One other point before I leave for what I’m hoping will be a blog and laptop free Saturday.
A number of administration officials have stated that Joseph Wilson’s report from Niger was largely made up of Nigerien officials denying that their country had sold uranium to Iraq. My reporting tells me something different. Wilson’s report went into great detail about how the uranium ore was processed, how the processing was regulated, and most particularly who had physical custody of the product from the time it was in the ground to the time it was delivered to the customer. Wilson adduced various findings relating to the custody, oversight and regulation of the state uranium mining industry which, in his view, made the alleged sale highly unlikely.
Perhaps these officials are referring to, or confusing Wilson’s report with, a different report back from Niger, one that hasn’t yet been mentioned.
A few weeks before Wilson’s visit to Niger, a senior military official from United States European Command visited the country
(most of Africa comes under EUCOM’s purview). During his visit, this high-ranking officer raised the issue of the alleged uranium sales to Iraq in meetings with various current Nigerien government officials. Those queries resulted in the official denials that certain administration officials are now so dismissive of. Some record of this high-ranking officer’s report back to his superiors must be on record at the Pentagon.
