French Official Claims U.S. Told No Proof Existed to Back Claims of Iraqi-Niger Uranium Connection

The French intelligence service repeatedly told the United States that there was no evidence to support the claim that Iraq tried to buy uranium in Niger a year before U.S. President George W. Bush mentioned the incident in his 2003 State of the Union address, the Los Angeles Times reported yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 8).

France warned the United States about the lack of evidence in 2001 and 2002, according to a former CIA official and Alain Chouet, the former head of French intelligence. The French Direction Generale de la Securite Exterieure conducted investigations at the request of the CIA in Niger and other former French colonies regarding the claim. 

A U.S. official said the Chouet’s account was “at odds with our understanding of the issue.” However, the former CIA official and a current French official backed Chouet’s story.

The French warnings did not stop the White House from using the alleged Niger incident in making its case for the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, according to the Times.

France’s investigation began in 2001, when the CIA asked it to make sure uranium in Niger and other countries was secure. In 2002, the CIA asked France twice for similar assistance, this time seeking more specific information on whether Niger had agreed to sell 500 metric tons of uranium that could be used in a nuclear weapons program to then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

A five- or six-man team sent to Niger found no evidence that the sale occurred.   French officials noticed that the details of the alleged sale matched information in faked documents earlier offered to France by an Italian informant.

“We told the Americans, ‘Bull - - - -. It doesn't make any sense,’” Chouet said.

“We had the feeling that we had been heard,” he said. “There was nothing more to say other than that” (Hamburger/Wallsten/Drogin, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 11).

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