Yet if anyone knew who was actually responsible for the White House's trumpeting of the Niger claims, it would seem from the Repubblica report that Hadley did. He also knew that the CIA, which had initially rejected the Italian claims, was not to blame. Hadley's meeting with Pollari, at precisely the time when the Niger forgeries came into the possession of the U.S. government, may explain the seemingly hysterical White House overreaction to Wilson's article almost a year later.

The infamous "16 words" don't trace to CIA, but instead to Stephen Hadley. They also think that White House was out to get CIA for not backing them up. Interesting fit with the leak of Plame and Brewster-Jennings & Associates...