You can dance around this until your shoes catch fire...
but the fact remains that a UK government investigation is coming up with this conclusion. You can dismiss it as a "story" if you like, but I've noted that much vaguer sources get treated as solid evidence when they agree with your viewpoint. Wilson's short trip to Niger, for example. His conclusions, based on the flimsiest investigation, were quoted for months as absolute proof that there had never been any connection between Iraq and the entire continent of Africa.