“The report that Iraq had approached Niger to discuss a yellowcake purchase came originally from the British, but when the CIA sent former ambassador Joseph Wilson to Niger to check it out, he said that none of his contacts confirmed it. He added that the Niger uranium mines were operated by the French, and it would be all but impossible for five hundred tons of yellowcake to be diverted to Iraq. Wilson’s [February 22, 2002] report, according to the committee, was never circulated to the White House or cited in intelligence estimates; nor were later reports from a U.S. diplomat in Niger discounting the yellowcake claim…”
– Thomas Powers, The Military Error, Page 26