Okay, so, the Shrub’s Administration made a big mistake. It’s managed to piss away a ton of money over this, but the good news is that thousands of innocents haven’t died yet.
So the competent arms of the FBI and CIA have managed to uncover the doings of some of the uncompetent branches. Good work guys. Those of you that are trying to serve your country must be really frustrated by the other members of your organization that seem to be working against you half the time.
Thanks for turning this stuff up before it was too late!
So, can our boys come home now? Please?
Fake Iraq documents ’embarrassing’ for U.S.
By David Ensor for CNN.

Intelligence documents that U.S. and British governments said were strong evidence that Iraq was developing nuclear weapons have been dismissed as forgeries by U.N. weapons inspectors.
The documents, given to International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, indicated that Iraq might have tried to buy 500 tons of uranium from Niger, but the agency said they were “obvious” fakes.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell referred to the documents directly in his presentation to the U.N. Security Council outlining the Bush administration’s case against Iraq.
“I’m sure the FBI and CIA must be mortified by this because it is extremely embarrassing to them,” former CIA official Ray Close said.
Responding to questions about the documents from lawmakers, Powell said, “It was provided in good faith to the inspectors and our agency received it in good faith, not participating … in any way in any falsification activities.”

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Perhaps this will give the administration the out it needs to pull out of Iraq and still save face.
FBI Probes Fake Evidence of Iraqi Nuclear Plans
By Dana Priest and Susan Schmidt

The forgery came to light last week during a highly publicized and contentious United Nations meeting. Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told the Security Council on March 7 that U.N. and independent experts had decided that the documents were “not authentic.”
ElBaradei’s disclosure, and his rejection of three other key claims that U.S. intelligence officials have cited to support allegations about Iraq’s nuclear ambitions, struck a powerful blow to the Bush administration’s argument on the matter.
To the contrary, ElBaradei told the council, “we have to date found no evidence or plausible indications of the revival of a nuclear program in Iraq.”
The CIA, which had also obtained the documents, had questions about “whether they were accurate,” said one intelligence official, and it decided not to include them in its file on Iraq’s program to procure weapons of mass destruction.

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A friend of mine sent me these links regarding Iraq and North Korea’s recent switches to the Euro.
I’m just learning about all of this stuff myself, so I won’t pretend to understand any of it yet.
It all seemed quite relevant and I felt compelled to pass the information on to you…

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Here’s Senator John Warner (R-VA) answering Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) re: would we support Kurdish independence? (The answer is “no” we will try to quash all such rebellions to keep the larger Iraq in tact.)

Audio – Sen. John Warner On Iraq (MP3 – 1 MB)
Sen. John Warner On Iraq (Lo-res 11 MB)

Here’s Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) on CSPAN last Friday, March 7, 2003 talking about the serious ethical and financial costs of marching in and taking over Iraq. Of particular interest is a reference to the Kurds and the question to the Repubs regarding whether or not we would support independence of the Kurds or other factions that might try to break free from the larger Iraq during this sequence of events.
Senator John Warner (R-VA) answers him in the next set of clips. (And the answer is “no” we will try to quash all such rebellions to keep the larger Iraq in tact.)

Audio – Sen. Edward Kennedy On Iraq – All (MP3 – 3 MB)
Sen. Edward Kennedy On Iraq – Part 1 of 2 (Lo-res 15 MB)
Sen. Edward Kennedy On Iraq – Part 2 of 2 (Lo-res 18 MB)
I’m told that the audio got screwed up on these video clips. I’m away from home and can’t fix it. Apologies.–lisa

This is a clip from Friday’s U.N. session (March 7, 2003) – Immediately following Colin Powell’s speech. Note that Ivanov’s testimony directly contradicts Powell’s in that he feels the demands of previous U.N. Resolutions have been satisfied.
Igor Ivanov At the U.N. Audio – (MP3 – 1 MB)
Igor Ivanov At the U.N. (Hi-res 23 MB)
Igor Ivanov At the U.N. (Lo-res 9 MB)

And they’re already off to a great start with petty offenses that violate International Law. Bummer.
Marines May Have Broken International Law

U.N. peacekeepers recently spotted armed U.S. Marines cutting a fence between Kuwait and Iraq, an act which was reported to the Security Council on Thursday as a possible violation of international law.
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said peacekeepers who monitor a demilitarized zone set up after the 1991 Persian Gulf War between Iraq and Kuwait reported “numerous violations,” since March 4 “by personnel in civilian clothes in 4 x 4 vehicles, at least some of whom were armed and identified themselves as U.S. Marines.”
…According to Eckhard, peacekeepers observed three breaches that had been cut in an electric fence which Kuwait erected after a U.S.-led coalition forced Iraqi troops out of the country in 1991.
Eckhard went on to say that the U.N. team raised the recent violations with the Kuwaiti government. The information was then sent to the Security Council in the form of a letter from the U.N. peacekeeping department. Eckhard said the breach may violate the Security Council resolution that set up the zone but that it was up for the council to make that determination.
The United States has amassed more than 300,000 troops in the region in preparation for another possible war with Iraq. In the meantime, it is pushing council members to adopt a new resolution that would authorize military force, as it did in 1991.

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