Curveball, the neocons and guilt

Those who have inhabited this space for a long time know that SST opposed the invasion of Iraq on the basis of a lack of justification.  "Curveball," the Iraqi HUMINT source, provided false witness to American intelligence concerning supposed Iraqi biological weapons.  He admits now that he deliberately did this to trick the US into going to war.  He wanted Saddam gone.  The neocon run "Office of Special Plans" in the Rumsfeld's DoD rammed "Curveball" down the throat of DIA. 

The guilt for the bloodshed of Iraq rests with the neocons led by people like Wolfowitz, Feith and Perle.  pl

 

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/international/middle_east/view.bg?articleid=1317288

Comments

[confusedponderer]

Sez Curveball "Maybe I was right, maybe I was not right ... They* gave me this chance. I had the chance to fabricate something to topple the regime. I and my sons are proud of that and we are proud that we were the reason to give Iraq the margin of democracy."

Or as Ahmed Chalabi put it so well in his 2004 interview with the Daily Telegraph: "We are heroes in error. As far as we're concerned, we've been entirely successful. That tyrant Saddam is gone and the Americans are in Baghdad. What was said before is not important."

And Richard Perle on the Iraq war: "... in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing ..."

The gall ...

PS: The original interview is in The Guardian
PPS: * 'They being the Iraqi National Congress?

[William R. Cumming]

The Truth seems to be willing out over time. I supported the invasion but only on the basis that Iraq had actually accomplished WMD possession and delivery capability. I had already argued for the gross failure of American INTEL in various situations and how it had been deeply politicized by a HILL STAFFER--TENANT without much in the way of real intellectual depth or understanding of how close the CIA came to never existing because of Truman's objections. And my own knowledge of the modern CIA with leaders like Casey who were totally corrupt. Disclosure sat next to Richard Helms son 3 years of Law School and friendship ended when he told me he was going to spend a summer working for the CIA. I said but your dad runs it? he said yes. And I said something like can you spell "neptotism"!

The pardon of Richard Helms was an American tragedy of the first order. So I am not a fan of that organiztion. I have personally known six current and former station chiefs and all were fine people but struggled with Washington's system of corruption.

By the way several PhD in economics ran the CASEY investment portfolio when he was Director using CIA assets and information not otherwise publically available. It should have been ended after 9/11 together with the FBI and rebuilt to protect the USA in its largest sense.

[Anna-Marina]

From The Guardian:
“He claimed the officials gave him an incentive to speak by implying that his then pregnant Moroccan-born wife may not be able to travel from Spain to join him in Germany if he did not co-operate with them. "He says, you work with us or your wife and child go to Morocco."

“... you work with us or your [pregnant] wife and child go to Morocco." - Now let’s put next to it the Tenet’s Medal of Freedom.

[Nancy K]

The same people who gave us Iraq now have their eyes on Iran. Neocon, what a descriptive name, the new con artists and the average American just does not get that we are being conned again.

[J]

Colonel,

Sad thing is, people (I use the term lightly when referring to 'them') like Rumsfeld, Feith, Perle, Wolfowitz,Curveball, chicken-hawk Neocons feel no guilt as they have no conscience. They view themselves as their own gods and have no regard for any others except themselves. Sadly 'guilt' is not in their personal repertoire. Perle, Feith, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Curveball, and the chicken-hawk Neocons are the 'walking dead' who will have to one day answer for their crimes against their fellow man, sadly it just won't be today or most probably in our lifetime.

[Fred]

"We are heroes in error. As far as we're concerned, we've been entirely successful."

Chalibi is alive, rich and influential in Iraq. Many Americans are dead, the country poorer and now has negligible influence in Iraq.
"Mission Accomplished"

I believe the 'decider' is doing just fine in Dallas, though he's not going to Switzerland any time soon.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/05/us-bush-torture-idUSTRE7141CU20110205

[R Whitman]

And how much of our current intelligence on Iran is real and how much is bullshit?

[Green Zone Cafe]

Curveball makes me think of William Stephenson, Roald Dahl, and what the Brits did before US entry into WWII, which included possibly forged Nazi plans for South America.

[Basilisk]

I think Curveball has recently discovered the nobility of his act. Before this revelation he was merely a lying sleazeball seeking $, or Euros as it happened.

The sleazeballs who ignored the holes in his stories, and who ignored the warnings by honest men about those holes are equally guilty.

The ones who were warned and decided to create a casus belli from this stinking piece of Swiss cheese are the most guilty of all. Office of Special Plans, I'm talkin' to you.

First it's tragedy, and then it's comedy.

[rjj]

IIRC Curveball was as much a gonif as his patron - but without the pedigree and connections.

Is he to be the designated scapegoat?

[Clifford Kiracofe]

Every Senator and Congressman who voted to "authorize the President to use force" has blood on their hands.

The four main public lobbies with blood on their hands for the war are:
AIPAC
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
Southern Baptist Convention
National Association of Evangelicals

At some point, patriotic gentile Americans may realize that "it's all about Israel."

[walrus]

WRC:

"By the way several PhD in economics ran the CASEY investment portfolio when he was Director using CIA assets and information not otherwise publically available. It should have been ended after 9/11 together with the FBI and rebuilt to protect the USA in its largest sense."

I would not be at all surprised if one of the attractions of warrant-less eavesdropping is the ability to make a little money.

My dear departed Father, himself with a background in intelligence, commented just before the war that he hoped that there was more evidence of Iraqi malevolence than publicly released because the case for war looked far too flimsy from his point of view. He was sadly right.

Feith and Perle would be tipped off and flee to Israel if anyone moved to call them to account.

[PirateLaddie]

Given the background of most neo-cons, I'd say "chutzpah" is a more accurate characterization than "gall."
Regarding subsequent observations -- yet another reason to have worked in other parts of the IC swamp.

[Leanderthal]

There should be a special place in Hell for these bastards, guilty of what I call treason against their own people. Sometimes I can make an exception to my opposition to capital punishment.

[Cato the Censor]

The guilt for the bloodshed of Iraq rests with the neocons led by people like Wolfowitz, Feith and Perle.

And all of them, apparently, to go scot free without so much as even a word of censure.

[Medicine Man]

I guess from a certain point of view the only important thing is that American power was used to accomplish the goals of foreigners. I reckon if those goals happened to overlap with US interests in the region, it was only by accident.

Galling is a good word for this.

[Jose]

I knew the WMD excuse was pure b*llsh*t, because neither the Israelis nor Iranians would have permitted Saddam to get them.

These people should be handed over to the Hague.

[Grumpy]

My question is did this, “Is that 'Curveball' or 'Screwball'?"

Let's not forget, history is a REAL NASTY HAG for a teacher.

[arbogast]

There's a pattern here...

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-isnt-wall-street-in-jail-20110216

Nobody in the clique gets punished. Louis XIV would be proud, damned proud.

[Jackie]

Pat,
Your opposition to the Iraq War was when I first started following you. It probably played a large part in my opposing it, but there was always the feeling that this war wasn't justified.

For that I thank you. And thank you for this site, too.

[Cal]

"The guilt for the bloodshed of Iraq rests with the neocons led by people like Wolfowitz, Feith and Perle. pl"........
Yes, it does.
Why are these people still living and breathing?
Scot free means they and others like them have no incentive to not do the same again.

[Mike Blackburn]

now the Germans are dumping on Tenant.
the Guardian

Looks like Tenant deserved the Medal of Freedom what with all the lies he had to make and all files he had to bake

[JimTicehurst]

My fear is this will all turn out to be another end result..like Nam..we need your Input more than ever Col.Lang..our actions there should have ended at Tora Bora when Action was called for.. (but without any follow up..) I think.
The Neo Cons didnt want the game to end that way..and you called them out accurately all along..

[jon]

The truth dribbles out, but where is the uproar?

It seemed perfectly clear to me that there was little to no actual evidence to justify attacking, much less invading and occupying Iraq. The evidence was plainly there that the intelligence was being fixed, and that much of the corroboration for various pieces were simple the same, poor intel being passed though different agencies and countries, to give the idea that there were multiple sources.

However, I don't put much blame on Curveball. As he says, he was simply acting in his own interests. The Germans, and then the Americans should have quickly seen that his story was fabricated and unreliable. That the BND went back to him shows their poor judgment in passing the intel on, and then their lack of backbone when the US wanted more.

Tenet, Powell, and others in the intel agencies certainly bear some responsibility for playing along and having insufficient backbone. But the neocons involved in the 'stovepiping' ooerations bear the brunt of the blame.

Too bad we don't still have the hundreds of billions of dollars wasted on the war, or the lives of many brave soldiers sacrificed on this fool's errand. How much did the protesters in Egypt have to spend to bring down Mubarak? With patience and focus we might have helped accomplish something similar in Iraq.

[optimax]

German intelligence service passed Curveball's information to the CIA but with the caveat that he was psychologically unstable and the information had not been verified.

Drumhiller, a CIA officer, told Tenet before Powell's speech at the UN that Curveball's information was unreliable and was shocked it was used as evidence of biological weapons. Of course, when asked, Tenet said he didn't remember Drumhiller warning him.

Concerning Curveball: "The German official declined but then offered a startlingly candid assessment, Drumheller recalled. "He said, 'I think the guy is a fabricator,' " Drumheller said, recounting the conversation with the official, whom he declined to name. "He said: 'We also think he has psychological problems. We could never validate his reports.' "

This is from 2006 article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/24/AR2006062401081_2.html