Message Board

Is the US acting as a sole superpower by snubbing UN? Post your views

New York: A low paid African diplomat working in Niger's Embassy in Rome forged documents claiming that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had sought uranium from Africa and fooled US and British intelligence agencies into believing they were genuine, a media report said on July 15.

The diplomat, whose name was not disclosed, sold the documents to the Italian government for a few thousand Dollars, ABC television said.

In its latest issue, 'Time' reported that Italians had shared the information with US and British intelligence agencies. The information found its way into the January State of the Union address by US President George W Bush, who quoted it as one of the major reasons to justify war on Iraq.

Officials later said the information was wrong and there was no attempt by Hussein to procure uranium from Niger.

Last week, Bush faced criticism for using the wrong information in his speech, following which Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief George Tenet admitted that his agency had not removed the offensive words, even though it had doubts regarding their authenticity.

ABC said the Italians officially deny they bought fake documents, but quotes intelligence sources as saying that these were produced in late 2001 in Rome in a building that houses the tiny Embassy of Niger.

"There had been reports circulating about Niger's sale of uranium to Iraq in the l980s and I think this diplomat apparently saw an opportunity to make some money by feeding into the current controversy about Iraq's programme of weapons of mass destruction," counter terrorism expert Vince Cannistraro said.

PTI