A former United States ambassador who investigated reports that Niger sold uranium to Baghdad said Sunday that the US government exaggerated the threat to justify the war against Iraq.
"Based on my experience with the (Bush) administration in the months leading up to the war, 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," Joseph Wilson wrote in a New York Times opinion piece.
President George W. Bush said during his State of the Union address that Baghdad had purchased processed uranium in Africa. London repeated the claim, however Wilson doubted both.
On NBC’s Meet the Press, Wilson said, "My judgment on this is that if they were referring to Niger when they were referring to uranium sales from Africa to Iraq, that information was erroneous and that they knew about it well ahead of both the publication of the British white paper and the President's State of the Union address."
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had sent Wilson to Niger to check the charge on behalf of Vice President Dick Cheney. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
