"The 35 Articles of Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. Bush"Why Impeach? | Lies | Uranium/Niger | Torture | Aluminum Tubes | Wiretaps | Subpoenas | Treaties | HJR114 | Talking Points |
Uranium from Niger
Lie: The White House claimed that Saddam Hussein tried to buy uranium from Niger and that this was evidence of a renewed nuclear weapons program.
Bush knew: Bush had been informed by intelligence officials months before his speech that the sale likely never took place and that the documentary evidence had been forged.
Timeline
January 2, 2001 - Niger Embassy is robbed of worthless documents, perfume, stationery and stamps. [VanityFair]
Summer 2001 - Reports of the documents reporting an attempted sale of yellowcake to Iraq are given to the CIA.
February 2002 - Wilson sent to Niger by the CIA after Cheney requested that the uranium sales story be investigated. [CommonDreams]
February 2002 - Ambassador Owens-Kirkpatrick told Wilson that she knew about the allegations of uranium sales to Iraq — and that she felt she had already debunked them in her reports to Washington. [CommonDreams]
After a thorough study, Wilson concluded there was no evidence that a sale had occured and that it would be extremely unlikely.
March 2002 - Memo from State Department states "Sale of Niger Uranium to Iraq unlikely" and points out serious flaws in the Italian documents.
March 9th, 2002 - Wilson report given to White House. [Time]
September 2002 - In a closed Senate hearing, CIA directorGeorge J. Tenet and his top weapons analyst, Robert Walpole, expressed strong doubts about the uranium story. The State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, likewise, called the claim "highly dubious." [WashingtonPost]
On or before October 7, 2002 - CIA Director George Tenet argues “personally to White House officials, including deputy national security adviser Stephen Hadley,” that the Africa-uranium claim should not be included in Bush's October 7 speech because the allegation is based on only one source. (WashingtonPost, WashingtonPost)
January 28, 2003 - After much discussion with the CIA, Bush uses this story about uranium in his State of The Union speech. Bush said "The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.". The phrase "the British Government has learned " is used so they can try to argue that technically Bush didn't lie, because the British government did receive that false information. But according to the definition of fraud, if one makes statements knowing that they are misleading then it is still fraud.
Early February 2003 - IAEA receives copies of the documents purporting a sale of uranium to Iraq from Niger. [FindLaw - letter from the IAEA to Rep Henry Waxman]
March 7, 2003 - In a speech to the UN, Mohamed ElBaradei of the IAEA reports that they have "concluded that Iraq's efforts to import these aluminium tubes were not likely to have been related to the manufacture of centrifuges" and that "documents - which formed the basis for the reports of recent uranium transactions between Iraq and Niger - are in fact not authentic". [IAEA][UN]
March 19, 2003 - Bush invades Iraq.
April 18, 2003 - The lie is repeated in a statement titled "Disarm Saddam Hussein" from the White House that said Saddam "recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa, according to the British Government."
Resources
- "What I Didn't Find in Africa" by Joseph C. Wilson 4th, July 6, 2003, NY Times
- Detailed Timeline 1988-2002 on Daily KOS Political Encyclopedia
- Detailed Timeline 2003-present on Daily KOS Political Encyclopedia, mostly detailing the leak of Valerie Wilson's CIA status
- "Sale of Niger Uranium to Iraq unlikely", State Department memo, March 2002
- "Niger Uranium Background Paper", letter from Tim Sample to Cheney, April 3, 2003
- "A 'Concerted Effort' to Discredit Bush Critic" [Joseph Wilson] April 9, 2006, Washington Post
- "The War They Wanted, The Lies They Needed" on Niger lies by Craig Unger, Vanity Fair, 6/2006.
- "How Bogus Letter Became a Case for War" by Peter Eisner, Washington Post, April 3, 2007
