From: Mike N. 

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=3012688

"It was a simple letter, just more than 100 words on two pieces of paper.

But this singular document became one of the key pieces of evidence, the
smoking gun, touted by the Bush administration to justify the invasion of
Iraq. It's also the same piece of "evidence" that led to a
perjury conviction for Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide, I.
Lewis Libby.

The July 2000 letter, which was obtained from Italian intelligence
services, appeared to be an official correspondence from the Niger
government to the president of Iraq, confirming a deal to sell 500 tons of
pure uranium to Iraq annually.

But if the CIA had done a simple Internet search on some of the terms used
in the letter, the agency would have quickly learned that it was a forgery.

Instead, the letter was later cited by President Bush in his 2003 State of
the Union address as proof that Saddam Hussein was determined to build
nuclear weapons, justifying a preemptive invasion of the country. "

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