WASHINGTON, July 15 (UPI) -- The world's most sophisticated intelligence operation was duped by a low-level African diplomat, ABC News reported Tuesday.
For nearly a week, the Bush administration has been trying to explain how it came to pass that President Bush, in his State of the Union speech, claimed Saddam Hussein was trying to buy uranium in Africa.
The president said Monday the main thrust of his case for the Iraq war is, and was, accurate
However, the intelligence debacle grew out of a scam when an underpaid African diplomat stationed in Rome created bogus documents, which he then sold to the Italian secret service, sources said.
The Italians officially deny the sale, but intelligence sources told ABC the fake documents were produced in late 2001 in Rome, in a building that houses the tiny embassy of Niger.
The diplomat reportedly sold the forged documents to the Italian secret service for what sources say was a few thousand dollars.
