Nigergate, French Spymaster Debunks SISMI Version

Paris -

The Direction Générale de la Sécurité extériéure (Dgse) is the French counter-espionage abroad. Alain Chouet was Vice-Director. Today he is enjoying his retirement in the country but - up to the summer 2002 - he was the man who handled the `Nigergate' on behalf of Paris. He says: "I know what happened. When it happened. How it happened. I guided the French intelligence in this affair. I made the decisions. I communicated and exchanged with the Americans all information concerning this case. At the time I was head of the Service de rensignment de sécurité, the Security and Intelligence Department, which is responsible for anti-terrorism, counter-intelligence abroad and counter-proliferation of mass destruction weapons".

Alain Chouet's story modifies the reconstruction of the affair given by the government and Sismi to Parliament in four main points.



Rocco Martino, the crook who spread the false documents abroad, was not working for Dgse as the Sismi director, Nicolò Pollari, has repeatedly said (also to Repubblica).


The CIA have been in possession of at least a part of the false documents (given out by Rocco Martino) not since October 2002 , when they were handed over to the American Embassy in Rome by Panorama, but four months before, during the summer.


http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2005/12/1/12030/8816#2

I was particularly interested in this story's timeline b/c tonight I had the dubious pleasure of watching "The Weekly Standard's" Stephen Hayes smear Joe Wilson on C-Span. He proceeded to follow his fellow neocons' routine of misrepresenting things Wilson said. For one thing, he was saying that "Joe Wilson said he knew the Niger documents were forgeries when he went to Niger"--I'm paraphrasing, but the substance of this statement is false anyway. He then said, "But Wilson contradicted himself, b/c the Niger forgeries were not known by us at the time Wilson went to Niger." I had my doubts about Hayes' statements, and this article does indeed give the lie to what Hayes said. This article says the CIA knew a lot about the Niger claims even before 2001.

as well as a lock-step neo. Wilson will have the last laugh, as will the French. They know where the bodies are buried and I believe that the reason the pugs excoriated them was a Swiftboat tactic because they do know so much, especially about Cheney.

And yes, Hayes is a total ass. I first saw him on "Hardball". It amused me that his pathetic rag magazine didn't send its premier neocon to appear on "Hardball"--no, its premier neocon, the weakly Bill Kristol, likes to stay safely on Fox, where he is laughably passed off as just a little ol' press guy.

In his appearance on C-Span, Hayes also did some crowing about the CBS "forged documents" set-up. Guess he's in touch with the freepster crowd.