The former Iraqi official tarnished by fabricated claims that he sought uranium from Niger now directs a think tank in Amman, ignored by most Western reporters investigating how the US went to war. Wissam al-Zahawie is well known as a classical singer--"bass, baritone or tenor, depending on the day." He also directs a research institute under Crown Prince Hassan in Amman which stands ready as a forum for discussions on ending the Iraq War. He brings fifty years of diplomatic experience, beginning before Saddam Hussein, to the process of conflict resolution.
For American journalists and diplomats, he apparently remains radioactive, however, an off-limits source in the search for the truth. Iinterviewed al-Zahawi recently in Amman and talked about the infamous July 6, 2000 letter to Niger concerning the alleged uranium deal that bore his name. He had pointed out to UN weapons in 2002 that that the signature on the document was forged, a conclusion later upheld by intelligence analysts. The letter in question, al-Zahawi told them, was both signed and sealed, in violation of standard diplomatic procedures. Nevertheless, the Bush Administration used the claims of uranium oxide from Niger as a key basis for going to war; President Bush said "the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Judith Miller of the New York Times was persuaded to report in September 2002 that Iraq had obtained special aluminum tubes for enriching the Niger yellowcake in centrifuges, a story later repudiated by her own editors.
Al-Zawahie still wants to know who fabricated his signature and the package of documents. The evidence shows that Italian intelligence operatives provided the forged documents to their US and UK colleagues, "yet no questions appeared to be asked on where or how the Italian or other intelligence services got the documents to ascertain their source", al-Zawahie notes. "I did not know that Niger produced uranium", he said.
Al-Zawahie was a diplomat whose career began under the Iraqi monarchy in 1955. He says he never joined any parties or groups in his career, nor ever engaged in any commercial transactions. He was an under-secretary in the Iraqi foreign ministry during the first Gulf War, and witnessed the final meeting between Saddam and then-Ambassador Joseph Wilson. Thereafter he became Iraq's ambassador to the Vatican, which explains his interest in the Italian connection. In February 1999 al-Zahawie was sent by Iraq to four West African countries to invite their heads of state to visit Baghdad. Niger was his first stop, and al-Zawahie passed along the invitation, which he says was "warmly received." [Shortly after, Niger's president was assassinated.] "I assumed that the invitations were aimed at breaking the high level contacts with Iraq", he says, denying that he had any discussions of uranium whatsoever. Instead of uranium samples, Niger officials insisted on giving him a camel's saddle, which he declined.
In response to the trip, British intelligence reported that "Iraqi purchase of uranium could have been the subject of discussions." Then Italian intelligence added that there was a "verbatim text" of an
agreement, without disclosing it. Al-Zahawie' absolute denial of the Western claim that Iraq negotiated an agreement to receive 500 tons of yellowcake per year was supported by American intelligence that Niger's two uranium mines could produce no more than three hundred tons at best, and that one of the mines was flooded and other tightly-controlled by the French. James Risen's definitive book
concludes that "Iraq did not need to buy uranium from Niger in order to provide fuel for a bomb."
Al-Zahawie finally retired from the Iraqi foreign service in 2001, taking up residence in Amman. His only return to Iraq was to answer the weapons inspectors questions in 2002. He continues to investigate who forged the documents in the first place. Was the fabricating done by the Italians, or was the outsourcing from the UK or the US? The answer might reveal the deepest secrets of the Iraq War.
Meanwhile, he serves as secretary-general of the Arab Thought Forum under Prince Hassan, the president of the Club of Rome. The Forum has offered its venue for discussions of a US exit strategy and reconstruction of the Iraqi national state, bringing together not only Iraqis but other parties from the Arab Summit. The need for talks is critical, with tens of thousands of exiled Iraqis in Jordan, with hotels in Amman being bombed.
With the US apparently prepared to talk about Iraq with Iran, why not the Jordanians and Iraqis exiled there? Is it because Iran has the nuclear enrichment program than al-Zawahie was accused of seeking for Iraq? The US cannot talk to Iraqi Arabs through Teheran, but might be able to through Amman. Who knows, stranger things have happened, Al-Zahawie might even be an intermediary. He told me that he finds singing classical music a "good way to calm and bring people together."