Crude likeness

The 'Sherlock Google' diarist over at dailykos.com has published an important report about the "uranium from Niger" document. Please go take a look at this post: these forgeries are the story behind the CIA-leak/Plame scandal. This is not about 'political hardball' or the Swiftboating of a slick diplomat (Joe Wilson). Nor is it about dame Judy Miller. Those are mere sideshows to the main event: duping a scared citizenry into an illegal war. At this point, it appears as though the special prosecutor, Fitzgerald, has expanded his purview to include these Niger forgeries. This could be huge.

By all accounts, the documents were really terrible forgeries; the International Atomic Energy Agency was able to debunk them within days of having access to them. The problem? They were witheld from the IAEA right up until the eve of the invasion of Iraq. I've seen some speculation about (Iran-Contra "figure") Michael Ledeen's possible involvement in the forgeries, but that's by no means proven-fact. The speculation regarding Ledeen centres on his ties to Italian Intelligence, 'SISMI,' the very agency that "found" the documents about Iraq's alleged interest in uranium from Niger.