AP: Forged documents mostly ignored until after Bush's SOTU speech

[truthisfreedom]

ok, here's a new revelation sure to set more heads spinning.

<snip>
The account provided by the officials Thursday suggests a disconnect between the CIA and the State Department over the handling of what turned out to be a crucial but faulty piece of intelligence used to make the Bush administration's case for war.

Had the documents been analyzed sooner, they might have been determined to be forgeries before the information was used as fodder for Bush administration statements vilifying Iraq, the officials acknowledged.

<snip>
Later in October, the State Department offered the documents to the CIA and other agencies in the intelligence community, said a U.S. government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

"We acquired the documents in October 2002 and they were shared widely within the U.S. government, with all the appropriate agencies," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.

But an intelligence official said the CIA didn't obtain the documents from the State Department until February 2003. It was unclear why the CIA did not obtain the documents when the State Department said it had them available.

The CIA only got the documents to respond to a request from the United Nations, the intelligence official said. U.N. officials, trying to run a weapons inspections regime in Iraq, asked for evidence behind the allegation in Bush's Jan. 28 speech that "the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

The CIA provided them to the United Nations. U.N. officials announced in early March the documents were fakes, and the CIA concurred, the intelligence official said.

The intelligence official could not explain why CIA headquarters did not obtain the documents from the State Department sooner. The official suggested analyzing the documents was not a top priority at the time because the CIA had already investigated their substance.

more:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/07/17/national1835EDT0761.DTL

[Nambe]

1. THE DOG ATE THE SCHOOL BUS!!!!!

Just an insugnificant report that brought about thousands of deaths and injuries from shock and awe. Nobody will admit to looking at it. Big surprise. We need some grown ups to take over.

[hang a left]

2. Interesting

All other intel recieved docs in oct 02. Cia didn't get docs because they had already investigated their substance and knew that it was highly unlikely sd had gotten yellowcake from niger. This is screwy, interpretation anyone.

[caledesi]

3. I don't understand this. Could someone explain succinctly.

Thanks.

[Nlighten1]

4. It is boiling down to ...

what did the president know and when did he know it...

[sam sarrha]

5. This appears to be just a reprint of a March 15 JS online article

this article is apparently a redo of one Lumpkin contributed to in the March 15, o3, J S online article. 'Senator wants Fake Iraq Documents Probed.'... there was a comment that the FBI didnt respond right away. i have seen more information and details in other articles, this article wasnt apparently a distortion but suffers from 'omission'. Lumpkin writes alot about middle east, cia and Al-Qaida subjects. it is uaually in an abreviaded, choppy discordant form, a sentence here, two there, subjects change abrupty. nothing i saw was at all indepth, provided insight, background or comentary. it reminded me of a high school student reporting on articles from News Week and making one or two sentence summeries. i didnt spend a lot of time on researching him. didnt see the point, my sin of omission.

[sam sarrha]

forged documents ignored because they were 'obvious' fakes

apparently the documents were 'ignored' because they were such amaturish obvious FAKES, cut and paste on old real documents, one article said way too amaturish to be deceptions, but the paper was not avaible to an amature. the story was that an underpaid Nigerion diplomat was making some extra money before going home.

[sam sarrha]

6. forged documents ignored because they were 'obvious' fakes

apparently the documents were 'ignored' because they were such amaturish obvious FAKES, cut and paste on old real documents, one article said way too amaturish to be deceptions, but the paper was not avaible to an amature. the story was that an underpaid Nigerion diplomat was making some extra money before going home.