For the next six months, he sat with paul the bnds resident expert on weapons of mass destruction and calling upon his knowledge of chemical engineering from university and from his work in baghdad, he manufactured a tale of dread. It suggested the part of harold goodall s life his son had never known. In late 2002, two strongwilled cia officers, identified only as beth and margaret, were at daggers drawn. The bush administration laid blame on the cia, criticising its officials for failing to investigate doubts about curveball, which emerged after an october 2002 national intelligence estimate. Curveball, man who lied about wmds, comes clean the. This tells the story of the source codenamed curveball, that the us based it. We read every letter or email we receive, and we will convey your comments to cia officials outside opa as appropriate. Former cia official tyler drumheller summed up curveball as a guy trying to get his green.
A few years after the attacks of 911, a manager of the central intelligence agency s covert interrogation program posted a warning placard in his office. Determining the reliability of a key cia source nieman. Saddam hussein had been fascinated with chemical and. Curveball tells the inspiring story of baseballs female jackie robinson, a woman whose ambition, courage and raw talent propelled her from ragtag teams barnstorming across the dakotas to playing before cheering crowds at yankee stadium. Iraq war source s name revealed the us cited mr alwans bioweapon claims in its war argument. Eager for new curveball, cia may have been duped by iranian double agentformer cia official philip giraldi, who was briefed on the case last week by cia officials with direct knowledge of it, said those who had been responsible for handling amiri still did not regard him as a double agent.
Still, there were enough details to convince analysts at the cia. Recalling how americans were sold a bogus case for invasion. Mar 15, 2008 determining the reliability of a key cia source after his newspaper story exposed the cias reliance on a con man to determine if iraq had wmd, a journalist dug deeper to unravel the mystery. September 11 to the present the record on curveball directions. Spies, lies and the con man who caused a war, notes that when the iraqi defector known as curveball appears in germany see november 1999, the us intelligence community knows very little about the state of affairs with iraqs secret weapons programs. In todays post id like to present a cautionary tale from a 2007 nonfiction book by pulitzer prize winning journalist, bob drogin, titled curveball and published by edbury press, new york. Curveballgermanys role in the iraq warand the horrors of.
Curveball tells saga of fraud who helped start iraq. The source description section notes his role in the claim that iraq had transportable biological warfare agent production facilities, his claimed background, and provides an assessment of his knowledge of the iraqi biological warfare program. Jun 26, 2008 the office of public affairs opa is the single point of contact for all inquiries about the central intelligence agency cia. Iraq bioweapons claim a lie, curveball says the new york times. Read the article and answer the questions below t for true and f for false. Drumheller, a highlevel cia officer who publicly battled agency leaders over one of the most outlandish claims in the u.
Jul 03, 2016 on june 26, 2006, the washington post reported that the cia acknowledged that curveball was a con artist who drove a taxi in iraq and spun his engineering knowledge into a fantastic but plausible. Having suggested this amazing source was one of those who have risked. Former secretary of state colin powell said wednesday that u. The record on curveball the national security archive. The cia had reported the same information a week earlier. Cbs news the iraqi engineering student later known to the us and german intelligence communities as curveball graduates last in his class from engineering school at baghdad university and is hired to work at the chemical engineering and design center. Other than what i have mentioned, i cant find any other downfalls in this novel. Curveball answers the crucial question of the iraq war. Interviews tyler drumheller the dark side frontline pbs.
The strange case of curveball has become one of the most infamous. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was the center of the u. How the cia tried to quell ufo panic during the cold war. They think its more like the movies, that they are going to be jumping out of cars and. Since curveball was a german asset, drumhellers division got involved and a nasty fight developed over curveballs reliability. Turning a lengthy newspaper investigation into a book couldnt be that difficult. Toni stone was the first woman to play professional baseball in the negro league. Mar 18, 2020 curveballgermanys role in the iraq warand the.
Curveball was recruited out of baghdad university in 1994 to keep tabs on husseins chemicalweapons program. It examines how a former iraqi taxi driver helped build the bush. The secret history of fort detrick, the cias base for. Jan 01, 2007 the book covers the development of the curveball source, who was one of the primary indicators of wmds in iraq, along with the consequences of the intelligence, and the eventual discovery of its unreliability. According to various sources, by late december the cia was making. Bob drogin is the author of the newly released book curveball, the code name for the iraqi defector whose prewar claims about saddam husseins alleged mobile germwarfare labs were seized upon by the cia and bush administration. Rafid ahmed alwan aljanabi, codenamed curveball by german and american intelligence officials who dealt with his claims, has told the guardian that he. A book has been written about him and hollywood is currently working. In 1999, an iraqi refugee, soon codenamed curveball, told german intelligence agents of his work on an ongoing iraqi program that produced biological weapons in mobile laboratories. A us tv network has revealed the name of curveball an iraqi man whose information was central to the us governments argument to invade iraq.
Cia headquarters warned that allegations based on curveball should not be used in bushs speech. It is an interesting book, though not incredibly compelling. Tyler drumheller served as the cias top spy the division chief for the directorate of operations do in europe until he retired in 2005. According to celadon, brennan will cover his more than 30 years in government under republican and democratic presidents, including. The question should be put to the cia and the dia defense intelligence agency as to why this wasnt known before the false information was put into the nie sent to congress, the presidents state of the union address and.
The president knew the story of curveball from his cia head george tenet. November 11, 2007 curveball, swing and a miss by george will. The cia had evidence that curveball was a shameless fabricator months before secretary of state colin powell cited the iraqis reports before the united nations. Cbs news reporter bob drogin, in his 2007 book curveball. Heres my latest post from the jeffrey sterling trial at, i describe how a top cia officer one who works in counterproliferation used curveball unironically, even while presenting information that raised new concerns for me about operation merlin. Curveball was a chemical engineer from baghdad who emigrated to germany in 1998 and began working by early 2000 with germanys federal intelligence service, known as the b. At the central intelligence agency, officials embraced curveballs account even. We were not told at the time that curveball was a solitary source of obviously questionable credentials, nor that contradictory evidence was actually suppressed from the intelligence collection and dissemination process. Spies, lies, and the con man who caused a war new york. The information came from a source developed by german intelligence. The key source behind the cia and dia claims was an iraqi defector living in germany, codenamed curveball, who had been debriefed by germanys bundesnachrictendienst bnd federal intelligence service which passed his claims on to the united states but did not grant u.
Spies, lies, and the con man who caused a war and millions of other books are available for instant access. This is essentially a directive for the recipient to disregard or burn all information derived from that individual or group. The highest and lowest drama in drogins book is the spectacle of. It is also another story of serious mistakes by american intelligence in the run up to the iraq invasion after 911. However, with limited staff and resources, we simply cannot respond to all who write to us. The briefer promised to check, and the cias winpac center prepared a note which observed that the foreign information on which the claim was based was only single source and lacked crucial detail. September 11 to the present the record on curveball. This is one of those books that makes you go hummm i highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know the truth as this author puts it. A timeline of how we got into iraq mushroom clouds, duct tape, judy miller, curveball. Its amazing to me maybe not to others how messed up the whole hunt for wmds was and how gung ho people in the cia and other foreign intelligence agencies were.
Mar 26, 2007 since curveball was a german asset, drumhellers division got involved and a nasty fight developed over curveballs reliability. Drumheller had raised serious questions about the credibility of a key source known as curveball with top agency officials before the invasion. The book covers the development of the curveball source, who was one of the primary indicators of wmds in iraq, along with the consequences of the intelligence, and the eventual discovery of its unreliability. The secret history of fort detrick, the cia s base for mind control experiments today, its a cuttingedge lab. Google and facebook were created by the cia youtube. Curveball an example to the ufo research community. The briefer promised to check, and the cia s winpac center prepared a note which observed that the foreign information on which the claim was based was only single source and lacked crucial detail.
At that point the bnd informed the cia that none of curveballs claims. I learned so much about whats normal after brain surgery. Since project blue book s end, the cia has admitted that more than half of the ufo reports the. The story of curveball and his fictitious reports have been narrated in newspaper articles and books, but until now, janabi. Throw and master the curveball to advance to higher levels. How and why was americas intelligence so catastrophically wrong. Brennan, the former cia director and longtime intelligence official, is working on a memoir.
Test your coordination and dexterity playing curveball game. Enter your mobile number or email address below and well send you a link to download the free kindle app. It has been known for several years that the source called curveball was totally unreliable, powell told the guardian. Curveball is the subject of this information memo, authored by dia director lowell jacoby. Curveball fled iraq for germany in 1999, seeking asylum. In an increasingly technological age, government agencies can read text messages, intercept emails and listen to phone calls at the click of a mouse. Oct 26, 2007 there were, however, dissenters in the cia who objected to the reliance being placed on an unverified source. Bbc news middle east iraq war sources name revealed. Curveballgermanys role in the iraq warand the horrors. In may 2004, over a year after the invasion of iraq, the cia concluded formally that curveballs information was fabricated.
Determining the reliability of a key cia source nieman reports. He was, after all, powells main source, a man his german handlers had feted as a new. Turning a lengthy newspaper investigation into a book couldnt. Powell said the central intelligence agency cia and defense intelligence agency dia should both face questions about why they failed to sound the alarm about janabi. Spies, lies, and the con man who caused a war drogin, bob on. The twoway joschka fischer says the german intelligence agency sent the cia a letter about unreliability of the. Perhaps even more disturbing is the presidential commissions finding that curveballs unreliability was withheld from the unwitting powell, even as the administration was pushing him out onto. Celadon books, a division of macmillan publishers, confirmed to the associated press on wednesday that it had acquired brennans book. Curve ball was the one piece of evidence where they could say, look at this. Excia spy readies to publish book about undercover. We read every letter, fax, or email we receive, and we will convey your comments to cia officials outside opa as appropriate. Although the book had some confusing moments for me, i still was impressed yet again by jordan sonnenblick. Random house, 2007, the identity of the source is reported as ahmed hassan mohammed, but the author notes that is not his real name.
Curveballs reinvention as a liberator and patriot is a tough sell to many in the cia, the bnd and in the bush administration, whose careers were terminally wounded as mystery surrounding the. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. This book is filled with some great humor, awesome writing, and a bittersweet ending. Curveball was the chief source of inaccurate prewar u. At this point, according to curveball, he decided to let his imagination run wild. Google and facebook were created by the cia the truth factory. In may 2004, over a year after the invasion of iraq, the cia concluded formally that curveball s information was fabricated. Curveball, 2005 news iraqi defector, was revealed to be the sole cia source for u. It contains events related to the event january 27, 2003. Realclearpolitics articles curveball, swing and a miss. It is astonishing that in this fight it apparently did not occur to anyone to use cias all source charter to look for actual evidence to support or refute curveball. A burn notice is an official statement issued by an intelligence agency to other agencies.
The world factbook provides information on the history, people and society, government, economy, energy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities. He was the most important source for colin powells 80minute. As the cia tried to set up a debriefing of source eighteen, another iraqi exile passed on word to the agency that an inc representative had told source. Spies, lies, and the con man who caused a war is an examination of the refugee from iraq, code named curveball, who contended that he had been involved in wmd biological warfare research and development. Spies, lies, and the con man who caused a war 1 by drogin, bob isbn. Rafid ahmed alwan aljanabi known by the defense intelligence agency cryptonym. Janabi was an unreliable source, evidence which critics now say the bush white house and the c. The twoway joschka fischer says the german intelligence agency sent the cia a. You can narrow or broaden the context of this timeline by adjusting the zoom level. Tenet also disputes the allegation made by tyler drumheller, the c.
It is astonishing that in this fight it apparently did not occur to anyone to use cia s all source charter to look for actual evidence to support or refute curveball. Man whose wmd lies led to 100,000 deaths confesses all. The office of public affairs opa is the single point of contact for all inquiries about the central intelligence agency cia. The intelligence officers bookshelf central intelligence. How us was duped by iraqi fantasist looking to topple. It states that an asset or intelligence source is unreliable for one or several reasons, often fabrication, and must be officially disavowed. One cia official who was appalled by the agencys eagerness to play up curveballs. It quotes former cia senior official tyler drumheller as saying. The diary entries mentioned allen dulles, william colby, james angleton, frank wisner, kim philby, and bill harvey, among others associated with the cia and the world of intelligence. Feb 15, 2011 rafid ahmed alwan aljanabi, codenamed curveball by german and american intelligence officials who dealt with his claims, has told the guardian that he fabricated tales of mobile bioweapons trucks. When bob s, a longtime cia operations manager working on weapons of mass destruction described the ambiguity common on cia operations as getting a curveball thrown at you in wednesdays testimony at the jeffrey sterling trial, he surely didnt mean to reference the iraqi fabricator who, under the pseudonym curveball, lied.
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