The AP reports that the motivation for the forged documents of a sale to Iraq of Nigerien yellowcake was financial, not political. But they do so in the context of an assertion which has been established to be utterly false by at least two independent Commissions:

WASHINGTON — The FBI has determined that financial gain, not an effort to influence U.S. policy, was behind the forged documents that the Bush administration used to bolster its prewar claim that Iraq sought uranium ore in Niger.

The President never claimed that the US  had evidence that Saddam sought to buy uranium in Niger. The President did say that the UK had evidence that Iraq was trying to buy uranium in Africa. 

The British Butler Commission confirmed that this claim was true, that it did not depend on the forged documents. 

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence investigation established that the US never relied on any forged documents in making its intelligence assessmenets or its case for war. 

At this point in time, I have to conclude that these repeated errors of such basic facts by the mainstream media can no longer be brushed aside as the result of stupidity or ignorance.

By now, I must conclude it is deliberate. 

Clarice Feldman   11 05 05