The general news media has made no attempt to find out what former Nigerien Prime Minister Ibrahim Mayaki really told Joseph Wilson about Mayaki’s 1999 meeting with an Iraqi trade delegation. But bloggers have found some answers.
I want to mention two bloggers who actually interviewed Wilson about Mayaki. Both of these bloggers are sympathetic to Wilson and generally unsympathetic to liberating Iraq. They nevertheless forced Wilson to explain a few things about the possibility Saddam was seeking atom-bomb uranium in the late 1990s.
The bloggers on the Mayaki trail are:
Kirk Johnson, whose American Amnesia blog is dormant for the time being. His July 2004 interview of Wilson can be examined by clicking here.
Eriposte, whose Left Coaster blog interviewed Wilson by e-mail in August 2005. That exchange is available by clicking here.
These bloggers accept Wilson’s story that the Iraqi trade delegation (apparently headed up by "Baghdad Bob") that approached Mayaki in June or July 1999 wasn’t necessarily interested in buying Niger’s uranium, even though Mayaki himself suspected that’s exactly what they wanted. The bloggers are satisfied that the Iraqis more probably were interested in selling Iraqi oil to Niger.
What Saddam was up to. I think it’s clear Saddam would have set up a deal to buy Nigerien uranium for a nuclear weapons program as soon as he felt the coast was clear. The meeting with Mayaki was a feeler, testing Niger’s eagerness to sell.
I'd like to know if Mayaki says that Iraqi delegation talked about selling oil. If Saddam could have sold Niger his oil directly, in violation of the Oil for Food program, that sale would have helped to break down the U.N. sanctions against Iraq, hastening the day the coast was clear to restart his nuclear program. If, at the same time, Saddam was establishing Niger contacts for uranium purchases, all the better for Saddam.
In any case, check out those two blogs if you’re interested in the details of Joseph Wilson’s pointless escapades. Keep in mind that British intelligence insists their conclusion that "Saddam sought uranium from Africa" had nothing to do with the forged documents Wilson refers to. Also keep in mind that even Wilson admits he never bunked or debunked anything about Saddam’s weapons plans.
Wilson’s crescendos of innuendos. So how does Wilson attract so much attention? Who knows? Who benefits from broadcasting innuendo that tarnishes the liberation of 25 million Iraqis?
Frank Warner
SEE ALSO: Richard Armitage blew the whistle on Valerie Plame and Joseph Wilson.
SEE ALSO: Libby leak case is about the war and how Wilson covered up for Saddam.
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