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Waxman Still Wants Rice To Answer
Question On Niger Uranium Claims
Patrick O'Connor
Politico
Tuesday April 10, 2007
After receiving what he deemed an insufficient response from the
State Department, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman
Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) is reiterating his request for Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice to appear before the panel on April 18
to answer questions about administration claims that Iraq tried
to buy enriched uranium from Niger.
Waxman wants Rice to answer questions about what she knew about
the assertion that Iraq tried to buy uranium before the U.S. invasion,
according to a letter the chairman sent Rice on Monday.
The claims, which have since been proved false, were the basis
for a now notorious line in President Bush’s State of the
Union in 2003 address to justify the invasion of Iraq. That claim
eventually led to the outing of Valerie Plame, a covert CIA agent,
who has already testified before Waxman’s committee.
In his most recent letter to Rice, Waxman lays out the four questions
he would like Rice to answer:
1) Whether she knew if Bush “cited forged evidence about
Iraq’s efforts to procure uranium from Niger in the State
of the Union Address”;
2) Whether she was aware of doubts raised by CIA and State Department
officials questioning the veracity of those claims before Bush delivered
his speech;
3) Whether there was any factual basis for Rice’s reference
in a 2003 op-ed to “Iraq’s efforts to get uranium from
abroad”;
4) Whether Rice “took appropriate steps to investigate how
the Niger claim ended up in the State of the Union address after
it was revealed to be fraudulent.”
Waxman also criticizes State Department legislative liaison Jeffrey
Bergner for failing to address any of the above questions in a letter
to the committee earlier this month.
“Rather than address any of these questions, Mr. Bergner
forwarded copies of two old State Department letter that have no
bearing whatsoever on your knowledge of, your role in, or your statements
about the Niger claim,” Waxman wrote.
Waxman also criticized Bergner for failing to answer the committee’s
questions about “the seemingly inconsistent way in which the
White House has responded to leaks of classified information, such
as the disclosure of the identity of cover CIA agent Valerie Plame.”
INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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