Collusion

They broke the story of the decade—Nigergate. Then they broke the story of the CIA’s abduction of an Egyptian cleric off the streets of Milan. Now, have they uncovered what could be the next big story—secret meetings in Rome about the future of Iraq?

After George W. Bush pronounced the reasons behind going to war in Iraq—the infamous “sixteen words”—it was La Repubblica reporters Carlo Bonini and Giuseppe D’Avanzo who uncovered that Bush’s fraudulent evidence was planted by Italy’s secret intelligence agency, SISMI.

After Egyptian cleric Abu Omar was kidnapped in broad daylight off the street in Milan, it was Bonini and D’Avanzo who broke the story that it was a combined effort of the CIA and Italian agents.

In Collusion, the two reporters tell both those stories in full for the first time in the US, as well as the story that may turn into the biggest of them all: secret meetings in Rome between high-ranking Bush administration officials and Iranian agents.

In Collusion, Bonini and D’Avanzo uncover the government-sponsored underworld of spies and crooked politicians, sidewalk deals and hapless villains that has played such a crucial role in the dirty business of making history since 9-11.

But they reveal much more than the inner workings of “Nigergate” or the Abu Omar scandal. They bring the CIA and SISMI into sharp focus along with other players in international spycraft, “black propaganda” specialists, and the numerous shady characters shopping deals—here are the bunglings, the outrageous expense accounts, the lawless abductions, and the absurd misinterpretations of evidence.