sent reports to the United States and Britain claiming that Iraq was
actively trying to acquire uranium, according to current and former
intelligence officials.
Senator Brutti told reporters on Thursday that indeed Sismi had provided
information about Iraq's desire to acquire uranium from Niger as early as
the 1990's, but that it had never said the information was credible.
Thursday's hearing followed a three-part series in La Repubblica, which said
General Pollari had knowingly provided the United States and Britain with
forged documents. The newspaper, a staunch opponent of Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi, also reported that General Pollari had acted at the behest of
Mr. Berlusconi, who was said to be eager to help President Bush in the
search for weapons in Iraq.
Mr. Berlusconi has denied such accounts.
La Repubblica said General Pollari had held a meeting on Sept. 9, 2002, with
Stephen J. Hadley, then the deputy national security adviser. Mr. Hadley,
now the national security adviser, has said that he met General Pollari on
that date, but that they did not discuss the Niger-Iraq issue.
"Nobody participating in that meeting or asked about that meeting has any
recollection of a discussion of natural uranium, or any recollection of any
documents being passed," Mr. Hadley told a briefing on Wednesday in
Washington. "And that's also my recollection."
At the time, Mr. Hadley took responsibility for including the faulty
information in Mr. Bush's State of the Union address.
David Johnston contributed reporting from Washington for this article.
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^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^
Michelle Malkin (Mickey) aa list#1
BAAWA Knight & Bible Thumper Thumper
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^
I remember another gentle visitor from the heavens,
he came in peace and then died, only to come
back to life, and his name was E.T., the extra
terrestrial. I loved that little guy. -Reverend
Lovejoy (The Simpsons)
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^
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