Curveball comes back to Germany
It’s not very often that German disinformation gets blamed for contributing to the grim process that led up to the invasion of Iraq, so I feel it’s very important to get the word out as much as possible whenever the truth sticks up it’s ugly little head as, well, this kind of intelligence screw-up couldn’t have happened to or have been disseminated by a nicer country.
Of course no self-respecting politically correct person anywhere has ever liked being reminded of the fact that intelligence specialists from all over Europe and elsewhere were convinced that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was preparing weapons of mass destruction before the American-led invasion took place, just like the CIA claimed, but remember one must, or at least should, but you won’t have to of course, so don’t worry.
Nope, ‘the biggest intelligence fiasco’ of a lifetime was not an exclusive American affair, despite everything you may have been told or have chosen to believe to the contrary. And it wasn’t just English, French, Russian or the other usual-suspect-type intelligence agencies’ disinformation either, it seems. German spooks THEMSELVES were also more than eager to believe the claims made by an Iraqi asylum seeker they called ‘Curveball’, for instance, claims that Saddam Hussein was building mobile biological weapons laboratories.
Hey, stuff happens. Even to peace-loving German intelligence types. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it or anything if I were you. Nor will you, of course.
I spy, you spy, we all spy.
Of course no self-respecting politically correct person anywhere has ever liked being reminded of the fact that intelligence specialists from all over Europe and elsewhere were convinced that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was preparing weapons of mass destruction before the American-led invasion took place, just like the CIA claimed, but remember one must, or at least should, but you won’t have to of course, so don’t worry.
Nope, ‘the biggest intelligence fiasco’ of a lifetime was not an exclusive American affair, despite everything you may have been told or have chosen to believe to the contrary. And it wasn’t just English, French, Russian or the other usual-suspect-type intelligence agencies’ disinformation either, it seems. German spooks THEMSELVES were also more than eager to believe the claims made by an Iraqi asylum seeker they called ‘Curveball’, for instance, claims that Saddam Hussein was building mobile biological weapons laboratories.
Hey, stuff happens. Even to peace-loving German intelligence types. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it or anything if I were you. Nor will you, of course.
I spy, you spy, we all spy.
Kommentare auf Deutsch? Logisch.
Regarding Curveball: the BND had explicitly warned the CIA that the source is unreliable and that the claims about mobile laboratories could not be proved. The BND later reinforced that warning, stating it regards those claims as fabricated, and these warnings were forwarded by the CIA's contact person in Europe before Powell used them as justification in his UN speech.
If you don't believe this, I recommend to read the report of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence from Sep 8, 2006: "Postwar Findings About Iraq's WMD Programs and Links to Terrorism and How They Compare with Prewar Assessments" (http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2006_rpt/srpt109-331.pdf). The relevant section begins at page 28.
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