Italy's spymaster has named the man said to have passed along forged documents about Iraq seeking Niger uranium ore for nuclear weapons.
Gen. Nicolò Pollari, director of the Italian military intelligence agency, identified the source as Rocco Martino, described as an occasional spy.
Sen. Massimo Brutti, a member of the committee that oversees secret services, told the New York Times that Pollari identified Martino as a former intelligence informer who had been "kicked out of the agency." He did not say Martino was the forger.
The information about Iraq's desire to acquire the ore, known as yellowcake, was used by the Bush administration to help justify the invasion of Iraq. But the information was later revealed to have been based on forgeries.
The documents were the basis for sending former diplomat Joseph C. Wilson on a fact-finding mission to Niger that led to an inquiry and the indictment and resignation of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby.
© Copyright 2005 by United Press International
