Cheney under pressure to quit over false war evidence

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Cheney under pressure to quit over false war evidenceAnger grows on both sides of Atlantic at misleading claims on eve of IraqconflictBy Andrew Buncombe in Washington and Marie Woolfhttp://www.truthout.org/docs_03/071703B.shtml16 July 2003Dick Cheney, the US Vice-President and the administration's most outspokenhawk over Iraq, faced demands for his resignation last night as he wasaccused of using false evidence to build the case for war.He was accused of using his office to insist that a false claim about Iraq'sefforts to buy uranium from Africa to restart its nuclear programme beincluded in George Bush's State of the Union address - overriding theconcerns of the CIA director, George Tenet.Mr Cheney was also accused of knowingly misleading Congress when theadministration sought its authorisation for the use of force to oust SaddamHussein.The allegations against Mr Cheney have come most vocally from a group ofsenior former intelligence officials who believe that information from theintelligence community was selectively used to support a war fought forpolitical reasons. In an open letter to President George Bush, the grouphave asked that he demand Mr Cheney's resignation.In a further development, it was reported in an Italian newspaper today thatan African diplomat offered Italian intelligence services documents relatingto Saddam's alleged attempts to buy uranium in Africa.The report in La Repubblica, largely based on unidentified Italian secretservices sources, also linked a theft at the Niger embassy in Rome duringthe 2001 New Year's holiday to the affair.La Repubblica, quoting a source from Sismi, the Italian militaryintelligence service, said that in late 2001 or early 2002, M16 obtained thedocuments. The source implied that Italian colleagues provided theinformation to British intelligence officials."There were several meetings, at a higher level, almost always in London,"the source was quoted as saying. "Despite this positive climate, we don'tknow if it was the English who passed on that stuff to the CIA. It's ratherprobable."The source, La Repubblica reported, said the Italian Foreign Ministry hadraised "strong objections" and "protests" about the information provided byItalian intelligence.The paper published what it said were copies of four documents used tobolster the claim that Saddam was trying to buy uranium.In January 2001, the Niger embassy reported a theft occurred while themission was closed during the New Year's holiday, the paper said. Little wasmissing - a watch and three small bottles of perfume. Drawers wereoverturned, closets were opened and paper was all over the place.As the clamour for a full inquest into the African uranium claims grew onboth sides of the Atlantic, Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, was accusedby MPs of lacking "credibility" after he admitted knowing a month before thewar that documents making the assertion were forgeries. Mr Straw said in astatement he had known that letters given to the UN nuclear agency, theInternational Atomic Energy Agency, about the Niger claim were fake as earlyas February.Mr Straw also claimed that the Government's case for military action was notbased on "intelligence reports".Labour MPs, including Tam Dalyell, the father of the House, asked why MrStraw had not told MPs that the documents were fake in advance of the voteto approve military action on 18 March. "He now says the Government knew itwas a forgery in February. Why didn't he tell us before Parliament voted forwar?" he said. "Also if the case for war is not based on intelligence, whatis it based on?"Last night the Labour-dominated Foreign Affairs Committee asked Mr Straw toreveal what he knew about the Niger claim.Donald Anderson, the committee's chairman, wrote to Mr Straw asking him whenthe CIA first questioned the Niger connection, and why ministers had notadmitted earlier that there were doubts about the claims. The committee alsoasked whether the CIA had questioned any other claims in the Septemberdossier on Iraq's weapons.The letter, signed by 11 MPs of all parties, called on Mr Straw to confirmThe Independent's report that technical documents and centrifuge parts foundat the home of an Iraqi nuclear scientist in Baghdad had lain buried for 12years. The letter also asked Mr Straw to reveal when he knew that the formerUS ambassador Joseph Wilson had found claims about Niger-Iraq links to befalse.Last week the White House admitted that the claim that Iraq was seeking"significant quantities of uranium from Africa" - based on faked documentsprovided by the Italian intelligence services - should not have beenincluded in President Bush's speech of 28 January.In Washington there is no conclusive proof that Mr Cheney was responsiblefor insisting that the claim be made in the speech. But there is clearevidence of Mr Cheney's interest in the alleged Niger deal. Joseph Wilson, aformer US ambassador, said he was asked by the CIA to go to Niger andinvestigate the claim in a request from the Vice-President's office. MrCheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby, has admitted that during a briefingfrom the CIA "the Vice-President asked a question about the implication ofthe report".There have been reports from CIA officials that in the months before the warMr Cheney made a "multiple number" of personal visits to its headquarters inVirginia to meet officials analysing intelligence relating to Iraq. "[He]sent signals, intended or otherwise, that a certain output was desired fromhere," one senior CIA official told reporters.The CIA director, Mr Tenet, said he accepted responsibility for approvingthe speech but said his officers had only "concurred" with White Houseofficials that by naming the British Government as the source of the Nigerclaim it was "factually correct". Britain has stood by the claim, saying ithas evidence in addition to the Italian documents.********If this email is cut short, changingplanet/messagesYou can help us make a difference. Click here for details:http://changingplanet.supremalex.org/help.htmChanging Planet News - Where Ethics, Science and Spirituality BlendCOLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS PROJECT: If this email sparked emotions in you, positive or negative, please pray, meditate, visualize or concentrate on the best possible outcome for Humanity and Earth for AT LEAST 10 seconds. On the web at http://changingplanet.supremalex.orgNews and service since 1995"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident." Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860