Source of Iraq WMD intelligence tells his story

[LaoSexMachine]

Source of Iraq WMD intelligence tells his story



Story Highlights
CNN speaks to Rafid Alwan, code named "Curveball"
Alwan's claims that Iraq had WMD were used to support U.S. invasion
Alwan came to Germany in 1999 seeking asylum

By Frederik Pleitgen
CNN
BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- His phone number was published in a German phone directory -- Rafid Alwan, whose claims that Saddam Hussein was producing biological agents helped launch the Iraq war.
He was reluctant to speak on the record, initially denying he was Iraqi or that he was the defector dubbed "Curveball" by the CIA. But eight months after we first contacted him, Alwan agreed to an interview, and we met in an anonymous hotel room in a southern German town.
Trying to get details from him was difficult -- he spoke at length, often launching into a flowery history of Iraq or a description of Hussein's crimes, and in Arabic, which meant we had to wait after each answer for a translation.
We spoke for more than three hours, Alwan sitting across the room from me, wearing a stylish black suit. But in the end, he hadn't said very much at all.
In the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Iraq_War) in 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell delivered a dramatic presentation to the U.N. Security Council. The United States had first-hand accounts, he said, detailing how Hussein (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Saddam_Hussein) was secretly creating biological agents using mobile laboratories in "road-trailer units and rail cars."
As slides depicting drawings of the supposed germ labs flashed on a big screen in the Security Council's chamber, Powell drove his point home:
"The source is an eyewitness, an Iraqi chemical engineer, who supervised one of these facilities."
Just days after Powell's presentation, U.N. weapons inspectors presented evidence they said disproved those claims. But six weeks later, on March 20, 2003, the United States launched its invasion, toppling Hussein's government in three weeks but locking itself in a war against an insurgency that has cost more than 4,000 American lives.
No biological weapons, no germ labs, no weapons of mass destruction of any kind were found in Iraq after the invasion. Curveball -- Rafid Alwan -- remained in hiding in Germany, where he had been interviewed by the German intelligence service, the BND.
Subsequent U.S. investigations into the intelligence failure around the claims found that German intelligence considered the defector "crazy" and "out of control," while friends said he was a "liar."
And, it turned out, the CIA not only never spoke with him, it never even saw transcripts of the German interviews, only the Germans' analysis of the interviews.
Alwan brought with him to our meeting documents to prove his identity, certificates saying he has a degree in chemical engineering from Technical University in Baghdad and a student ID card from a German college. Multiple intelligence sources told CNN that the man we spoke with was, indeed, Curveball.
But Alwan told us he never told the BND that Iraq was producing weapons of mass destruction, and he said many other things said about him were false.
"There are many wrong statements made about me, and I want to declare it one by one. I have documents proving that everything said about me is false," he said.
"No," he said, "I never told anyone Saddam Hussein was producing weapons of mass destruction."
When I pressed him about Powell's use of his information, Alwan said in German with an Arabic accent, "That is Colin Powell's problem."
He said that as long as he is living in Germany, he will never tell the full story of what information he passed on to the BND.
"It is not true that I am the only person who said things about Iraq," he said. "There are so many other people who gave information as well. Right now I am trying to protect my children. They have been through hard times with me."
And then Alwan got nervous. He wiped his face often and lit a new cigarette after almost every question. He seemed uncomfortable in front of the camera.
Alwan had brought with him a second man, introduced only as "Mr. Ali." Mr. Ali was also wearing a flashy suit with a peach-colored shirt, and he seemed to be coaching Alwan, making strange signals behind my back.
As I talked to Alwan, I could feel the wind from Mr. Ali frantically waving his arms. Whenever Alwan began to offer details, Mr. Ali made a time out signal with his hands, and Alwan stopped talking.
When he wasn't prevented from talking by Mr. Ali, Alwan answered questions in a roundabout manner, sometimes backtracking and correcting himself, sometimes telling completely different stories in the same sentence.
Alwan came to Germany in 1999 seeking asylum and was picked up by the German intelligence service, which questioned him. According to intelligence sources, Alwan told the BND that Hussein had a secret biological weapons program, and that the cover was a seed purification plant in Djerf al Nadaf, a site just north of Baghdad, where mobile weapons labs in truck trailers would pick up the biological agents.
It begs the question: How could the BND and CIA trust Alwan's information with the stakes so high?
While he provided little detail during our interview, Alwan insisted that Hussein was producing weapons of mass destruction, and that he had worked on one of the weapons projects.
Norbert Juretzko, a former BND officer who is familiar with the Curveball case, now criticizes the German intelligence service for its handling of the matter. The BND wanted so badly to believe Alwan, Juretzko said, that the case officers didn't notice inconsistencies in his story.
"He was put under pressure by the BND: 'Tell us something,'" Juretzko said. "They were desperate for something. They gave him money, privileges, a visa and the like. And so this man used his imagination to get all these things."
Alwan, however, claims he was never "an agent or spy for any intelligence agencies in the world. And I never got paid by anyone."
Tyler Drumheller, the CIA's station chief in Europe at the time, said he tried to warn his superiors at the agency about using Curveball's information. Drumheller said he thinks the Curveball case is one of the lowest points in the history of the CIA, but he does not believe Alwan was at fault.
"He was driven by his own self-preservation, and then he got caught up in the story he was telling, and then he just had to keep going," Drumheller said.
Bob Drogin, who wrote about the case in "Curveball: Lies, Spies, and a Con Man Who Caused a War," called the episode "arguably the biggest intelligence failure in history."
"Never before have we gone to war on the basis of such an utter and complete fraud," Drogin said. "After 9/11, what we heard from the authorities was that they had failed to connect the dots that led to that scandal. In this case, they made up the dots."
But Alwan made clear in our meeting that he does not feel remorse. He said he wants to return to Iraq to work for his people and his country. And, he said, he feels the Iraq war was justified.
"I feel that America offered to Iraq what no other country can offer to Iraq," he said near the end of the interview. "America sacrificed its people and its money and its position to free a dictatorial country."

http://images.clickability.com/pti/spacer.gif

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/10/10/iraq.curveball/index.html

[timetraveller]

Who was telling the bigger Porkies ,,,,

Answers on a Postcard please

Not a lot of people know that
22 Acacia Avenue
Hackney
B6 66T

[Ed Hewer]

Isn't that the address of a whore?

Classic song.

On Topic: I would have thought Ahmed Chalabi was the bigger Bull**** artist?

[BugHunt]

Chalabi wasnt used as "definitive proof" of WMD.



Subsequent U.S. investigations into the intelligence failure around the claims found that German intelligence considered the defector "crazy" and "out of control," while friends said he was a "liar."
And, it turned out, the CIA not only never spoke with him, it never even saw transcripts of the German interviews, only the Germans' analysis of the interviews.

Just fukking LOLz.

[Atlantic Friend]

Source of Iraq WMD intelligence tells his story :

"Look, I was young, I needed the money !"

;)

[boet faas]

Guys Iraq was the most dangerous country in world when it came to nuclear proliferation. They even studied the IAEA's inspection programs to hide their stuff. They were so good at it that when the IAEA inspectors did inspect their sites thay walked passed buildings that contained what they were looking for and did not recognise it. They were son intent and good at hiding it whille making it that they were seen by the West as the worst enemy of the world at the time. Their hiding practises made what came to them inevitable. There were no way for the US or the world to realy know what was going on unless they completely overran that country and seek for it. Luckily there were nothing, but what if the US did not invade and rather talked as what the public now demands? The world today would have been a much worst place that is for sure. Iraq required 18 months to build its complete atom bomb before the US striked and they would have used it on Israel for. Imagine the consequences.

[Atlantic Friend]

Guys Iraq was the most dangerous country in world when it came to nuclear proliferation.

I'd personally place Pakistan (not as a state but more the Dr Khan network) and North Korea before Iraq. Saddam didn't, at the best of my knowledge, offered technological expertise to other nations to build nuclear weapons. If you have sources indicating he did, i'd be interested in reading what they say.


They even studied the IAEA's inspection programs to hide their stuff. They were so good at it that when the IAEA inspectors did inspect their sites thay walked passed buildings that contained what they were looking for and did not recognise it.

The IAEA did find lots and lots of stuff in 1991. And a lot of what has been hailed recently as proof that Iraq had re-started its WMD program had already been found and registered in 1991.



They were son intent and good at hiding it whille making it that they were seen by the West as the worst enemy of the world at the time.

Isn't that a big exaggeration ? While there was unanimous consensus that Saddam was one crazy bloodthirsty dictator, I don't see what threat Iraq in 2003 posed to the West that made it "the worst enemy" at the time.

[BugHunt]

Guys Iraq was the most dangerous country in world when it came to nuclear proliferation. They even studied the IAEA's inspection programs to hide their stuff. They were so good at it that when the IAEA inspectors did inspect their sites thay walked passed buildings that contained what they were looking for and did not recognise it. They were son intent and good at hiding it whille making it that they were seen by the West as the worst enemy of the world at the time. Their hiding practises made what came to them inevitable. There were no way for the US or the world to realy know what was going on unless they completely overran that country and seek for it. Luckily there were nothing, but what if the US did not invade and rather talked as what the public now demands? The world today would have been a much worst place that is for sure. Iraq required 18 months to build its complete atom bomb before the US striked and they would have used it on Israel for. Imagine the consequences.

Utter BS.


"The source is an eyewitness, an Iraqi chemical engineer, who supervised one of these facilities."
Just days after Powell's presentation, U.N. weapons inspectors presented evidence they said disproved those claims. But six weeks later, on March 20, 2003, the United States launched its invasion, toppling Hussein's government in three weeks but locking itself in a war against an insurgency that has cost more than 4,000 American lives.Give examples where the Saddam had successfully managed to dupe or hide significant stuff from them in the leadup to the war.



"There are many wrong statements made about me, and I want to declare it one by one. I have documents proving that everything said about me is false," he said.
"No," he said, "I never told anyone Saddam Hussein was producing weapons of mass destruction."
When I pressed him about Powell's use of his information, Alwan said in German with an Arabic accent, "That is Colin Powell's problem."
He said that as long as he is living in Germany, he will never tell the full story of what information he passed on to the BND.
"It is not true that I am the only person who said things about Iraq," he said. "There are so many other people who gave information as well. Right now I am trying to protect my children. They have been through hard times with me."
And then Alwan got nervous. He wiped his face often and lit a new cigarette after almost every question. He seemed uncomfortable in front of the camera.
Alwan had brought with him a second man, introduced only as "Mr. Ali." Mr. Ali was also wearing a flashy suit with a peach-colored shirt, and he seemed to be coaching Alwan, making strange signals behind my back.
As I talked to Alwan, I could feel the wind from Mr. Ali frantically waving his arms. Whenever Alwan began to offer details, Mr. Ali made a time out signal with his hands, and Alwan stopped talking.
When he wasn't prevented from talking by Mr. Ali, Alwan answered questions in a roundabout manner, sometimes backtracking and correcting himself, sometimes telling completely different stories in the same sentence.
Alwan came to Germany in 1999 seeking asylum and was picked up by the German intelligence service, which questioned him. According to intelligence sources, Alwan told the BND that Hussein had a secret biological weapons program, and that the cover was a seed purification plant in Djerf al Nadaf, a site just north of Baghdad, where mobile weapons labs in truck trailers would pick up the biological agents.
It begs the question: How could the BND and CIA trust Alwan's information with the stakes so high?
While he provided little detail during our interview, Alwan insisted that Hussein was producing weapons of mass destruction, and that he had worked on one of the weapons projects.
Norbert Juretzko, a former BND officer who is familiar with the Curveball case, now criticizes the German intelligence service for its handling of the matter. The BND wanted so badly to believe Alwan, Juretzko said, that the case officers didn't notice inconsistencies in his story.
"He was put under pressure by the BND: 'Tell us something,'" Juretzko said. "They were desperate for something. They gave him money, privileges, a visa and the like. And so this man used his imagination to get all these things."
Alwan, however, claims he was never "an agent or spy for any intelligence agencies in the world. And I never got paid by anyone."
Tyler Drumheller, the CIA's station chief in Europe at the time, said he tried to warn his superiors at the agency about using Curveball's information. Drumheller said he thinks the Curveball case is one of the lowest points in the history of the CIA, but he does not believe Alwan was at fault.
"He was driven by his own self-preservation, and then he got caught up in the story he was telling, and then he just had to keep going," Drumheller said.
Bob Drogin, who wrote about the case in "Curveball: Lies, Spies, and a Con Man Who Caused a War," called the episode "arguably the biggest intelligence failure in history."
"Never before have we gone to war on the basis of such an utter and complete fraud," Drogin said. "After 9/11, what we heard from the authorities was that they had failed to connect the dots that led to that scandal. In this case, they made up the dots."How is it possible for some1 with even a double digit IQ to read that and still be trying to justify the given reasons for the war.

[boet faas]

[quote=boet faas;3612187]Guys Iraq was the most dangerous country in world when it came to nuclear proliferation.

I'd personally place Pakistan (not as a state but more the Dr Khan network) and North Korea before Iraq. Saddam didn't, at the best of my knowledge, offered technological expertise to other nations to build nuclear weapons. If you have sources indicating he did, i'd be interested in reading what they say.



The IAEA did find lots and lots of stuff in 1991. And a lot of what has been hailed recently as proof that Iraq had re-started its WMD program had already been found and registered in 1991.




Isn't that a big exaggeration ? While there was unanimous consensus that Saddam was one crazy bloodthirsty dictator, I don't see what threat Iraq in 2003 posed to the West that made it "the worst enemy" at the time.
The threat at the time of the invasion were the fact the Sadam were hiding his proliferation activities for such a long time that the US was not sure what was going on but knew it was something bad. The US knew they hadn't find everything and that the time was ripe to find out what. Correct me if I am wrong but Sadam just needed another 18 months or so to complete his a-bomb project. And once that were achieved it would have been to late. according to my sources Sadam had two German engineers or scientists working on his project and they were almost done apart from certain technical issues they had to overcome. That was a real threat. I am not sure if this was in 1991 or 2003?

[Connaught Ranger]

So do we send the bill for the war to:-

Mr. Rafid Alwan,

"Not a lot of people know that."

22 Acacia Avenue

Hackney

B6 66T

United Kingdom.

[BugHunt]

The threat at the time of the invasion were the fact the Sadam were hiding his proliferation activities for such a long time that the US was not sure what was going on but knew it was something bad. The US knew they hadn't find everything and that the time was ripe to find out what. Correct me if I am wrong but Sadam just needed another 18 months or so to complete his a-bomb project. And once that were achieved it would have been to late. according to my sources Sadam had two German engineers or scientists working on his project and they were almost done apart from certain technical issues they had to overcome. That was a real threat. I am not sure if this was in 1991 or 2003?

Your living in cocooland m8. Links to your "sources".

Whats the names of these kidnapped scientists?

Hint if you read it in a say a paper back book - remeber to differentiate between FICTION and REALITY.

Saddam wasnt anywhere fukking near having a A-bomb.

[helomech]

I wonder how much if anything,this guy was paid for this information or,should I say misinformation

[boet faas]

Your living in cocooland m8. Links to your "sources".

Whats the names of these kidnapped scientists?

Hint if you read it in a say a paper back book - remeber to differentiate between FICTION and REALITY.

Saddam wasnt anywhere fukking near having a A-bomb.
Who are you trying to impress with your language? He was very very close in fact so close that the US took him out. Get your facts straight bacause it is obvious you know nothing more than what you read in the Playboy. The German engineers were not kidnapped they were on the payroll and are, as we speak, serving life sentences for treason. As will some SA scientists on the payroll of Khan. Sadam's nuclear endeavour is a chilling reminder of how close somebody as bad as he could come at acquiring nuclear technology and fool the world for such a long time. He was the most advanced nuclear proliferator of that region, this wasn't some kind of back yard job in the dessert.

[BugHunt]

Who are you trying to impress with your language?
He was very very close in fact so close that the US took him out.

LOL :D


Get your facts straight bacause it is obvious you know nothing more than what you read in the Playboy. The German engineers were not kidnapped they were on the payroll and are, as we speak, serving life sentences for treason.

ROFL rofl



LINKS and sources ****wad.

Because the ****e your bleating directly contradicts weapons inspectors and all intelligence organisations that were allowed to do there jobs pre and now POST war.

[boet faas]

<A href="http://cns.miis.edu/index.htm">Home >Publications (http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/index.htm) > Iraq Resources (http://cns.miis.edu/research/iraq/index.htm) >

IRAQ'S BOMB: BLUEPRINTS AND ARTIFACTS

BULLETIN OF ATOMIC SCIENTISTS, 1-2/92, PP. 30-40 BY D. ALBRIGHT & M. HIBBS Project Comment: The article provides a detailed description of the Iraqi nuclear weapons program, as disclosed in documents seized by IAEA inspectors from the program's headquarters in Baghdad. The papers contained information on not only the progress of the weapons-development effort, but the foreign firms that participated in the effort through transfers of technology and equipment. ..... On 9/22/91, IAEA inspectors found Iraq's nuclear weapons program archives in Baghdad. Less than a week earlier, Iraq's ambassador to the IAEA, Rahim al-Kital, told the IAEA conference in Vienna that Iraq had no nuclear weapons program. However, the documents found in the archives showed that Iraq had invested heavily in a nuclear weapons program since 1988 or 1989. By 6/90, Iraqi scientists had begun conducting experiments on implosion- type nuclear bombs with highly-enriched uranium cores surrounded by shaped charges. Iraq had problems in developing or acquiring the electronic equipment needed for a nuclear weapon. Western experts believe that Iraq would have needed one to two years of additional work even if the Gulf War had not occurred. In addition, Iraq would have needed two to three years minimum to produce the highly-enriched uranium needed for a nuclear weapon. The

http://cns.miis.edu/images/button_top.gif (http://cns.miis.edu/research/iraq/iraqnu92.htm#top)top (http://cns.miis.edu/research/iraq/iraqnu92.htm#top)
http://cns.miis.edu/images/spc.gifhttp://cns.miis.edu/images/spc.gifPolicy on Reproduction of Website Materials (http://cns.miis.edu/cns/policy.htm)
Is my browser supported? (http://cns.miis.edu/cns/browser.htm)
http://cns.miis.edu/images/spc.gifhttp://cns.miis.edu/images/spc.gifhttp://cns.miis.edu/images/spc.gifJames Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
460 Pierce Street, Monterey, CA 93940, USA
Telephone: +1 (831) 647-4154; Fax: +1 (831) 647-3519
E-mail: cns@miis.edu; Web: http://cns.miis.edu (http://cns.miis.edu/) Copyright © 2008 Monterey Institute of International Studies. All rights reserved.


Now put that in your playboy and wank it skidmarks. Other sources, "How SA built 6 atom bombs and then abandoned its nuclear weapons program, Al J Venter", "Iraq's shop till you drop nuclear programme, David Albright and Mark Hibbs", "denial an deception practices of WMD proliferators:Iraq and beyond by Dr. David Kay (The centres for strategic and international studies &Massachusetts institute for technology). Ok Skidmarks your turn, links and sources to your uninformed playboy trash.

[boet faas]

LINKS and sources ****wad.

Because the ****e your bleating directly contradicts weapons inspectors and all intelligence organisations that were allowed to do there jobs pre and now POST war.[/quote]
This was in the centerfold huh!!!

The Germans were Walter Busse, Bruno Stemmler and Karl-Hienz Schaab.

[Atlantic Friend]

BF, your sources are reports that immediately followed the 1991 liberation of Kuwait. The article that is the base of the thread is about the 2003 claims that there was an Iraqi WMD program - a claim used extensively to justify Operation Iraqi Freedom, and which, to be fair, led to some quite embarassing moments for the US and UK administrations.

[Atlantic Friend]

The Germans were Walter Busse, Bruno Stemmler and Karl-Hienz Schaab.

These three worked for Iraq between 1988 and 1990.

[boet faas]

These three worked for Iraq between 1988 and 1990.
Like i said I was not sure if it was in 1991 or 2003.

[BugHunt]

1991, 2003..... Nukes, no nukes.... Intelligence, no intelligence....

Whats the difference?


Afterall this subject its like art or poetry, you can believe and like what you want.

We shouldnt hurt your inner child by quoting facts and subsequent CIA, UN and weapon inspector reports to you.

[seraosha]

Bug, does it hurt to sit there and type with that stick up your ass?

[BugHunt]

Bug, does it hurt to sit there and type with that stick up your ass?

Not at all.

Do you find it hard typing with your head buried up your rectum?



I always find it life affirming arguing with those with reading skills and grasp of current events that my 6 year old nephews have surpassed.

OMG SADDAM HAZ ALMOST GOT DA NUKEZ.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/23/cia.iraq/



Sept. 6, 2007 | On Sept. 18, 2002, CIA director George Tenet briefed President Bush in the Oval Office on top-secret intelligence that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction, according to two former senior CIA officers. Bush dismissed as worthless this information from the Iraqi foreign minister, a member of Saddam's inner circle, although it turned out to be accurate in every detail. Tenet never brought it up again.http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2007/09/06/bush_wmd/






OMG AMERICAZ HAD DEFINITIVE PROOF OF WMDz! Tehy went before da UNz!


In the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Iraq_War) in 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell delivered a dramatic presentation to the U.N. Security Council. The United States had first-hand accounts, he said, detailing how Hussein (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Saddam_Hussein) was secretly creating biological agents using mobile laboratories in "road-trailer units and rail cars."
As slides depicting drawings of the supposed germ labs flashed on a big screen in the Security Council's chamber, Powell drove his point home:
"The source is an eyewitness, an Iraqi chemical engineer, who supervised one of these facilities."
Just days after Powell's presentation, U.N. weapons inspectors presented evidence they said disproved those claims. But six weeks later, on March 20, 2003, the United States launched its invasion, toppling Hussein's government in three weeks but locking itself in a war against an insurgency that has cost more than 4,000 American lives.
No biological weapons, no germ labs, no weapons of mass destruction of any kind were found in Iraq after the invasion. Curveball -- Rafid Alwan -- remained in hiding in Germany, where he had been interviewed by the German intelligence service, the BND.
Subsequent U.S. investigations into the intelligence failure around the claims found that German intelligence considered the defector "crazy" and "out of control," while friends said he was a "liar."
And, it turned out, the CIA not only never spoke with him, it never even saw transcripts of the German interviews, only the Germans' analysis of the interviews.
Alwan brought with him to our meeting documents to prove his identity, certificates saying he has a degree in chemical engineering from Technical University in Baghdad and a student ID card from a German college. Multiple intelligence sources told CNN that the man we spoke with was, indeed, Curveball.Yeah its not really that important a issue - dont need to think hard about these things.

Only 176 UK service men and women dead. 4000 odd US.

Of course small beer compared to Iraqi dead and suffering - something in the region of 100,000 - to 200,000 possibly plus Iraqi dead. And about 5 million + Iraqis internally displaced...

$1-3 Trillion in costs and rising....bet you guys arent so gungho about that cost now.


No need to think hard about about any of that really.

[Macs.]

"Curveball" obviously recieved money from the BND, and he remains under "protection" of the BND.

The Americans actually wanted to have a TV interview with Curveball or atleast a BND-Agent, but knowing that the reports have not been verified the BND/German Goverment declined to do so but allowing them to use their information.

On the day Powell was reading his transcript to the UN, that famouse scene, there was a BND-Agent sitting in the audience. But, neither Powell nor Wilkerson who wrote this speech knew where the information for the mobile chemical/biological labs and all that BS came from, they didn't know that the CIA never has actually seen the source, and that the BND couldn't vertify the truth of his stories.

The only reason why some people blindly followed the Curveball story was obviously because Curveball was telling them what they wanted to hear.

[BugHunt]

"Curveball" obviously recieved money from the BND, and he remains under "protection" of the BND.

The Americans actually wanted to have a TV interview with Curveball or atleast a BND-Agent, but knowing that the reports have not been verified the BND/German Goverment declined to do so but allowing them to use their information.

On the day Powell was reading his transcript to the UN, that famouse scene, there was a BND-Agent sitting in the audience. But, neither Powell nor Wilkerson who wrote this speech knew where the information for the mobile chemical/biological labs and all that BS came from, they didn't know that the CIA never has actually seen the source, and that the BND couldn't vertify the truth of his stories.

The only reason why some people blindly followed the Curveball story was obviously because Curveball was telling them what they wanted to hear.

And ill bets thats ALOT of bending of the truth and rewritting of history to protect blushes and asses....

You dont go before the UN with DEFINITIVE PROOF - from sources you barely know and your intelligence organisations havent a clue whom they are.....

You can almost believe Powel was given a briefing and told "go with it and sell it, its defo true". But the actual organisations? WTF?

If there wasnt such a overiding haste and push from the white house, short circuiting any shred of proffesionalism or common fukking sense. Curveballs "product" wouldve been relegated to the bin where it deserved to be.

[rkpo]

Guys Iraq was the most dangerous country in world when it came to nuclear proliferation. They even studied the IAEA's inspection programs to hide their stuff. They were so good at it that when the IAEA inspectors did inspect their sites thay walked passed buildings that contained what they were looking for and did not recognise it. They were son intent and good at hiding it whille making it that they were seen by the West as the worst enemy of the world at the time. Their hiding practises made what came to them inevitable. There were no way for the US or the world to realy know what was going on unless they completely overran that country and seek for it. Luckily there were nothing, but what if the US did not invade and rather talked as what the public now demands? The world today would have been a much worst place that is for sure. Iraq required 18 months to build its complete atom bomb before the US striked and they would have used it on Israel for. Imagine the consequences.


Don't forget Iran has been working away at this capability and anyone who think Saddam would have sat on his arse and let Iran get ahead is dilusional. It's just that Saddam was under strong UN sanctions and so you'd imagine they had to look for all avenues to keep pace.