Niger demands formal exoneration of Bush's Iraq- uranium allegation

NIAMEY, Niger (AP)

Niger's president demanded the U.N. nuclear agency exonerate it of any claims it had any uranium dealings with Iraq, a widely discounted accusation included in President Bush state of the union address. ---

``This affair represents nothing other than accusations without foundation,'' Niger President Mamadou Tandja said in a televised address late Saturday in the arid West African nation.

The Vienna-based U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency should ``publicly wash Niger of all suspicions before the U.N. Security Council,'' Tandja declared. ---

``It's an unusual request,'' a spokeswoman for the agency, Melissa Fleming, said in Vienna. ``We'd have to get it formally in writing and then see what we would do with it.'' ---

Did you ever get the feeling that this administration took office with the intention of pissing off as many nations as possible?

Perhaps an us-against-the-world position is exactly what the neocons are shooting for. Fear and paranoia seems to work well as a means to maintain power.

After 9/11, Americans were united in shock and grief and the U.S. had the sympathy of the world. Today, America is divided like never before (except, perhaps for the Vietnam War-era) and Bush* has squandered all that good will from the rest of the world. 9/11 happened because a group of people hated the U.S. enough to becomne terrorists. Considering this, it makes perfect sense to turn friends and allies into enemies whenever possible.:crazy:

to keep the bushgang from trashing them.


and I noticed in the article they described Niger as "the arid West African nation". isn't there some other word besides arid that can describe Niger?

Judge's chamber is being fumigated. He's on the golf course till the fumes die down.

Yesterday in a thread in here Niger was told to keep it quiet by the U.S. ambassador, don't stir things up. From the article:

America silences Niger leaders in Iraq nuclear row
By David Harrison in Niamey, Niger
(Filed: 03/08/2003)
America has warned the Niger government to keep out of the row over claims that Saddam Hussein sought to buy uranium for his nuclear weapons programme from the impoverished West African state.
Herman Cohen, a former assistant secretary of state for Africa and one of America's most experienced Africa hands, called on Mamadou Tandja, Niger's president, in the capital Niamey last week to relay the message from Washington, according to senior Niger government officials.
One said: "Let's say Mr Cohen put a friendly arm around the president to say sorry about the forged documents, but then squeezed his shoulder hard enough to convey the message, 'Let's hear no more about this affair from your government'. Basically he was telling Niger to shut up."


In a thread in LBN yesterday this was posted. I was saying yesterday in that thread that they need to stand up to the U.S. Best way to take on a bully is to stand up to them.

The companies that Iraq was supposed to have contacted to purchase yellow cake are French owned. I wonder if the French have anything to do with Niger tweaking Bush's nose over this right now? Nah. Couldn't be.

Don

Accept nothing less.

Niamey - The president of the West African state of Niger on Sunday rejected claims that his country had sold uranium to Iraq, as alleged by the United States and Britain as part of their justification for invading Iraq.

In a speech marking independence day, Mamadou Tandja said the claim was an "accusation without foundation" and that the International Atomic Energy Agency had cleared his country of all suspicion at the United Nations.

"This affair represents nothing other than accusations without foundation," Tandja said in a televised address in the arid West African nation.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=68&art_id=vn20030804013819818C337585&set_id=1