The White House acknowledged for the first time Monday, July 7, 2003 that US President Bush relied on inaccurate data when he declared in his January State of the Union speech that Saddam Hussein had tried to purchase uranium from Africa.
The recent announcement challenges one of the vital pieces of evidence that the Bush Administration cited to justify the launch of an attack against Iraq in March. The accusation prompted the US government to enter the country, claiming that it could not wait for further weapon inspections or resolutions from the United Nations.
On January 28, President Bush announced that, "the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." The statement was the result of a British parliamentary commission report.
A year prior, former US envoy to Gabon, Joseph Wilson was hired by the CIA to investigate allegations that Saddam obtained uranium from Niger. Recently going public with the results of his findings in the New York Times, Wilson reported that that Niger’s uranium mines were a not source for Iraq's nuclear program, a detail that White House officials say never reached them.
"I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat," said Wilson. While Bush quoted the British report in his address, the information was primarily American material. A "National Intelligence Estimate" published in October 2002 identified Niger, Congo and Somalia as nations where Iraq had sought uranium.
Weeks before the invasion of Iraq this past March, the International Atomic Energy Agency wrote off the uranium reports about Niger, claiming that they were based on forged documents. According to senior administration officials, the news of the fraud was not delivered to the White House until after Bush made his speech. Nevertheless, the White House did not correct the President’s statement once they were informed. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
