Bush aide denies ties to fake Iraq-Niger documents (Hadley)

[leftchick]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051102/ts_nm/bush_leak_italy_dc

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, denied on Wednesday that he or his staff received fake documents in 2002 that showed Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger, a claim that formed part of the administration's case for going to war.

After consulting with a member of his staff "to refresh my memory," Hadley told reporters that the documents were first obtained by the State Department and then shared with the CIA, and that he does not recall ever discussing the issue with Italian intelligence officials.

"Suffice to say they didn't come to me. They didn't come to the NSC," Hadley said, referring to the National Security Council.

Bush, in making a case for war in his 2003 State of the Union address, said there was evidence that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa to further apparent nuclear-weapons ambitions. Bush cited British intelligence as the source of the information.

[otohara]

1. Liar Liar

I'm just assuming he's lying - cuz that's what they ALL do!

[geckosfeet]

4. Yeah, his mouth was moving.

[jazzjunkysue]

2. Did B** teach him to look that guilty?

Geez- They gotta talk to the factory about putting some life-like models in the new animatronic line.

[longship]

3. That does it..

He denied it. That means he's the guy who most likely did it, planned it, or ordered it done.

[pfitz59]

5. Yikes! What a mug!

Lying weasel if I ever saw one!

[daleo]

6. So he's in on it too.

"After consulting with a member of his staff "to refresh my memory," Hadley told reporters that the documents were first obtained by the State Department and then shared with the CIA, and that he does not recall ever discussing the issue with Italian intelligence officials."

- consulting to refresh his memory = "what's our story then?"
- he does not recall discussing = "won't deny it outright, because it is true"

[Seabiscuit]

7. He looks like death warmed over. Much worse than Lurch.

[cliss]

20. Hadley is losing some sleep!

He's scared, damn scared right now. If you cover up the left half of his face, you can see on the right half: he's petrified.

Hadley is up to his eyeballs in this mess. He's just trying to figure out if he can skeedaddle and not have to face the consequences. I remember reading about this snake back in 2003 when the Niger story erupted. Hadley's name came up time and time again.

He's probably the one who arranged the document from Italy.

[Seabiscuit]

21. I have no doubt Hadley delivered the fake document to Italy.

Why else would a high-ranking Bush official suddenly travel all that way to meet with some nobody who publishes the kind of rag the fake Niger article appeared in???

[WhiteTara]

8. So, if he didn't "receive them", then he

created them.

[goodboy]

9. Keep the tough questions coming! Keep them on the defensive! (nt)

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. So one of the top Intel people in the WH

doesn't know shit anymore?

Funny, before the war they KNEW everything.

[rodeodance]

17. they just don't remember anything!!

[Mithras61]

11. Isn't this the doofus...

who met with the head of Italian SISMI, just weeks before the documents were handed over (from SISMI to Italian Intelligence to US State Department)? Was the Niger Embassy broken into during the time between when Hadley met with the head of SISMI and when SISMI turned the forgeries over to Italian Intelligence? Weren't the forgeries determined to be "crude and hastily created" and made on stolen paper that had been stolen from the Niger Embassy?

I'm not saying that it was a pure scam perpetrated by this POS, but the "coincidences" just seem to pile up and pile up, until you have to scream "BUSHIT! It isn't a coincidence!"

[Joe Turner]

12. "Suffice to say they didn't come to me"

Is this weasely way of saying "I went to them"?

[Norquist Nemesis]

13. Still diverting and trying to blame the CIA

One of the things I've noticed is they're still trying to blame the CIA. No mention of the DODs OSP in any way, shape, form or whisper.

They keep pointing to the CIA on this...it wasn't.

[Jersey Devil]

14. "to refresh my memory" = "I lied to Fitz earlier"

They all lied. Now he is trying to say that he didn't lie to Fitz earlier, just "forgot, gee, it happened so long ago". Now that his memory is "refreshed" he has a different story, probably also a lie, trying to make it better but like all people suffering from hubris, in reality making it worse. Now there are at least 3 versions of what happened: The first lie he told to Fitz; this present lie and the truth.
Fitz will find out the truth (if he hasn't already) and add this bastard to his trophy case.

[rodeodance]

15. the WH said ealier this week that they 'do not remember' either.

.....Focus has centered on Hadley because of his September 9, 2002, meeting with Italy's intelligence chief, Nicolo Pollari.

Exactly one month later, on October 9, 2002, an Italian journalist provided the U.S. Embassy in Rome with copies of documents about the alleged Iraq-Niger uranium sale, according to a U.S. congressional investigation. Copies of the documents were then sent to State Department headquarters and the CIA, the congressional report said.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's office said last week that the government and Italian intelligence had no "direct or indirect role in the fabrication and the transmission of the 'fake dossier on Niger uranium."'

Backing up Berlusconi's account, the White House said earlier this week that U.S. officials who attended the September 9, 2002, meeting do not remember any discussion of the Niger claim or any exchange of documents.

[rodeodance]

16. He is saying that neither he nor his staff met with Italy intel.

...Asked if he or any member of his staff met with Italian intelligence outside the White House when the issue was discussed, Hadley said: "I can tell you my recollection. My recollection is no, not here, not anyplace else."

[leftchick]

18. look out for those qualifiers...

"my recollection"?? The man is a fucking liar like the rest of them.

[Wordie]

19. Anyone notice this tantalizing Fitz-crumb in the article?

<snip>
The Niger issue has attracted renewed attention as U.S. special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald wraps up his investigation into the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. As part of his investigation, Fitzgerald has asked witnesses about the Niger report.

So, we now know he actually pursued, or attempted to pursue, or still is pursuing, the Niger forgery part of this. All we knew before was that he had asked the Italians for info. Hmm.