Eriposte,

Could you clear up a bit of confusion on my part?

If I’m interpreting this correctly, the WABman, prior to the appearance of the forged documents, contacted the Navy with information of yellowcake stored in Cotonou that he asserted was destined for Iraq.

Am I correct in assuming that your research has confirmed that there was, in fact, yellowcake at the warehouse in Cotonou? I’m getting this from the quote below, which seems to state the presence of yellowcake as a fact, but that it was destined for France as opposed to Iraq.

"They both gave assurances from the French government that the material sitting in the port was under French control and wasn't going anywhere else," the former CIA officer said.

So, a few weeks later, a U.S. defense attaché checks the warehouse and finds only cotton. Is there any record or mention of the yellowcake being shipped to France? Was Cotonou the normal storage facility for yellowcake on its way to France? Was this a secure warehouse?

Is there anything sufficiently unusual about this particular shipment that it would lead the WABman to believe that this was a clandestine shipment destined for Iraq?

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J. West,

Yes, as far as I know Cotonou is/was a routine stop since Niger is landlocked.

There are two pieces of information presented which are consistent. There was uranium going to France at a particular point in time and later on there were cotton bales.

What is most unusual is that the WABman would claim to have been involved in "coordinating" a uranium shipment from Niger to Iraq - a shipment that never existed and whose details matched in certain particulars information in the forgeries.

Scout,

The link to "Silver Blaze" is intentional. Just read the Wikipedia page a bit (near the introduction) to see why I linked to it.

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Thanks, eriposte, u.jest asked the question that popped into my head. Is WAB named anywhere? Who knows who he is, who has his number? Obviously, he's a part of the original flim-flam; is he a known entity to the administration, and that's why they ho-hummed his connection with the story? I'm a bit under the weather so my brain's not making connections it should.

eR,

Way to belt it out to the cheap seats!

So, if there is any individual on earth who needs to be traced down and questioned immediately... it is this "West African businessman". Any takers in the media? How about the FBI?

The WABman is supposed to have contacted the NCIS office in Marseille. An enterprsing journalist interested in chasing down this story might like to start there.

The phone number is listed here, in this Defense Dept. office directory. (.pdf)

C'mon, MSM. Do we have to do everything?

j. west,

If I’m interpreting this correctly, the WABman, prior to the appearance of the forged documents, contacted the Navy with information of yellowcake stored in Cotonou that he asserted was destined for Iraq.

The WABman contacted the Navy in late-November, 2002, more than a month after the documents surfaced. (Actually, I would argue that at least some of the documents had been around a lot longer than that. Since about October, 2001.)

Is there anything sufficiently unusual about this particular shipment that it would lead the WABman to believe that this was a clandestine shipment destined for Iraq?

We don't know who he was or why he made the report. That's why it's so important to contact him. However, it does seem awfully suspicious that he knew details of a uranium deal that didn't exist. I think what he was trying to do was provide "independent" confirmation of the Niger forgeries, i.e. he's in league with the Niger forgery cabal.

j. west,

I should add that the WABman contacted the Navy after the docs were received by the US IC but before they became public.