The Washington Times reports that the U.K.’s Butler report, as expected, bolstered the credibility of the claim that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger in 1999:
The British government yesterday bolstered President Bush’s assertion that Iraq sought uranium from Niger, casting further doubt on former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV’s claims to the contrary.
“It is accepted by all parties that Iraqi officials visited Niger in 1999,” the British report said. “The British government had intelligence from several different sources indicating that this visit was for the purpose of acquiring uranium.
“Since uranium constitutes almost three-quarters of Niger’s exports, the intelligence was credible,” the report added.
That buttressed an assertion by Mr. Bush in his 2003 State of the Union speech: “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” Yesterday, the British report called that assertion “well founded.”
So far, the administration has not made any public comment on the revelations in both the Senate Intelligence Committee report and the Butler report.
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