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June 13, 2003

I'm Back, and an excellent letter

Well, after spending about 60 hours in no- or bad- connection hell, a dear friend of my ours has not only fixed our home network (we needed a router, not a hub), but has also got my computer connecting to the Internet again - and normal speed! If you can't see me jumping up and down with joy, don't worry... you can rest assured, I am.

At any rate, it's time to get back to some of the blogging. Representative Henry Waxman - who has a history of making excellent points in open letters - has written yet another, to Condoleeza Rice, asking why President Bush used forged evidence in presenting his case for war with Iraq.

He specifically addresses Rice's claims on the Sunday talk shows last weekend that the US had evidence other than the forged letter that it was relying on in making the claim that Saddam Hussein was trying to get uranium from Africa.

In addition to denying that senior officials were aware that the President was citing forged evidence, you also claimed (1) "there were also other sources that said that there were, the Iraqis were seeking yellowcake - uranium oxide - from Africa" and (2) "there were other attempts to get yellowcake from Africa."

This answer does not explain the President's statement in the State of the Union address. In his State of the Union address, the President referred specifically to the evidence from the British. He stated: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Presumably, the President would use the best available evidence in his State of the Union address to Congress and the nation. It would make no sense for him to cite forged evidence obtained from the British if, in fact, the United States had other reliable evidence that he could have cited.

Moreover, contrary to your assertion, there does not appear to be any other specific and credible evidence that Iraq sought to obtain uranium from an African country. The Administration has not provided any such evidence to me or my staff despite our repeated requests. To the contrary, the State Department wrote me that the "other source" of this claim was another Western European ally. But as the State Department acknowledged in its letter, "the second Western European government had based its assessment on the evidence already available to the U.S. that was subsequently discredited."

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also found no other evidence indicating that Iraq sought to obtain uranium from Niger. The evidence in U.S. possession that Iraq had sought to obtain uranium from Niger was transmitted to the IAEA. After reviewing all the evidence provided by the United States, the IAEA reported: "we have to date found no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons programme in Iraq." Ultimately, the IAEA concluded: "these specific allegations are unfounded."

He concludes with several very specific questions regarding both the evidence and Rice's comments about the entire situation.

Posted by thorswitch at June 13, 2003 05:53 PM

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