FB-I don't know...
One of the many remaining mysteries in the Niger/yellow cake/Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame/Scooter Libby/Iraq War/Cheney etc scandal is who forged the documents claiming that Saddam tried to buy nuclear material -- the claim that helped launch a thousand ships?
As the trail of evidence leads to Italian intelligence and a businessman named Rocco Martino, you'd think that the FBI might take a moment to question the man.
They did not. In fact, they used this Harriet Miers-like reasoning: "Because there was no apparent violation of U.S. law, the bureau couldn't compel him to talk."
I'm not sure whether it's deception at the heart of this lame explanation or whether they're so accustomed to "making people talk" they forgot to just ask (like people gathered outside a bathroom who never just try the knob...) but the fact is, as Josh Marshall points out, Martino spoke to 60 Minutes twice last year. Not exactly a recluse.
Marshall (who spoke with Martino himself) is not subtle:
"The Bureau has stated publicly that they have closed the investigation and that they did so after determining that there were no political motives behind the hoax, only a desire to make money. They made that determination without figuring out who forged them or even talking to the guy at the center of the story. And the reasons they're giving for not talking to him are, frankly, bogus."
"None of that adds up."
"Something's wrong."(TPM)
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