The Italian Letter: How the Bush Administration Used a Fake Letter to Build the Case for War in Iraq

by Knut Royce and Peter Eisner

Book Overview

The so-called Italian letter is a package of allegedly forged documents that seem to be based on articles stolen from the Nigerian embassy in Rome in 2001. The document was nonetheless adopted by the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1594865736
• ISBN13: 9781594865732
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: Rodale Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

In the lives of the American people it was the end of Innocence

1. The Italian letter indirectly supplied by Laura Montini to Rocco Martino and introduced to Elisabetta Burba was not concretely proven. Montini, an employee at Nigerian embassy, in Rome produced the excerpt from the Italian letter: "The government of the republic of Niger and The Govrnment of Iraq by their respective official delegated representatives. Said provision equaling 500 tons of pure uranium per year will be delivered in 2 phases." 2. Michael Ledeen, fellow of the American Enterprise Institute was thought to have had a hand in the Italian letter development from forgery to intelligence because his ties with Italian intelligence services. Ledeen alleged Iranian intelligence agents, and noted Iranian Intelligence fabricator, Manucher Ghorbanifar. AEI fellows include Cheney, Shultz, Kirkpatrick, and Ledeen. 3. Burba was convinced that Niger did not have the capability of shipping yellowcake to Iraq, secretly or openly. Yellowcake was store in 880 barrel filled half way, to control weight and safety. Burba estimated to ship the barrels would have required a 100 truck convey and tractor trailers were rarely seen in West Africa. Each truck would have to travel hundreds of miles from the mining sites in Niger to Cotonou, a major port city in neighboring Benin, where the uranium would be loaded on ships. The risk to sell uranium to Iraq would have been disasterous to Niger, if discovered, because the country receives financial aid from the US and Europe. It wouldn't make sense to make the deal. 4. Burba left copies of the Italian letter with US intelligence and inspired the Bush 16 words scenario. The intelligence community was stunned by the statement not knowing where the statement came from or the source of the information. The policy office was out of the loop and was unaware of a rogue operation in the African country. The intelligence community case was the Iraq was rearming with chemical and biological weapons and when the State department discounted the Niger claim, the director of WINPAC said it was possible. The difference of opinion had more to do with politics than analysis of intelligence. 5. Wolfowitz as his from Christopher DeMuth, president of the American Enterprise Institute, to put together a small team of scholars to assess the dynamics inside the Middle East that had produced the Sep 11 hijackers. The twelve man team concluded that Saadam Hussein had to be removed from power to transform the region into a stable and less threaten part of the world. Neoconservatives were also attracted to the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs with the advisory board consisting of Kirkpatrick, Ledeen, Perle, and Woolsey and Feith as chairman. 6. Wolfowitz hope that Ahmad Chalabi would preside over Iraq after the US invasion. Chalabi received $30 million by the Defense Department in the run-up to the Iraq invasion, payment inpart for providing intelligence, most turned out to be worthless. Chalabi "attempted to

Faked out?

Blow by blow account of how to construct a lie and get it delivered to the public by a president. Very well written account of the infamous `sixteen words' in Bush's 2003 state of the union address. This is the way the Mafia would use our intelligence agencies. It also includes a quick reference time line of events for those amount us who do not posses great faculties of memory.

Whoa....

This book really opens your eyes to what exactly this administration has done to push the war in Iraq. It is very indepth and very accurate. While I was reading this book, at times, I would forget that I am reading about something that is going on right at this moment because the crap they have pulled sounded like something in a movie. It's frightening that this is real. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what the hell is going on.

Excellent story of the lead up to the Iraq War

I'm a news junkie, read several news websites, watch CNN, read the Wall Street Journal and the New Yorker. Still there were surprises for me in this book regarding the misuse of intelligence by both the White House and the intelligence agencies themselves. It also offers excellent insight as to the workings of some of our allies' intelligence agencies. Trust me, you WON'T be bored. The authors interviewed current and former US intelligence personnel and the book appears very well sourced.

A Stunning Indictment for Bush Inc

I found the book to be frightening in its accuracy and detail. What we are slowly finding out is that the Bush Administration literally tried to float a world war on pure ideology and to heck with public advisement. Each chapter is meticulously footnoted and and cross-referenced. There can be no other conclusion than that crimes were committed. The author has tremendous courage to reveal these facts as others like him have become targets of a vindictive Administration out for retaliation.