The FBI is reopening their case into the forged documents that made the claim
Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger. These are the very same documents that lead
to the disclosure of Valerie Plame’s identity as a CIA operative.

WASHINGTON — The FBI has reopened an inquiry into one of the most
intriguing aspects of the pre-Iraq war intelligence fiasco: how the Bush
administration came to rely on forged documents linking Iraq to nuclear
weapons materials as part of its justification for the invasion.

The documents inspired intense U.S. interest in the buildup to the war —
and they led the CIA to send a former ambassador to the African nation of
Niger to investigate whether Iraq had sought the materials there. The
ambassador, Joseph C. Wilson IV, found little evidence to support such a
claim, and the documents were later deemed to have been forged.

But President Bush referred to the claim in his 2003 State of the Union
address in making the case for the invasion. Bush’s speech, Wilson’s trip
and the role Wilson’s wife played in sending him have created a political
storm that still envelops the White House.

The documents in question included letters on Niger government letterhead
and purported contracts showing sales of uranium to Iraq. They were provided
in 2002 to an Italian magazine, which turned them over to the U.S. Embassy
in Rome.

The FBI’s decision to reopen the investigation reverses the agency’s
announcement last month that it had finished a two-year inquiry and
concluded that the forgeries were part of a moneymaking scheme — and not an
effort to manipulate U.S. foreign policy.

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I am wondering what the actual reasoning for reopening this investigation is.
The only thing I can figure out is it has something to do with Fitzgerald’s
investigation and the new grand jury for the leak case. Perhaps he has decided
to see how deep that rabbit hole really goes.