Crude Niger forgeries surface in Italian paper

[Star]

Forged documents on which the British and US governments allegedly based their case that Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger were so crudely drafted that it is unlikely they would have stood up to more than a few hours' - or minutes' - scrutiny by any specialist, it emerged yesterday.

The letters and paperwork, which surfaced in Italy's left of centre daily La Repubblica, reveal how amateurish the forgeries were. Although they amount to only eight pages, they contain more than a dozen easily checkable errors. snip

A logo, supposedly the national symbol of Niger, is badly drawn and minus much of the detail normally used in government documents. snip

One letter is dated July 30 1999 although it talks of negotiations between Niger and Iraq after that date, on June 29 2000.

Another, dated October 10 2000, is apparently signed by the Niger foreign minister, Allele Elhadj Habibou, although he ceased to be foreign minister in 1989.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,999745,00.html

Apparently, This is what Aaron Brown was talking about yesterday when he said that CNN got copies of these documents from the Italians.





edited to add pictures from ABCNews http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/US/uranium030716flaweddocs.html

[Kellanved]

1. Sorry Dupe

Posted this yesterday.
Thanks for the new link.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=17139&mesg_id=17139&listing_type=search

[VolcanoJen]

2. Dupe... locking

Please continue discussion by posting in the original, earlier thread on this topic (from Wednesday afternoon), which can be found here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=17139&mesg_id=17139&listing_type=search

Star, it would be helpful if you could post your link to the Guardian's version of events within that thread.

Thanks!
VolcanoJen
DU Moderator