From our friends at the Times of London, a possible answer to a mystery and the total destruction of some pretty loony conspiracy theories; the riddle of who forged the so-called Niger Uranium Documents may have been solved:

TWO employees of the Niger embassy in Rome were responsible for the forgery of a notorious set of documents used to help justify the Iraq war, an official investigation has allegedly found.

According to Nato sources, the investigation has evidence that Niger’s consul and its ambassador’s personal assistant faked a contract to show Saddam Hussein had bought uranium ore from the impoverished west African country.

The documents, which emerged in 2002, were used in a US State Department fact sheet on Iraq’s weapons programme to build the case for war. They were denounced as forgeries by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) shortly before the 2003 invasion.

Is that the end of the story? Hardly. Because what this investigation also confirmed – and buttressed by the the British Butler Commission as well as our own Senate Select Committee Investigation – was that another document that was not a forgery was used as a basis for the claim that Saddam was trying to purchase uranium from Niger:

Some time in 2002, however, they obtained another apparently incriminating document, the source said. This was a letter purporting to be from al-Zahawie relating to a visit to Niger in 1999 to discuss the possible supply of uranium. This did not constitute evidence that Niger had agreed to supply yellowcake but it did indicate Saddam was trying to obtain it.

The letter, deemed “credible” by the Butler inquiry into Iraq intelligence, appears to be the evidence that led to Bush’s claim in January 2003 that the British had “learnt that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa”.

It turns out that the French had a paid agent who was trying to bilk French intelligence into buying a forged document about an actual uranium sale to Saddam from Niger. This was after the agent had established his bona fides by handing over an authentic document about a visit to Niger by the Iraqi Ambassador to the Vatican (a man obviously with a lot of time on his hands).

The French, smelling a rat, spotted the forgery immediately and refused to pay. It was later in 2002 that the French obtained another authentic document this time detailing the meeting in 1999 between the same Iraqi Ambassador and a former Niger Prime Minster where unspecified trade topics were discussed. Since Niger’s exports are extremely limited – cowpeas, livestock, and onions as well as uranium – it doesn’t take an expert to guess what commodity was under discussion.

Just for fun, let’s look at those dreaded 16 words one more time from the SOTU in 2003:

“The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”

For the mentally challenged among you, let me sum up: 1) a document is passed to the British government from the French authenticating claims that Saddam was trying to buy uranium from Niger, 2) This is exactly what Bush said. 3) Joe Wilson is a scurvy liar.

Does this really matter?

Of course not – not in any way that counts. I suppose for the record, historians will have a good laugh at the lefties who twisted their panties into knots screaming that Bush lied about Saddam and Niger uranium. But in the current political climate where the impeachment drums are starting to beat louder and louder the closer we get to November, this will be lost in the shuffle and the lie will continue to be told. Or, as is the case when one of their strawmen is knocked down, the left will pretend they never mentioned it and move on to the next meme.