July 12, 2003

Oct - no, Jan - yes

According to an article in the NY Times, the CIA had pulled a reference to the Nigerien uranium story from Bush's October speech, but then it was included in the January State of the Union address, even though no new information had come in that would have changed anyone's opinion on the story.

There is evidence that there was concern in the C.I.A. about the credibility of the uranium information and that those doubts reached at least some White House officials months before the State of the Union address. Administration officials involved in drafting another speech Mr. Bush gave about Iraq, in Cincinnati on Oct. 7, said that at the C.I.A.'s behest, they had removed any mention of the central piece of intelligence about African uranium - a report about an effort by Iraq to obtain "yellowcake," which contains uranium ore, in Niger. No one has fully explained how, given that early October warning to the White House, a version of the same charge resurfaced in the early drafts of the State of the Union address just three months later, and stayed there, draft after draft.
Makes it a bit harder to say no one in the administration knew, don't you think?

Posted by thorswitch at July 12, 2003 12:25 PM | TrackBack


Comments
Post a comment









Remember personal info?