2002 State Dept Memo : Niger Sale of Uranium to Iraq "Unlikely"

From the "better late than never" department, the New York Times reports that a secret memo, recently declassified by the State Department, shows that State Department intelligence analysts found it "unlikely" that Niger ever sold yellowcake uranium to Iraq, nearly a year before George W. Bush made that claim in his 2003 State of the Union address before Congress.

The White House has since claimed, of course, that the charge was based on "faulty intelligence," and acknowledged it shouldn't have been included in the speech.

In a (perhaps) related story, Raw Story reports today that neo-con and Bush consultant Michael Ledeen was working for the Italian magazine Panorama at the time when one of its reporters, Elisabetta Burba, was given documents--later found to be forged by an Italian Intelligence agent--that made the original claim about Niger's supposed yellowcake sales to Iraq.

Coincidence?

Howie thinks so.