Iraqi envoy to Vatican implicated in Niger yellowcake uranium WMD scam

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Snip from Sunday Times 1 August 04:

Focus: Tracked down: The man who fooled the world - and was duped himself: The mystery middle-man who supplied bogus documents revealing Iraq’s nuclear ambitions claims it was all a plot by Italian intelligence. Nicholas Rufford and Nick Fielding report

Snip starts:

In February 1999, Wissam al-Zahawie, Iraq’s ambassador to the Vatican, arranged a trip to Niger and three other countries in west Africa. According to Zahawie, his mission was to invite their leaders to Baghdad, trying to muster support over UN sanctions that were crippling Iraq. “I had no other instructions and certainly none concerning the purchase of uranium,” he now says.

According to sources at Sismi, however, Zahawie’s mission was not just diplomatic. A “credible source” informed them that Iraq was looking for black market uranium in Niger. The source spoke of contacts, proposals, deals and dollar transfers. The source specified that no deal had been fully concluded. Looking for corroboration, Sismi passed this intelligence to MI6, which filed it as interesting but unconfirmed. The case went quiet until January 2, 2001 when staff at Niger’s embassy in Rome reported a break-in. Papers were strewn about the building, but only some perfume and a watch appeared to have been stolen.

Shortly afterwards documents began to circulate in the intelligence community. Some referred to the visit of Zahawie to Niger and were clearly genuine. Others, which purported to be an agreement between Iraq and Niger for the supply of uranium yellowcake, were fakes. According to one account, sets of the documents were passed to the British and the Americans. It is not clear how they were acquired although Giacomo admits that he had a hand in their dissemination.

Without being precise about dates, he said: “I received a call from a former colleague in Sismi. I was told that a woman in the Niger embassy in Rome had a gift for me. I met her and she gave me documents. Sismi wanted me to pass on the documents but they didn’t want anyone to know they had been involved. “It was the Italians and Americans together who were behind it. It was all a disinformation operation.”
Snip ends

From:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1197988,0...

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