Desperation At The Times

So desperate are they at the NY TImes that they have dug up the Joe Wilson/Niger uranium story once again, and as a sign of desperation they have blurred the distinction between the words "sold" and "sought."  They've also used words like "doubt, "improbable" and "unlikely" rather than words like "proved" and "didn't."

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 - A high-level intelligence assessment by the Bush administration concluded in early 2002 that the sale of uranium from Niger to Iraq was "unlikely" because of a host of economic, diplomatic and logistical obstacles, according to a secret memo that was recently declassified by the State Department.

Among other problems that made such a sale improbable, the assessment by the State Department's intelligence analysts concluded, was that it would have required Niger to send "25 hard-to-conceal 10-ton tractor-trailers" filled with uranium across 1,000 miles and at least one international border.

The analysts' doubts were registered nearly a year before President Bush, in what became known as the infamous "16 words" in his 2003 State of the Union address, said that Saddam Hussein had sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.

Okay, to review:

1. President Bush didn't say "bought," he said "sought."  And I defy the Times to find anyone of note who alleges that the sale took place.
2. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report actually found that Wilson's report bolstered the belief in the Niger Uranium story rather than disproved it.
   "Mayaki said, however, that in June 1999,(REDACTED) businessman, approached him and insisted that Mayaki meet with an Iraqi delegation to discuss "expanding commercial relations" between Niger and Iraq. The intelligence report said that Mayaki interpreted "expanding commercial relations" to mean that the delegation wanted to discuss uranium yellowcake sales. The intelligence report also said that "although the meeting took place, Mayaki let the matter drop due to the UN sanctions on Iraq."
3. The Butler Report, looking at British intelligence on the matter, stands by this assessment.
   

   "496. This evidence underlay the statement in the Executive Summary of the Government’s dossier of September 2002 that:

   As a result of the intelligence we judge that Iraq has:

   - tried covertly to acquire technology and materials which could be used in the production of nuclear weapons;

   - sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa, despite having no active civil nuclear power programme that could require it"

Captain Ed notes the dishonesty and deperation of the Times in further blurring the distinction between Niger attempting to sell to Saddam Hussein, and Saddam Hussein attempting to procure.  They are, in fact different.

Once again, the Times conflates two different questions and in doing so misrepresents the intelligence that both the British and Wilson himself found. The first question, which prompted this release of material, is whether the Nigeriens were likely to sell and transport uranium to Iraq. The second question is whether Saddam Hussein was still making the attempt to buy uranium at all, from Niger as well as anywhere else.

It is a sign of how far the NY Times has fallen that such politically-charged innuendo is what passes for news.