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Dear List Perhaps the most striking claim in today's proceedings at the Security Council was that made by IAEA director-general Mohamed ElBaradei that the documents provided by the US and UK to substantiate their case that Iraq has tried to import uranium "are in fact not authentic." He came to this conclusion after reviewing the evidence extensively - including "correspondence coming from various bodies of the Government of Niger" - and "compar[ing] the form, format, contents and signatures of that correspondence with those of the alleged procurement-related documentation". One can only conclude then that these documents are deliberate forgeries. To go over the background, the Blair govt in its 24 Sept 02 said - I think for the first time - that "there is intelligence that Iraq has sought the supply of significant quantities of uranium from Africa." This was clarified by the US State Dept on 19 Dec 02 as "efforts to procure uranium from Niger". Now ElBaradei reports today as follows: "The IAEA has made progress in its investigation into reports that Iraq sought to buy uranium from Niger in recent years. The investigation was centred on documents provided by a number of States that pointed to an agreement between Niger and Iraq for the sale of uranium between 1999 and 2001. "The IAEA has discussed these reports with the Governments of Iraq and Niger, both of which have denied that any such activity took place. For its part, Iraq has provided the IAEA with a comprehensive explanation of its relations with Niger, and has described a visit by an Iraqi official to a number of African countries, including Niger, in February 1999, which Iraq thought might have given rise to the reports. The IAEA was also able to review correspondence coming from various bodies of the Government of Niger, and to compare the form, format, contents and signatures of that correspondence with those of the alleged procurement-related documentation. "Based on thorough analysis, the IAEA has concluded, with the concurrence of outside experts, that these documents - which formed the basis for the reports of recent uranium transactions between Iraq and Niger - are in fact not authentic. We have therefore concluded that these specific allegations are unfounded." ElBaradei concluded: "There is no indication that Iraq has attempted to import uranium since 1990." This should be a major scandal: who (specifically) provided the false documents to the IAEA? Who produced them? And what indication should the US and UK have that the documents were false? URLs below: UK dossier - the claim is at p.25: http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page271.asp State Department, 19 December: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2002/16118pf.htm ElBaradei statement of 7 March 2003: http://www.iaea.org/worldatom/Press/Statements/2003/ebsp2003n006.shtml In addition to the claims above, ElBaradei's arguments today were stronger than ever: "After three months of intrusive inspections, we have to date found no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons programme in Iraq." "There is no indication of resumed nuclear activities in those buildings that were identified through the use of satellite imagery as being reconstructed or newly erected since 1998, nor any indication of nuclear-related prohibited activities at any inspected sites." "There is no indication that Iraq has attempted to import aluminium tubes for use in centrifuge enrichment. Moreover, even had Iraq pursued such a plan, it would have encountered practical difficulties in manufacturing centrifuges out of the aluminium tubes in question." Comments on Blix today are forthcoming. Best, Glen. _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk