“Documents in the Niger dossier [claiming Iraq sought to purchase yellowcake uranium from Niger] were not just forged, they were full of errors. A letter dated October 10, 2000, was signed by [Niger’s] Minister of Foreign Affairs Allele Elhadj Habibou–even though he had been out of office for more than a decade. Its September 28 postmark indicated that somehow the letter had been received nearly two weeks before it was sent. In another letter, President Tandja Mamadou’s signature appeared to be phony. The accord signed by him referred to the Niger constitution of May 12, 1965, when a new constitution had been enacted in 1999. One of the letters was dated July 30, 1999, but referred to agreements that were not made until a year later. Finally, the agreement called for the five hundred tons of uranium to be transferred from one ship to another in international waters–a spectacularly difficult feat.”
– Craig Unger, The Fall of the House of Bush, Pages 236-237