And this Japanese article is a lot more straightforward in its report. Also, mind the yellow part. Apparently Bush knew the report was false or at least of a very questionable nature, and yet he still cited it in his State of the Union address.
White House admits Bush lied about Iraqi nukes
WASHINGTON — After weeks of denial, the White House Monday finally admitted President George Bush lied in his January State of the Union Address when he claimed Iraq had sought significant quantities of uranium in Africa.
The acknowledgment came as a British parliamentary commission questioned the reliability of British intelligence about Saddam Hussein's efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the war in Iraq.
Bush said in his State of the Union address that the British government had learned that Saddam recently sought significant quantities of uranium in Africa.
The president's statement was incorrect because it was based on forged documents from the African nation of Niger, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer acknowledged.
An intelligence consultant who was present at two White House briefings where the uranium report was discussed confirmed that the President was told the intelligence was questionable and that his national security advisors urged him not to include the claim in his State of the Union address.
"The report had already been discredited," said Terrance J Wilkinson, a CIA advisor present at two White House briefings. "This point was clearly made when the president was in the room during at least two of the briefings."
Bush's response was anger, Wilkinson said.
"He said that if the current operatives working for the CIA couldn't prove the story was true, then the agency had better find some who could," Wilkinson said. "He said he knew the story was true and so would the world after American troops secured the country."
To date, American troops have found no proof of the existence of nuclear weapons in Iraq.
Wilkinson retired two months later but says he wrote "numerous memos" questioning the wisdom of using "intelligence information that we knew to be from dubious sources."
A British parliamentary committee has also concluded that Prime Minister Tony Blair's government mishandled intelligence material on Iraqi weapons.
John Stanley, a Conservative member of the committee, said so far no evidence has been found in Iraq to substantiate four key claims, including that Iraq was seeking uranium in Africa as part of an effort to restart a nuclear weapons program.
The International Atomic Energy Agency told the United Nations in March that the information about uranium was based on forged documents. (truthout.org)
[ 07-09-2003, 05:01 AM: Message edited by: Grojlach ]