Only ONE set of Niger documents from ONE source

Only ONE set of Niger documents -
from ONE source

The Left Coaster has posted some observations which raise a 'whole slew of additional questions about who knew what and when.' These questions were unfortunately neither raised nor answered within the whitewash Senate Report. Go to THIS LINK to find a detailed analysis of the Senate Report on the topic of the forged Niger documents and evidence that there was only ONE set of forged Niger documents relating to the “uranium from Africa” claim – and no other sources.

Excerpt:
A. The Senate (SSCI) Report inadvertently offers the evidence one needs to prove that there was only one set of Niger uranium documents, that those documents were forged, that those documents were the basis of the original reports that sent Wilson to Niger (only he didn't know it for sure although I think he made a good guess at one time that they probably were), even though they publicly surfaced several months after the Wilson trip.

B. One of the sources of the first set of reports (late 2001/early 2002) on the alleged Iraq-Niger deal must have been aware that the documents were forged and the evidence suggests strongly that he or she made some effort to mask this fact, until the documents surfaced.

C. The Senate (SSCI) Report, using ambiguous wording regarding the source of the first three intelligence reports received by the CIA (two of which were the basis of Wilson's Niger trip and the third having appeared shortly after Wilson's trip), failed to make it clear that those reports were obviously based on extracts from the forged documents.

D. Based on the finding that the original set of Niger reports were based entirely on extracts from the forged documents, serious discrepancies are evident in the CIA's/Bush administration's claims about how and when they first became aware that the Niger documents were forged and on how they decided that the Niger intelligence was not credible. This raises serious questions about the extent of the Bush administration's manipulation of the truth about the "uranium from Africa" claim, their knowledge of the forged Niger documents, and their motives for attacking Joseph Wilson and exposing Valerie Plame's covert CIA identity.

* even though former Ambassador Joseph Wilson did not know it at the time he was sent to Niger, the alleged claims of an Iraq-Niger uranium deal that led to Wilson's trip to Niger in early 2002, were in fact based on extracts of information passed on to the CIA from the very same forged documents that surfaced publicly later in 2002.

Bolton Recess Appointment?

Bolton Recess Appointment?

It's been speculated that John Bolton is one of jailed New York Times reporter Judith Miller's major sources for WMD and national security issues. Bolton has testified on the Plame case [on what terms, we are not clear] and he may be a key figure in the plot to out CIA agent Valerie Plame [see Justin Raimondo's column]. Bolton's office had promulgated the Niger/Uranium 'story' inside the State Department, put him close to "the activities." Two of Bolton's assistants, David Wurmser and John Hannah, worked in Dick Cheney's office, and there is a likely possibility of a Bolton to Wurmser and Hannah, to Cheney (and/or Libby) to Rove connection on this cover-up. If Bolton is recess-appointed to the UN by Bush, will that give him some form of diplomatic immunity on the legal matter surrounding Plame's outing and internal administration matters? I'm not an attorney, but I would be curious to learn the answer.

Plamegate: The Point Where Tenet Got Off the Liars' Boat

Plamegate: The Point Where Tenet Got Off the Liars' Boat

Josh Marshall points to what he calls a very important piece on Plamegate by Walter Pincus (with Jim VandeHei) in today's Washington Post. I'm glad they wrote it - and I'm glad Josh is pointing out the most important point. As I blogged about in these past few weeks, this investigation surrounds the cover-up as well as the outing itself. More importantly, George Tenet has, in a key way, separated himself from those who wished the 16 words had never been made an issue (and would stoop to the lowest political depths to protect themselves). [See my coverage from July 12, 2005].

By July 10, 2003, Rove, Libby, and WHIG knew they would have to take drastic measures to cover the major hole that Joseph Wilson had popped in the side of their "Liars' Boat".

Perhaps, by his resignation, which many of us saw as Tenet being used as a scapegoat, Tenet was actually jumping off a sinking ship.