I didn't need any more details; the official from
SISMI had the answers to all the questions that occurred to me.
Osama Mustafa Hassan, an imam better known as Abu Omar, was snatched from a Milan street on February 17, 2003, in an operation coordinated by the CIA and
SISMI.
Nicolo Pollari of SISMI had said Martino was working for French intelligence as the time (on a freelance basis) and that this could be behind Britain's claim that a "separate intelligence agency" was the source of the Niger document.
Finally, Knight Ridder reports that, contrary to recent Italian denials, US officials said SISMI did pass on "bogus allegations to the United States of an Iraqi effort to buy uranium ore from the African nation of Niger for a nuclear bomb program".
The issue of the Niger yellowcake uranium precursor had been a point of controversy since late 2001, when the Italian secret service,
SISMI, reported to their American, British and Israeli counterparts that they had obtained documents on Niger government letterhead indicating that Iraq had attempted to purchase 500 tons of yellowcake.
17, 2003, in an operation coordinated by the CIA and Italy's
SISMI military intelligence.
Italy's secret service
SISMI learned that a former Iraqi army colonel had told a suspected al-Qaeda cell in Madrid to strike, said Il Messagero newspaper.
17, 2003, in an "extraordinary rendition" operation coordinated by the CIA and Italy's
SISMI military intelligence.