FBI Reopens Inquiry On Niger Forgeries

by Steve

Eriposte has been harping on this for weeks, and now the FBI has decided to reopen its prematurely-closed inquiry on the Niger forgeries. According to Saturday's Los Angeles Times, the FBI now confirms that as a result of a request and apparently some pressure from Senate Democrats, the bureau is taking a new look at the case, possibly also because someone has prompted previously uncooperative folks to play ball now.

The FBI's decision to reopen the investigation reverses the agency's announcement last month that it had finished a two-year inquiry and concluded that the forgeries were part of a moneymaking scheme -- and not an effort to manipulate U.S. foreign policy.

Those findings concerned some members of the Senate Intelligence Committee in the wake of published reports that the FBI had not interviewed a former Italian spy named Rocco Martino, who was identified as the original source of the documents. The committee had requested the initial investigation.

After talking with committee members, FBI officials decided to pursue "additional work" on the case, likely exploring the origins of the forgeries and whether the documents had been created specifically to help make the case for ousting Saddam Hussein.

Hello? And who would want to create the documents to help make the case for ousting Saddam?

Note the typical Bush Administration hack masquerading as a “senior law enforcement official” (someone at the top of the Justice Department) who confirmed that the FBI has reopened the inquiry while dismissing in advance whatever might be found. But this person does admit this:

The senior official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the investigation, said the request to reopen the inquiry was prompted by information recently made available to the FBI. Also, he said, some people whom he declined to name had become more cooperative.

And who, besides Patrick Fitzgerald perhaps would have made someone more cooperative right about now?

Lastly, other federal officials who know about this case are pointing to where this inquiry may lead, and people like Michael Ledeen shouldn’t feel too comfortable right about now.

Federal officials familiar with the case say investigators could examine whether the forgeries were instigated by U.S. citizens who advocated an invasion of Iraq or by members of the Iraqi National Congress -- the group led by Ahmad Chalabi that worked closely with Bush administration officials in the buildup to the war.

Get some more popcorn folks. Once you tie Chalabi and people like Ledeen into the forgeries, you tie Cheney’s office into this crap as well. And if that connection is made, it is game, set, and match.