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[or so the liar seems to believe]
This, to me, means two things:
1) The Bush Administration, while overly credulous and clearly not really interested in alternative viewpoints, did not create the lie.
2) This puts the final nail in the "WMD" coffin. It was a lie (this has been clear for some time, but it's nice to have the confession). Our government bought it (IMO because that's the answer they wanted) and spread it to start a war.
Beware people telling you things you want to hear...
-Arrian
LONDON — An Iraqi defector who went by the codename “Curveball” has publicly admitted for the first time that he made up stories about mobile bioweapons trucks and secret factories to try to bring down Saddam Hussein’s regime.
"I had a problem with the Saddam regime," Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, who fled Iraq in 1995, told The Guardian newspaper. "I wanted to get rid of him and now I had this chance."
Al-Janabi’s information was used in part by the U.S. as justification for the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. More than 100,000 people, most of them Iraqi civilians, have died in the war. The U.S. began to withdraw its troops from Iraq last summer.
Janabi said he was comfortable with what he did, despite the war that ensued.
*snip*
The Iraqi engineer said the BND, the German secret service, approached him in March 2000 looking for inside information about Saddam's Iraq.
He said he had told a German official about the existence of mobile bioweapons trucks throughout 2000.
The BND traveled to a Gulf city, believed to be Dubai, to speak with his former boss at the Military Industries Commission in Iraq, Dr. Bassil Latif.
Latif strongly denied al-Janabi's claim of mobile bioweapons trucks and another allegation that 12 people had died during an accident at a secret bioweapons facility in Baghdad, according to the Guardian.
German officials confronted al-Janabi with his boss’s denial and did not contact him again until the end of May 2002, al-Janabi told the Guardian. Despite his earlier disputed statements, al-Janabi said, Gerrman and U.S. authorities continued to take him seriously.
He said he was not asked again about the bioweapons trucks until a month before Powell's speech.
"I tell you something when I hear anybody — not just in Iraq but in any war — [is] killed, I am very sad. But give me another solution. Can you give me another solution?" he told the Guardian.
"Believe me, there was no other way to bring about freedom to Iraq. There were no other possibilities."
Tyler Drumheller, the former head of the CIA in Europe, said Curveball's admission made him feel better about himself.
Drumheller, who says he warned his superiors at the CIA before the 2003 invasion that Curveball might be a liar, said the confession would be a final wake-up call for those who continue to insist there had been weapons of mass destruction.
"The interesting part for me is that he has recanted what he said, which is fascinating in the sense that I think there are still a number of people who still thought there was something in that. Even now," Drumheller told the Guardian.
"I had a problem with the Saddam regime," Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, who fled Iraq in 1995, told The Guardian newspaper. "I wanted to get rid of him and now I had this chance."
Al-Janabi’s information was used in part by the U.S. as justification for the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. More than 100,000 people, most of them Iraqi civilians, have died in the war. The U.S. began to withdraw its troops from Iraq last summer.
Janabi said he was comfortable with what he did, despite the war that ensued.
*snip*
The Iraqi engineer said the BND, the German secret service, approached him in March 2000 looking for inside information about Saddam's Iraq.
He said he had told a German official about the existence of mobile bioweapons trucks throughout 2000.
The BND traveled to a Gulf city, believed to be Dubai, to speak with his former boss at the Military Industries Commission in Iraq, Dr. Bassil Latif.
Latif strongly denied al-Janabi's claim of mobile bioweapons trucks and another allegation that 12 people had died during an accident at a secret bioweapons facility in Baghdad, according to the Guardian.
German officials confronted al-Janabi with his boss’s denial and did not contact him again until the end of May 2002, al-Janabi told the Guardian. Despite his earlier disputed statements, al-Janabi said, Gerrman and U.S. authorities continued to take him seriously.
He said he was not asked again about the bioweapons trucks until a month before Powell's speech.
"I tell you something when I hear anybody — not just in Iraq but in any war — [is] killed, I am very sad. But give me another solution. Can you give me another solution?" he told the Guardian.
"Believe me, there was no other way to bring about freedom to Iraq. There were no other possibilities."
Tyler Drumheller, the former head of the CIA in Europe, said Curveball's admission made him feel better about himself.
Drumheller, who says he warned his superiors at the CIA before the 2003 invasion that Curveball might be a liar, said the confession would be a final wake-up call for those who continue to insist there had been weapons of mass destruction.
"The interesting part for me is that he has recanted what he said, which is fascinating in the sense that I think there are still a number of people who still thought there was something in that. Even now," Drumheller told the Guardian.
1) The Bush Administration, while overly credulous and clearly not really interested in alternative viewpoints, did not create the lie.
2) This puts the final nail in the "WMD" coffin. It was a lie (this has been clear for some time, but it's nice to have the confession). Our government bought it (IMO because that's the answer they wanted) and spread it to start a war.
Beware people telling you things you want to hear...
-Arrian
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