Triangulating Scandal Italian

Juan Cole 11/03/2005

Triangulating a Scandal

The Italian parliament is again looking into charges that Italian military intelligence passed forged documents alleging Iraqi purchases of Niger uranium to the US. The charges were amplified in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica last week (check my October archives for the link.

It occurs to me that if a new and thorough Italian investigation gets going it could help Fitzgerald and the Senate Intelligence committee. The Italians should look at possible connections of their military intelligence with personnel of the American Enterprise Institute, especially Michael Ledeen and Harold Rhode. The former is alleged to have figured in the first Italian parliamentary investigation.

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page