Apr 18 2006
Niger Forgeries, Joe Wilson circa 1999
Joe Wilson places himself in Niger right after the 1999 coup d’etat and then a year later, in 2000, when he returns after the current democratic form of government is in place.
One key aspect of this is that transitional government between the coup d’etat and democratic rule is its name:
The military officers retained effective control of the country during the interim period through the National Reconciliation Council (CRN), which was led by Major Wanke. The CRN appointed Ibrahim Assane Mayaki as Prime Minister…
Emphasis mine. The CRN existed for only 9 months. And Assane Mayaki is the same person Joe Wilson talked to in his infamous 2002 trip to Niger. Assane Mayaki is also famous for being the one who was approached by an Iraqi delegation in 1999, which came out later and bolstered impressions Saddam was on the hunt for uranium.
A businessman reportedly approaches Nigerien Prime Minister Ibrahim Mayaki and insists that Mayaki meet with an Iraqi delegation to discuss “expanding commercial relations†between Niger and Iraq. Mayaki reportedly interprets “expanding commercial relations†to mean that Iraq is interested in discussing uranium sales
Why bring this all up? Well, one of the Niger Forgeries Joe Wilson claimed he debunked used letterhead of the short lived CNR (we will use a leftwing site for balance):
The official letterhead used is obsolete and includes the wrong symbol for the presidency as well as a reference to the Council for National Reconciliation, which was defunct by the date of the correspondence.
So, we have the Niger Forgeries built off a letterhead that only existed for 9 months – a period Joe Wilson went to Niger twice, once for the CIA per his wife’s recommendation. So, one person with access to the letterhead is Mr Joe Wilson himself…
Joe opened up a can of worms when he went around town claiming he had debunked the Niger forgeries on his mission. Why? Well, if that was actually true, that would implicate him, his wife, or the CIA in forging the documents.
I don’t think he had anything to do with them. I think it more likely that the French hired Rocco Martino to get them some documents from the Niger embassy so that they could create some forgeries to “debunk” the notion that Iraq was looking for uranium.
See, at the same time the forged documents were making the rounds, the French told the British they had conclusive evidence that Iraq had sought uranium, which the British relayed to the USA. The French apparently relayed this to the USA on the eve of Bush’s 2003 SOTU as well. They did this knowing full well that at some point the CIA would turn over the fake documents to the IAEA, who would blow the whistle on them and embarrass the USA.
Now, the only real piece of the puzzle left here is whether or not Plame and her buddies in the CIA were in on this game. Seymour Hersh once reported some rumors going around the CIA that some group of people within the CIA had pulled it off to undermine Bush, and were very proud of having been successful.
So, it would be very interesting indeed to find out if the Wilsons have any notes laying around documenting that they knew the documents were forgeries before the CIA was supposed to have gotten them in October 2002.
If so, that would be particularly devastating for the Wilsons, and should grow massively interesting questions to pose them…
Such a smooth fit of the puzzle pieces. Truly astounding.
Nothing here, however, to pique the interests of Woodward, Waas, Risen, Lichtblau or Priest.
Great work, A.J.
What if Joe was trying to cover up his wife’s failure as a WMD expert by diverting the attention to Iraq instead of Libya? Even worse, what if he was also trying to make a quick buck by selling Uranium to Libya and using Iraq as the scapegoat?
SBD
The scenario above would also include Valerie and her gang knowing Bush would not find WMD in Iraq because they were in Libya banking on this fact to elect Kerry for President.
SBD
A stealth WMD expert, thats my opinion of course and with collective resoning. Concluded (uranium/trade broker) and former Amb. to Iraq, named Joe Wilson, was sent by the CIA to Niger in 1999. My knowledge and understanding linked Wilson’s involvement with Iraq, France, Niger and other uranium export rich countries of Africa…well lets just say a light went off. One thing started to become abunditly clear, strange coincidences began around the year 1999, the so called Niger Forgeries and Wilsons wifes outing at a later date. With Libya’s backyard, full of Uranium rich countries like Niger, Democratic Republic of Congo and extremely tight business relations with France, an overseer to Africas uranium market. I believe, it became a strong reality, that the “oven of yellow-cake intrigue” was all about overcharging Saddam and Dr. Khans many other illicit bussiness partners. Such illicit activities and backyard deals, beggining in late 1998, defined by nuclear anti-proliferation experts as highly suspect, may have been completed in the 1999-2001 timeframe and may have been worth billions. Please take note that in 1998 Clinton and The United States policy changed towards Iraq, a major player in this yellow-cake recipe. Needing the 1999 trip left two options on the table. This activity interested the CIA and/or the trip was covert under the guise of Wilson’s newly formed company. Coupled with the highly suspect officials from foreign lands and Khans presence, Wilson’s broker/trade company included, all in this region?…all at the same time?
This 1999 trip, strangely coincides with Khan and other Arab proliferation efforts in Africa. Closed uranium mines, can still have yellow cake extracted from them unnoticed, unchecked and then sold on the black market. “Khans market”, Khan began using Libya as their covert black marketing front, after sanctions where lifted. Every sense the day Libya turned their “out of the blue nuclear materials” over to the United States. Something was’nt sitting right with Kadafi’s explanation in my mind and not only what was he hiding, but how. Who else was involved also intrigued me. Another possibility is the United States may have busted Libya with its finger in the cake. By all accounts and all the open source information im about to share with you, its surroundings, and with the implications that Libya was busted. I believe, Libya opted to surrender its Nuclear materials in exchange for having no sanctions re-instated. Therefore he gave up the goods and may have sealed Saddams fate leading up to the invasion. The United States, Britian, France, Germany and Russia knew that Khans nuclear black market was becoming a huge threat in that region. Least we forget Iraq was capable of going nuclear, by most experts accounts within 6 months to a year if they could get enriched uranium from a foriegn source and once Sanctions were lifted
(Iraq Air Embargo lifted 2002). Growing and Gathering threat, wouldnt you say?.
AJ, this has occurred to me a long time ago.
Wilson claimed that the documents were forgeries because of the “names and dates”. Now why would he claim that? And why would he claim documents that he had no knowledge of were forgeries?
The “names and dates” were those that were in place when he was first in Niger. Those “names and dates” would have been appropriate during his stint there. That alone should raise some eyebrows.
And to claim documents were forgeries, BEFORE they were released and he had any knowledge of them, seems to me to be more than Wilson just “misspeaking”. It seems more to me that Wilson knew there were forged documents but did not know that they had not surfaced yet and let his bravado get in the way.
There are other questions I have like:
who are Wilson’s Arab clients? Plame stated in her recommendation for his bogus trip that he had FRENCH connections? What French connections? Was Wilson trying to broker a deal with Niger for “yellow cake” for Iraq using the French as a go between?
Too many question, not enough answers.
Where is Jack Bauer when you need him?