It's no news flash for anyone who is familiar with the Butler Report or the SSCI Report that Iraq really did seek to buy uranium in Niger, contrary to the CW that "Bush lied" in his 2003 State of the Union address. But there are a couple of good articles this past week persuasively making the case that indeed Bush was right when he uttered those 16 words.
Christopher Hitchens' Slate piece in particular, provides information not widely publicized previously, about the Iraqi diplomat involved in the Niger effort, and about the crudely forged documents which were used to try to discredit the true story of Iraq's quest for Nigerian uranium. Read it all.
And as John Leo's column points out, even the Washington Post has come around to admit that the "16 words" were true.
In a surprising editorial, The Washington Post deviated from the conventional anti-Bush media position on two counts. It said President Bush was right to declassify parts of a National Intelligence Estimate to make clear why he thought Saddam Hussein was seeking nuclear weapons. And the editorial said ex-ambassador Joseph Wilson was wrong to think he had debunked Bush on the nuclear charge because Wilson's statements after visiting Niger actually "supported the conclusion that Iraq had sought uranium."
Of course, Wilson didn't "think he had debunked Bush". He lied about what he had discovered in Niger once he got home. He told the truth in his CIA debriefing, and then lied to the New York Times. That much of America still believes the lie is a testament to the media's willingness to abandon truth-telling when it suits their agenda.
Here is what the Butler Report, the British investigation of pre-war intelligence, concluded about reports of Iraqi attempts to purchase uranium from Niger:
From our examination of the intelligence and other material on Iraqi attempts to buy uranium from Africa, we have concluded that:a. It is accepted by all parties that Iraqi officials visited Niger in 1999.
b. The British Government had intelligence from several different sources
indicating that this visit was for the purpose of acquiring uranium. Since
uranium constitutes almost three-quarters of Niger’s exports, the intelligence
was credible.c. The evidence was not conclusive that Iraq actually purchased, as opposed to
having sought, uranium and the British Government did not claim this.d. The forged documents were not available to the British Government at the time
its assessment was made, and so the fact of the forgery does not undermine it.
More doubt about the conventional wisdom on Iraqi WMD comes up in this story from The Spectator. (via Ace)
Posted by dan at April 16, 2006 2:29 PM