Iraqgate: La Repubblica released original "ameteurish forgeries"

Crude Niger forgeries surface in Italian paper

Guardian -Thursday July 17, 2003

Update: The Cryptome Mirrors

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.

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

The US president, George Bush, used the forged documents to build a case for going to war with Iraq. The US has since accepted they were bogus and blamed British intelligence for supplying the information.

At prime minister's questions yesterday, Tony Blair insisted the UK claim was based not on the forged documents but on independent intelligence.

SF Gate -07-16

La Repubblica, a leftist publication that opposes Berlusconi's conservative government, said an African diplomat offered Italian intelligence services documents allegedly supporting the uranium claims.

The report quoted a source from Sismi, the Italian military intelligence service, as saying British intelligence obtained the documents in late 2001 or early 2002. The source implied that Italian colleagues provided the information.

The Sismi source, La Repubblica reported, said the Italian Foreign Ministry had raised strong objections about the information provided by Italian intelligence.

These five images appeared in hardcopy of the Italian newspaper La Repubblica on July 16, 2003. The online story without the images:

repubblica.it/online/esteri...

They are reportedly portions of forged documents on supply of uranium materials by Niger to Iraq and were allegedly provided by Italian intelligence, SISMI, to British intelligence, MI6.

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