Phony Niger Uranium Claim May Be Tip Of Iceberg

[Nottingham]

Phony Niger Uranium Claim May Be Tip Of Iceberg
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inter Press Service Friday 11th July, 2003

The administration of President George W Bush is finding itself increasingly beleaguered, by growing charges by retired intelligence and foreign service officers, that administration hawks exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq in order to press Washington into war.

The White House was forced to admit earlier this week, that Bush's assertion during his State of the Union address in late January, regarding Saddam Hussein's alleged attempts to buy uranium in Africa for a supposed nuclear arms program, was based on flawed intelligence and should have been omitted from the speech.

But a growing number of lawmakers and independent analysts are suggesting that the uranium report - which was actually based on crudely forged documents, supposedly provided by an Italian intelligence agency - may be just the tip of the iceberg, of an effort by neo-conservative and right-wing hawks centered primarily in the Pentagon, and around Vice President Dick Cheney, to skew the intelligence to make their case for war.

"The Bush administration did not provide an accurate picture of the military threat with respect to Iraq," according to Gregory Thielmann, who served as the director of the Strategic, Proliferation and Military Affairs Office in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), until last September.


If this is a dupe I'm sorry! But it has some interesting things on here!:bounce:















http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=263bda967c35a5b6

[ILeft]

1. They were treasonous under Reagan/Bush, so it's no surprise

...that they're screwing the country again. Those "neo-conservative and right-wing hawks centered primarily in the Pentagon, and around Vice President Dick Cheney" get a free ride by Congress and the American press, so why wouldn't they go for broke... After all, what's a felony conviction or two among friends?

[Warpy]

3. Oh, yes it is!

Somebody on IRC posted this one:
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_798520.html

I have a feeling this is why Bush & Co. don't want the report released.

[twilight]

8. isn't Ananova a Moonie owned source?

If so ... :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: !!!

:kick:

P.S. This is all over the news ... all over ... !!!

[Old and In the Way]

7. You are right about that.

Remember how the Right was in such a panic about "losing" South America to *gasp* communists? Much better to have Right Wing death squads killing innocent civilians....and the military/economic contracts for their benfactors were never part of the deal, right?

The Right has always been the un-American traitors, undermining our ideals by selling out our national interests in favor of their financial interests.

We should have nailed these guys in the 80s....

[Octafish]

19. John Kerry, Henry Gonzales, Frank Church, Jack Brooks, Otis Pike ...

... and a few others tried. Most got nowhere from lack of support from their colleagues in the Senate and House, just as much as the foot-dragging from the repuglian Justice Department.

For his part in uncovering the Iran-Contra drug-running and money-laundering through BCCI, Ollie North sicced the FBI on John Kerry. The FBI squad, in fact, was their elite counter-terrorism outfit. North said Kerry was giving "aid and comfort to the enemy" — the democratically elected government of Nicaragua.

If memory serves, the Reagan-Bush cabal also sicced the FBI on Gonzales for his work on Iraq-gate. Frank Church fell victim to a sudden case of cancer and lost his Senate seat in a squeaker. Jack Brooks asked Ollie North about suspending the Constitution in Rex 84 and gave Reagan and Poppy the what's for over INSLAW and Promis before leaving Congress for private life. Otis Pike left Congress and became a Liberal newspaper columnist — when there still was "fairness and balance" in the news media.

Ask the average American about any of those Congressmen or the issues of national import. My guess would be that more than 9 in 10 will say they've never heard of 'em.

[diplomats]

2. This is a great story

Does anyone know what kind of news source this is? BTW, I didn't know Thielmann spoke at the National Press Club. Wow

[indictrichardperle]

4. that story is spot-on

Bunker Dick and Scooter Libby have their hands in all of this. Rummy, Wolfowitz, Feith, Bolton the defense policy board crazies......that just about sums it up. Then you have a naer do well *, mindlessly reading whatever they hand him.

The focus is really on the right people.....the OSP with Shulsky under Wolfowitz is at the center of all the lies and propaganda. They tried to bypass the CIA, and even talked of eliminating it. Big mistake.

If the 15 or so fanatical idealogue neo-conservatives were to be forced to resign, endless wars might be avoided. I am concerned that the cornered rats will invade Iran to save their collective ass.

[UpInArms]

6. the Guardian had it here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,995188,00.html

A former US intelligence official who served under the Bush administration in the build-up to the Iraq war accused the White House yesterday of lying about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

<snip>

This was the first time an administration official has put his name to specific claims. The whistleblower, Gregory Thielmann, served as a director in the state department's bureau of intelligence until his retirement in September, and had access to the classified reports which formed the basis for the US case against Saddam, spelled out by President Bush and his aides.

...more...

[songkhla]

13. cbs is using the word "phony"

check out to see the report about how bush and co. knew they were lying.

[Nottingham]

5. Wow Now I'm having trouble getting through to the link

Anybody else having trouble! :bounce:

[Nottingham]

10. Ok this is Freakin me out! I seriously can't connect to that link!

Can anybody else get it. and put up a few more paragraphs!

:tinfoilhat: I know this sounds crazy but could somebody be blocking this News Link!

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. The one in your 1st post

If that's the one, I can't get in either and I'm on a DSL connection. I'm just getting a blank screen and the link won't resolve itself.

[Nottingham]

14. Of All the Nights to have Big Network shut down tonite

Oh this is wild!!! I wish I would have copied the whole damn article!

DANG! Hopefully the Network will come back up!

:tinfoilhat:

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. More like tip of the glacier

this time. This is not just one little scandal. aA little lie about sex or even a bungled burglery. This is a scandal of major proportions, that is way beyond the control of the WH. This is a scandal of global proportions and a lot of people are going to go down with W has a result.

[Nottingham]

11. DoyouEverWonder that is so RIGHT ON!

This is hitting Australia, England, and the US and anybody who was buddies with Bush are being exposed! :bounce:

[mwb970]

28. Tip of the glacier is right!

If not the uranium, then the tubes. If not the tubes, then the WMD. There are so many lies on so many topics. The floodgates are opening. These are interesting times.

[DoYouEverWonder]

38. Welcome to DU

To tell you the truth, I wouldn't mind going back to boring times but I don't think that is possible anymore.

BTW, is there anything that they based their preemptive war, against Iraq on, that has turned out to be true, and enough to justify such unprecedented actions?

[seafan]

15. Tried to Google the first line of text....

Here is the link to the info, but it looks like you need a password to access the article. Only the short abstract is there....

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=administration+of+President+George+W+Bush+is+finding+itself+increasingly+beleaguered&btnG=Google+Search

I REALLY want to read this article! Must--be--patient :crazy:

[JasonBerry]

16. Like maybe 75% BS To Stake Oil Claim???? N/T

~

[NYC]

17. "Can't find."

Using "page finder". It's looking for 64.227.77.13 to no avail. Couldn't find the page, and couldn't say why.

[Gloria]

18. It is a story by Jim Lobe...also picked up by Asia Times Online which

I included in the new World Media Watch which was posted late afternoon on Thursday....

1//Asia Times Online July 11, 2003

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EG11Ak02.html



DIGGING FOR DIRT

By Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service


1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--DIGGING FOR DIRT ("If the American people conclude that American soldiers have died because the administration has lied, it will be extremely serious," according to Joseph Cirincione, an arms control specialist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "American public opinion is clearly shifting on this issue." He said that he didn't see how the Republicans and the administration could avert a major investigation… Thielmann was particularly dismissive of some Republican attempts to defend the administration. The Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Tom DeLay, told reporters on Tuesday in response to the White House admission that the uranium story was false that it was "very easy to pick one little flaw here and one little flaw there". "A little flaw here, a little flaw there," said Thielmann, "and pretty soon you've fostered a fundamentally flawed view of reality".)

[Nottingham]

29. What is sad is we have to go outside the US to get NEWS!

This is a pure example! I'm gonna start saying Is that a CREDIBLE SOURCE when I see the Washington Post or New York Times

and even THE Guardian is feeling the Pressure from the ROW with Blair & the BBC

Finding any articles going against Bush is increasingly getting Harder!!

:bounce:


But its out there! The TRUTH!

[NickDanger]

20. Might have exaggerated? No kidding!

eom

[goforit]

35. LOL!!!..........I guess you are a little worried, for a newcomer! LOL!!!

One day at a time.

People who still believe that the world is still flat and
that the sun revolves around the Earth..........

are missing the boat!

ROFLMAO!!!!

[Nottingham]

21. The Link is up Now! Alleluia!

"Contrary to the repeated assertion by Bush and other top officials, he said, "As of March, 2003, Iraq posed no major military threat to the United States," Thielmann, a 25-year foreign service veteran, told a standing-room only press conference at the National Press Club."


So the Press know about it Now denying it!

The Public Opinion is down to 23 % the Military effort in Iraq is going well from 61%

Ya gotta believe the Sleeper has Awakened

:bounce

[joeunderdog]

22. This is hardly Late Breaking News.

The fact that people are just starting to care is. Let's keep the pressure on.

[CWebster]

23. What about the aluminum tubes?

The ice-cream trucks? All the sites they claimed they knew where the stores of WMDs were and the UN came up with zero? The bogus connection to Al-Queda? The repeated references to 911 in an effort to associate it with Saddam? Powell shaking the supposed vial of anthrax around in an attempt to terrify the folks back home after the anthrax mailings (domestic and sent to Democratic politicians)? The constant references to "Saddam gassing his own people" when it happened under Daddy Bush's watch and Rumsfeld was shaking Saddam's hand while the US gave him weapons and no one said boo. Now, there is the probability that it was Iran who likely used that particular gas. Or "Saddam kicked out the inspectors", another lie, repeated endlessly and rarely corrected or addressed. It was Butler who pulled the inspectors out, prior to bombing, and of course they had been spying.

There is nothing new about these lies or the pattern of lying these creeps always resort to. They lied under Nixon, under Reagan, under Papa Bush and they are still lying under Jr. They were pitching lies for months trying to build a case to convince a sceptical public and world. France and Germany would have nothing to do with it and all other members of the "coalition of the willing" had to be bribed with taxpayer money. Taxpayer money is footing the bill, while the thug's class of weapons makers and oilmen reap the profits.

So, who will document the lies? Or, with the complicity of the democrats, will we just move on and get past this? Again.

[revcarol]

24. The bottom line:

not only what the lies were, but WHO ORCHESTRATED THEM.

WHO WERE THE ADMINISTRATORS, SECRETARIES AND ASSISTANT SECRETARIES OF AGENCIES, THINK TANKS, MULTI-NATIONAL CORPORATIONS who COLLUDED to prevent the truth from getting out: that there were no WMD's and there was no imminent threat.We KNOW the VP was involved, as he was daily trying to co-opt the CIA, some of whom, fortunately, didn't stay co-opted, but unfortunately didn't make enough noise before the war. We KNOW Tenet was involved, as he sat behind Powell as Colin lied at the UN. WHO ELSE?

If I were a prosecutor, I would be looking at prosecution under RICCO. These guys have a long history of criminal activity.

Or under fraud statutes.Defrauding the United States of $3.9 BILLION per month on false pretences.Did you see the most recent request for Iraq? Supposedly just military, not rebuilding expenses, most of it goes to MILITARY CONTRACTORS.

RANT OVER. DON'T FEEL BETTER.

[DrBB]

25. About BIG NEWS NETWORK

Anybody know anything about 'em? Never heard of them before yesterday, with the Ray McGovern piece. McGovern is (claims to be?) a former CIA official--pretty powerful piece:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=5858&mesg_id=5858&listing_type=search

So I'm wondering who are these guys? And are we seeing the disaffected group within CIA deliberately choosing minor, but respectable overseas outlets to trickle their stuff into the media? Because that's two hard-hitting pieces in a row for these guys.

According to their (hard to find) "About Us" page, they are an Aussie operation. Scanning around their site, they definitely look legit. Actually rather low-key and factual--not a tabloid kind of operation, as far as I can tell, more of a news service/headline service. Here's their blurb:

Big News Network.com is a specialist online news service, constantly updating around 400 categories of news on an hourly basis.
Our news is collated from our own resources, major news originators, contracted services, localised sources, World class newspapers, government media, press releases, international and regional tv (cable & free-to-air) networks, radio stations, and official bodies.
We scan the World’s media, select, and edit headlines for production on our network of news sites, and for distribution to the World Wide Web. We provide content for portals, and Web sites, spanning more than 80 countries.
Big News Network.com has been on-air since 1998, however a substantial upgrading of our search and software resources over the past two years, saw the site re-launch on March 3 2003. We chose this day as the third day, of the third month, of the third year, of the third millennium, an event that won’t be repeated for another 1,000 years.
We provide breaking news on all key topics, and independent services for most key countries and cities. In important topics such as Health, Internet, Technology, Sport, and of course Business & Finance, we have created numerous sub-categories to ensure we cater for as wide a user-base as possible.
We are incorporated in Manama, Bahrain. Our main offices are in Sydney, Australia. You can contact us using our online form , or telephone [phone], or fax [phone].
We trust you will enjoy,and benefit from our site, and will come to rely on it for the latest breaking news in any, and every category in which you have an interest.
http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/about.html

[Nottingham]

26. Oh Thanks !!

I love the Duers! :bounce:

[Nottingham]

27. Big News Network is a Credible source! And the Big News!

Is that the Big News Network put this out and its viewed over all the world!

:bounce:

[ewagner]

30. Whoa! Keep your eye on the ball!

"Tip of the iceberg" is correct.

NPR's Talk of the Nation offered additional tidbits yesterday through David Jteltsin:

..The intercepted conversations Powell referred to in his UN speech were interpreted to be much less damning than Powell presented....

..The missles being dispatched to Western Iraq, supposedly loaded with either chem or bio weapons, have never been found....


I believe that if you go to npr.org and click on Talk of the Nation Archives, you will find the audio of this piece.

If the investigation gets boiled down to a pissing contest between Rice and Tenent, then the who point is lost. Find the other obfuscations. Bring them to the surface. One lie is a boo boo many lies are a conspiracy.

[Nottingham]

31. I WANT AN APOLOGY from BUSH Cheney RiceRummy & Powell

THEY were the ONES who got up on the Podiums and pounded the FEAR into the American Public after 9/11 with forged documents!

What happened to the BUCK STOPS HERE!

We had a PREMPTIVE STRIKE on a country because of this BULLSHIT


and let me tell ya the HAWKS of Both Parties better BEWARE!!

[study_war_no_more]

32. A apology?

I don't think I'm sorry will do for six thousand innocent souls from Iraq and several hundred soldiers families losses not to mention the hell we have put tens of thousands of soldiers and the entire country of Iraq through all so we can put blood in our gastanks. Bush lied and people died so Bush should meet big ben and do the time for the crime.

[Nottingham]

33. Ya this is Pretty Bad!

:bounce:

[goforit]

36. What about the 911 victims?..................911 investigation?.....Where?

Why has Bush / Cheney protected the Saudis and
prevented their own investigations.

It certainly is pointing straight at them for orchestrating 911
in the first place.

[reprobate]

37. Apology be damned!

I want the bastards to all stand trial for whatever charges can be brought on them, from conspiracy to defraud the gov't to treason.

There has never been in the history of this country (The World?) such a conspiracy. The gov't was taken over by far right wing ideologs, who used their lies to involve us in a war against all international laws and treaties. In my opinion they were also somehow involved in 9/11.

Apology? Maybe from their prison cells!

[Nottingham]

34. Kick!

:kick: