*Ø* Blogmanac | Australia and US admin's aluminium tube hoax

"LINDA MOTTRAM: To last night's Four Corners program, which also raises issues for Mr Downer. It cast further doubt on claims made before the war by both the United States and Australia about a shipment of aluminium tubes, intercepted on their way to Iraq.

"In the lead-up to war, Iraq was accused of trying to import the tubes, to enrich uranium, to restart its nuclear weapons program. But several highly placed experts have told Four Corners that it was unlikely to be the case.

"Peta Donald reports.

"PETA DONALD: Iraq's attempt to import 60,000 aluminium tubes back in 2001, was part of the US case for going to war.

"It's now been revealed Australian authorities knew about the tubes early on, with a Sydneysider involved in shipping them from China to Jordan, businessman Garry Cordukes.

"He told Four Corners he was contacted by an Australian defence official before the shipment left, and was asked to bring some samples over from China.

"GARRY CORDUKES: I was met at Sydney Airport by a gentleman holding up a sign with my name on and I handed over the tube and that was the end of that. But obviously by this stage we were quite nervous about the situation.

"PETA DONALD: The tubes were seized in Jordan and didn't make it to Iraq, and there was scepticism high up about what they were meant for, with some arguing the tubes were too thick and heavy to be used for uranium enrichment.

"Greg Thielmann is a former senior intelligence officer with the US State Department.

"GREG THIELMANN: There is a growing consensus within the, not only the US intelligence community but also among our close allies, with whom we shared a lot of the results, and the consensus was that this was not bound for the nuclear weapons program.

"REPORTER: And those close allies would include Australia?

"GREG THIELMANN: That's right ..."

Source

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Spinning the Tubes
"How Australian intelligence was seized upon on by the CIA, spun and gilded, then presented to the world as the best evidence that Saddam Hussein was building weapons of mass destruction.

"LIZ JACKSON, REPORTER: On 23 May 2001, a container load of thousands of aluminium tubes left this factory in southern China. It travelled on a slow barge to Hong Kong, en route to Iraq. The CIA was watching its progress, as was Australian intelligence.

"GARRY CORDUKES, DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL ALUMINIUM SUPPLY: We had feelings that perhaps phone calls were being intercepted, etc, but that's...that's hearsay, and we don't know.

"LIZ JACKSON: Four Corners has tracked down a number of the players, and tonight we can reveal how one small gem of Australian-sourced intelligence was seized on by the CIA, spun and gilded, and then presented by the leaders of the world as their best evidence that Saddam Hussein was starting to build a bomb ..."

Read the full transcript of the Four Corners TV documentary (Australia) with its incredible disclosures ... and spread the word!