It seems that the French were behind some forged documents purporting to show clear evidence that Saddam was actively trying to buy Niger yellowcake Uranium. You might--if you pay no attention to the French--think they were trying to be helpful (in an admittedly misguided way) to pave the way for Saddam's destruction. You'd be wrong (via Austin Bay). An Italian businesman was in the pay of France to get this information to us:
His admission to investigating magistrates in Rome on Friday apparently confirms suggestions that - by commissioning "Giacomo" to procure and circulate documents - France was responsible for some of the information later used by Britain and the United States to promote the case for war with Iraq.
Italian diplomats have claimed that, by disseminating bogus documents stating that Iraq was trying to buy low-grade "yellowcake" uranium from Niger, France was trying to "set up" Britain and America in the hope that when the mistake was revealed it would undermine the case for war, which it wanted to prevent.
Interesting. Recall a couple weeks ago (via Hitchens in Slate) an arrest:
A former aide to Secretary-General Annan who previously served as France's ambassador to the United Nations, Jean-Bernard Merimee, was captured yesterday in Paris as part of a French investigation into the oil-for-food program.
When your country (France) is hip deep in corruption to support a homicidal maniac dictator (talk about being a "poodle!"), a corrupt president (cue again the French music) must draw comfort in knowing that his intelligence service will do everything possible to support the government rather than undermine the government it serves. I actually envy the French on this score.
So the French have that goin' for them, as a wise groundskeeper once said. Which is nice.
The Vast French-Wing Conspiracy could take some lessons from the VRWC. You know, add a superscript TH to make the forgery a little more obvious. Or reference Ambassador Le Pew, or something (or was Wilson, after baking a week poolside in the African sun, filling that role? Oh, and don't miss this on Wilson and the press that won't let him fall).
Still, it is good to know that France can be of help on occasion--as long as they aren't trying to be helpful. So let's all give a warm welcome to Paris for joining the Coalition of the Willing. Hey, we've go that goin' for us, don't we?
UPDATE: From the Weekly Standard blog:
In a letter to the Wall Street Journal a short time ago, the French ambassador to the US wrote, "Opposing a military intervention in Iraq at a time when U.N. inspections were working and Iraq was not an imminent threat to peace was a decision my country is proud of, one based on principles and shared by many other nations. The behavior of my country and the French diplomatic approach toward Iraq deserve respect, not insults or innuendoes." From an Associated Press piece today on the massive oil-for-food scandal:
Tracing the politicization of oil contracts, the report said Iraqi leaders in the late 1990s decided to deny American, British and Japanese companies allocations to purchase oil because of their countries' opposition to lifting sanctions.
At the same time, it said, Iraq gave preferential treatment to France, Russia and China, which were perceived to be more favorable to lifting sanctions and were also permanent members of the Security Council.
Now I'm hyper-envious. Not only an intelligence service that works for the elected government but a diplomatic corps that will go to the mat to defend the government?
I do respect this. But just how do the French do this? Seriously. I'd feed our spooks and nancy boys Brie and truffles if that would get them to support our policies instead of undermine them.
