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Posted on 02/16/2011 8:11:04 PM PST by bruinbirdman
Former American secretary of state Colin Powell has reportedly called on the CIA and Pentagon to explain how he was given unreliable information which proved key to the US case for invading Iraq.
Powell's landmark speech to the United Nations on February 5, 2003, cited intelligence about Iraq leader Saddam Hussein's bioweapons programme gained from a defector, code-named Curveball.
But he has now admitted that he lied to topple the dictator, in an interview with the Guardian.
"It has been known for several years that the source called Curveball was totally unreliable," Mr Powell said.
"The question should be put to the CIA and the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) as to why this wasn't known before the false information was put into the (report) sent to Congress, the president's state of the union address and my 5 February presentation to the UN."
The defector, real name Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, admitted for the first time this week that he lied to the BND, Germany's secret service, by claiming in 2000 that Iraq had mobile bioweapons trucks and had built clandestine factories.
During Mr Powell's speech, Mr Janabi was described as "an Iraqi chemical engineer" who "supervised one of these facilities."
"He actually was present during biological agent production runs and was also at the site when an accident occurred in 1998," Mr Powell told the UN.
Mr Janabi was exposed as an unreliable source when the BND visited Bassil Latif, his former boss at the Military Industries Commission in Iraq, who said there were no trucks or
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
“SONOFREAGAN demands Powell give answers as to why he supported Obama in 2008”
“It has been known for several years that the source called Curveball was totally unreliable,” Mr Powell said.
So the question is , “Why are we rehashing this at this very moment?”
Is this a ‘I’m not Bush. Love me!’ moment?
So, tell me Mr. Powell, what happened to all the chemical and biological weapons that Saddam used on the Kurds? While you’re at it, talk to me about the artillary shells found buried in the desert after the fall of Saddam which were filled with chemical weapons - degraded, and non-lethal at the time of their finding, but WMD’s none-the-less. Tell me about the strategic intel my son’s unit found which provided evidence of ties with Al Queda. Powell needs to sit down and STFU.
“Iraq is a long way from Ohio, but what happens there matters a great
deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use
nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is
the greatest security threat we face. And it is a threat against which
we must, and will, stand firm.
In discussing Iraq, we begin by knowing that Saddam Hussein, unlike
any other leader, has used weapons of mass destruction even against
his own people. In fact, he is a repeat offender, having used them
both in the battle and against his people.”
Guess who I heard say this?
Madeline Albright! I was there!
He actually was present during biological agent production runs and was also at the site when an accident occurred in 1998,” Mr Powell told the UN.———————
Bill Clinton’s ‘intelligence’...not Bush’s.
Read what Albright, Berger and Cohen had to say BEFORE ‘Curveball’.
http://www.fas.org/news/iraq/1998/02/20/98022006_tpo.html
The post-Gulf War I Powell is both sad and pathetic.
If you made mistakes, Mr. Powell, own up to them. If you doubted a source even 1%, check it out yourself. You had the resources. Don’t pass off the blame to others.
Amen to that!
He sure didn't have a problem when he shut up about the Plame fiasco and left President Bush and his administration swinging in the wind for two years.
Powell would do himself and the American people a huge favor if he'd zip his lip and spend all his time with his family.
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“Curveball” was a mere bit player, and was always seen as suspect.
Powell is an embarrassment to this country at this point. I am ashamed that I once supported this charlatan.
I'm still waiting for your explanation, Mr. Powell, as to why when after the White House gave specific orders for anyone who knew who the leaker of Plame's name was to come forward. And you knew it was Armitage, but kept your mouth shut for years.
He was never, it seems, more than a political general. In 1996, I thought he was worthy of the Republican nomination, but his shrinking from making an effort to obtain it was, probably, revealing of his character. An actor playing a hero, rather than a hero.
The burden of proof for Saddam's WMDs was on Saddam, not on the U.S.; not on the U.N. or on the coalition. We didn't have to prove he still had WMDs. HE had the burden of proving that he did NOT have them any longer. He failed to do so. He paid the price. PERIOD. Enough already. Game over.
Gee, Colin, maybe you should have taken a hint from the guy’s codename.
He’s color blind.
Degraded, perhaps, but I wouldn't necessarily call them non-lethal. There are plenty stored in Edgewood, MD and Redstone, AL that are plenty hazardous. I remember a 60 Minutes story on the facility in AL during the Clinton years. The story at the time was how much of a danger the WWI era munitions were to the local population.
However, once 2003 arrived, weapons just over a decade old became harmless.
Powell is just saying that he was a dunce and believed all the evidence that was given to him... Funny, most anybody would with Iraq’s history. I guess that we all are to believe that after killing their own folks, they decided to destroy all of the WMD’s without telling the appropriate folks..thus we just invaded for no reason... CRAP!
He had and still had the capability to produce WMD’s and actually, I still think that many of those items were transported to Seria (we will only know in future wars)...
History has a long time frame and all of this will eventually be proven in the end...(my conjecture)...
I remember the buildup to the war, and how much of a big deal was made about WMD’s, and I remembering saying to myself at the time that if Saddam was smart he would destroy all the WMD’s he had to make us look bad...
And guess what... that's exactly what he did.
We should of bargained with him, he could of revealed where he hid them and or told us how and what he destroyed in return for a life sentence.
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