Italian Faces Pre-War Intelligence Probe

Looks like the Associated Press has picked up on this Italian intelligence story:

ROME - The head of Italy's military secret services will be questioned by a parliamentary commission next week over allegations that his organization gave the United States and Britain disputed documents suggesting that Saddam Hussein had been seeking uranium in Africa, officials said Tuesday.

Nicolo Pollari, director of the SISMI intelligence agency, will be questioned on Nov. 3 by members of the commission overseeing secret services, said Micaela Panella, a commission spokeswoman.

She said Pollari asked to be questioned after reports Monday and Tuesday in the Rome daily La Repubblica claiming SISMI passed on to the CIA, U.S. government officials and Britain's MI6 intelligence services a dossier it knew was forged.

The documents detailed a purported Iraqi deal to buy 500 tons of uranium yellowcake from Niger, a claim the United States and Britain used to try to prove Saddam Hussein was seeking to develop weapons of mass destruction and justify the case for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The Italian government a staunch U.S. ally repeatedly has denied reports that SISMI passed on documents about the Niger affair.

Now here's the fun part:

Pollari's hearing will not be open to the public, but the commission's president, Enzo Bianco, was expected to brief reporters after the meeting, Panella said.

You do know what's going to happen? The commission's going to sweep this whole affair under the rug. The last thing the Italian government wants to do is discover that they were involved in this whole, sorrid affair. Thus, we have secret hearings, where the commission's president Bianco can say anything he wants and quash this thing on the Italian side. Pollari may become the fall guy, in which case he'll be quietly let go.

If Pollari was invovled in creating these forged documents, then he was acting under orders from someone higher up. Who was that higher-up? Was it the advisor to the Foreign Minister Gianni Castellaneta? And if so, was Castellaneta following orders from Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi? Do you think the commission wants to uncover all of this--if Pollari talks about it? Would Berlusconi or Castellaneta want all this to come out? In one sense, it is out through the press, but then the Italian government can simply deny this whole thing took place. Pollari's testimony to the commission would validate this connection between the Italian government and the Bush White House PR-spin machine.

More questions, more speculation...More to come.