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@@ GLADIO at work: Michael Ledeen, Silvio Berlusconi, Nicolo Pollari, SISMI, & Stephen Hadley linked to uranium lies @@

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Arash

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Jan 18, 2006, 4:15:44 PM1/18/06

Raw Story
January 17, 2006

American who advised Pentagon says he wrote for magazine that found forged Niger
documents

By Larisa Alexandrovna

A controversial neoconservative who occasionally consulted for the Bush Defense
Department has confirmed that he was a contributor to the right-wing Italian magazine
"Panorama" (http://www.panorama.it), whose reporter first came across forged
documents which purported that Iraq was seeking to obtain uranium from Niger
(http://tinyurl.com/bu8qx).

The bogus documents became the basis for the infamous sixteen words in President
Bush's 2003 State of the Union Address (http://tinyurl.com/52rm), in which he
detailed his case for war. Their origin has been one of the most persistent mysteries
in how American intelligence on Iraq was so wrong.

In an email to RAW STORY, occasional Bush foreign affairs advisor Michael Ledeen
(member of P2 masonry lodge) confirmed that he was, "several years ago", a regular
contributor to "Panorama". Leeden would not provide more specificity.

While most Americans have yet to hear of Michael Ledeen or "Panorama", the
confirmation of his work with the publication adds yet another dimension to the Niger
forgeries scandal and possible U.S. government involvement in pre-war intelligence
manipulation.

Michael Ledeen (http://tinyurl.com/avqmz) denies that he was involved in the Niger
uranium forgeries. He says he has no knowledge of the documents or how they came to
be provided to the U.S. government.

"I've said repeatedly, I have no involvement of any sort with the Niger story, and I
have no knowledge of it aside from what has appeared in the press", Michael Ledeen
said in an email. "I have not discussed it with any government person in any
country."

But Michael Ledeen confirmed that he wrote for "Panorama" and worked with the
publication's Editor-in-Chief, Carlo Rossella (http://tinyurl.com/ajydw).

"I have no current relationship with Panorama", Michael Ledeen said. "For a year or
two I wrote an occasional column for Panorama, I would guess on average twice a
month".

"That ended when the editor, Carlo Rossella, became a TV star", he added.

A closer look at the series of overlapping relationships and events, however,
suggests that Michael Ledeen (http://tinyurl.com/94pmm) may have been connected, even
if inadvertently, to the Niger uranium forgeries.

"Panorama" has been in the crosshairs since late 2002, when one of its journalists,
Elisabetta Burba (http://tinyurl.com/3ln7c), was handed a set of documents --
including contracts -- purporting to show that Saddam had purchased 500 tons of
yellowcake uranium from the African nation of Niger. These documents were critical in
supporting the administration's claims that Iraq had reconstituted its nuclear
weapons program.

The documents were later debunked as forgeries, though not before their content had
been referenced in the President's State of the Union Address. Questions remain over
whether the Administration knew they were forgeries, since it took the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) just a few hours to discredit them in March 2003, shortly
after which the U.S. invaded Iraq.

John Pike (http://tinyurl.com/d2eqk), director of the military watchdog
GlobalSecurity.org, recently told (http://tinyurl.com/8aqt9) RAW STORY the path of
the documents from Italy to the White House is troubling.

"The thing that was so embarrassing about the episode was not simply that the
documents were forgeries, but that they were clumsy forgeries, as was so quickly
determined by the IAEA", John Pike said. "It is one thing to be taken in, but to be
so easily taken in suggests either bewildering incompetence or intentional deception,
or possibly both".

While Michael Ledeen admits to writing for "Panorama", he explained that the work had
been in the past, saying, "That would be a couple of years ago".

But "a couple of years ago" would be right around the time when the forgeries were
delivered to Elisabetta Burba or sent from the U.S. embassy in Rome via backchannels
to the U.S. State Department, bypassing the CIA and other intelligence agencies.

Elisabetta Burba says she got the documents from former Italian military
intelligence, SISMI (http://tinyurl.com/b5p3v) asset Rocco Martino
(http://tinyurl.com/da6zs).

Rocco Martino (http://tinyurl.com/84f79) handed the documents off to Elisabetta Burba
in the fall of 2002, initially demanding money and then simply providing them.

After investigating the documents for an article and finding them to be suspect,
Elisabetta Burba suggested to her editor, Carlo Rossella, that she take a trip to
Niger to investigate further. Carlo Rossella diverted her to the U.S. embassy in Rome
instead. She never ran the article. Elisabetta Burba dropped off the forgeries to the
U.S. embassy on October 9, 2002.

But as Elisabetta Burba was investigating the veracity of the documents, head of
Italian military intelligence (SISMI) Nicolo Pollari (http://tinyurl.com/86fyd) was
meeting (http://tinyurl.com/92qbh) with then-Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen
Hadley (http://tinyurl.com/9hvqo).

The meeting, which took place in September 2002, is alleged to be brokered by Michael
Ledeen, although the only U.S. official Nicolo Pollari claims to have met is George
Tenet, whom he also met in October 2001. When Questioned about the meeting, Stephen
Hadley has said (http://tinyurl.com/95ef6) no one involved in the meeting had "any
recollection of a discussion of natural uranium, or any recollection of any documents
being passed".

Elisabetta Burba delivered the forgeries to the U.S. embassy a month after the Nicolo
Pollari (http://tinyurl.com/96vsy) and Stephen Hadley meeting.

Questions also surround Elisabetta Burba's attempts to authenticate the documents.

Speaking to RAW STORY, foreign intelligence sources say they wonder why she delivered
documents she felt to be bogus to the U.S. embassy. These sources say there are two
questions surrounding Elisabetta Burba's account: If she did indeed find the
documents to be forgeries, why did she did take them to an embassy as opposed to her
own authorities -- and why did she deliver them to the U.S. embassy specifically?

It was Elisabetta Burba's editor at Panorama, Carlo Rossella, who allegedly told her
(http://tinyurl.com/c9qhb) to take the documents to the U.S. embassy, despite her own
requests to travel to Niger to further investigate the claims.

It was also Carlo Rosella who intervened when Elisabetta Burba requested to contact
the White House after hearing the infamous "16 words" (http://tinyurl.com/d457e) in
President Bush's 2003 State of the Union address (http://tinyurl.com/52rm),
dissuading her from contacting U.S. officials.

Carlo Rosella, intelligence sources say, could have been acting on the orders of
Panorama's owner, Silvio Berlusconi (http://tinyurl.com/7jb6x), Italy's equivalent of
Rupert Murdoch (http://tinyurl.com/xgcd).

Silvio Berlusconi (member of P2 masonry lodge) -- who also happens to be the current
Prime Minister – was a supporter of President Bush leading up to the war. Berlusconi
was not immediately available for comment.
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/American_who_consulted_for_Pentagon_says_0117.html