US disputes Italy role in Iraq claim

From The Age The White House has disputed accusations that Italian intelligence in a 2002 meeting passed off fake documents, showing Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger, that formed part of US President George W Bush’s case for war against Saddam Hussein.

US officials who attended a September 9, 2002, meeting with Italy’s spy chief do not recall the issue coming up, said a spokesman for the White House National Security Council. The meeting is central to the accusations. “No one who was present at the meeting remembers yellow cake (uranium) being discussed nor any documents being passed,” spokesman Frederick Jones said.

If ‘no one remembers’ what about referring to the minutes kept by the Secretary or don’t we do that anymore. Surely the US can declassify parts of the minutes just to stem the carping and even if they can’t do that, they could say “We have referred to the minutes and that didn’t happen so shut up!”