The forgeries were blatantly obvious. For one thing, the Nigerian official whose signature was forged had been out of power for a decade. Their source has been uncovered. It reads like a treatment for a 1970s spy spoof, including a double-spy known as “La Signora.”
You have to wonder why President Bush believed he could base his false statement in 2003 that Saddam Hussein had acquired uranium from Niger on such dubious sourcing. He must think that all Americans are as dim-witted as his supporters:
Two employees of the Niger embassy in Rome were responsible for the forgery of a notorious set of documents used to help justify the Iraq war, an official investigation has allegedly found.
According to Nato sources, the investigation has evidence that Niger’s consul and its ambassador’s personal assistant faked a contract to show Saddam Hussein had bought uranium ore from the impoverished west African country.
The documents, which emerged in 2002, were used in a US State Department fact sheet on Iraq’s weapons programme to build the case for war. They were denounced as forgeries by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) shortly before the 2003 invasion.
The revelation spawned a series of conspiracy theories, most alleging that the British, Italians, or even Dick Cheney, the American vice-president, had had a hand in forging them to back the case for war…
According to the sources, an official investigation believes Adam Maiga Zakariaou, the consul, and Laura Montini, the ambassador’s assistant, known as La Signora, forged the papers for money.
