Reply #69: Who forged the uranium documents that bamboozled the U.S.? [View All]

[shraby]

A chronology. From July 14,2003
Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet took a bullet for the president last week, accepting responsibility for the now-discredited "16 words" in Bush's January State of the Union address about Iraq's efforts to purchase uranium in Africa.

"These 16 words should never have been included in the text written for the president," Tenet said in a statement Friday.

Tenet's gallantry, however, does little to answer the question first raised in early March when inspectors at the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency judged fake a mysterious set of documents Bush had relied on to buttress his claim about Iraq's nuclear ambitions. Press speculation has fingered Iraqi dissidents as the group who had the most to gain in alleging Saddam's uranium shopping spree. The paper trail behind the documents has led to: a "con man" out to make money; Italian intelligence; and "the French." Some publications even suggest the United States, Britain, or other interested powers forged the uranium letters.

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<http://slate.msn.com/id/2085616>