[linskyjack]

CIA officer claims US ignored warnings about WMD errors

Sun Jun 25, 10:15 AM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US administration officials chose to ignore a
CIA officer's warnings that an Iraqi defector's claims of purported biological labs made by
Iraq for germ warfare were unproven.
ADVERTISEMENT

Sunday's edition of The Washington Post quoted veteran CIA officer Tyler Drumheller who, it said, "recognized the source, an Iraqi defector suspected of being mentally unstable and a liar.

"The CIA officer took his pen," he recounted in an interview, "and crossed out the whole paragraph" in a statement to be presented by then secretary of state
Colin Powell to the
United Nations.

"A few days later, the lines were back in the speech. Powell stood before the UN Security Council on February 5 (2003) and said: 'We have first-hand descriptions of biological weapons factories on wheels and on rails.'"

Drumheller was stunned, the newspaper reported.

"We thought we had taken care of the problem," it quoted the man who was the CIA's European operations chief before retiring last year, as saying. "But I turn on the television and there it was, again."

The newspaper said that although the US government had "acknowledged intelligence failures over Iraqi weapons claims that led to war", new accounts by former insiders such as Drumheller shed light on "one of the most spectacular failures of all".

This was, it added: "How US intelligence agencies were eagerly drawn in by reports about a troubled defector's claims of secret germ factories in the Iraqi desert. The mobile labs were never found."

Drumheller "described in extensive interviews repeated attempts to alert top CIA officials to problems with the defector, code-named Curveball, in the days before the Powell speech," The Post said.

Yet "the warnings triggered debates within the CIA but ultimately made no visible impact at the top, current and former intelligence officials said," it added.

"In briefing Powell before his UN speech, George Tenet, then the CIA director, personally vouched for the accuracy of the mobile-lab claim, according to participants in the briefing.

"Tenet now says he did not learn of the problems with Curveball until much later and that he received no warnings from Drumheller or anyone else," the Post said.

In late 2002, the Bush administration began scouring intelligence files for reports of Iraqi weapons threats, the newspaper went on.

"Drumheller was asked to press a counterpart from a European intelligence agency for direct access to Curveball," who was living in Germany and described himself as a chemical engineer.

"Other officials confirmed that it was the German intelligence service," the Post said.

"The German official declined but then offered a startlingly candid assessment," Drumheller recalled.

"'He said, 'I think the guy is a fabricator,'" Drumheller was quoted as saying, declining to name the official.

"He said: 'We also think he has psychological problems. We could never validate his reports.'"



It was Germany's intelligence agency BND that passed along Curveball's stories to Washington, the report said.

"Over time, the informant generated more than 100 intelligence reports on secret Iraqi weapons programs -- the only such reports from an informant claiming to have visited and worked in mobile labs. Other informants, also later discredited, had claimed indirect knowledge of mobile labs," the report said.

[wacor]

Time to come home yes

But we better get a plan first and i dont see anybody with a clue on either side of the aisle on how to do that as of yet.

Is the WMD issue being kept alive just in the event Democrats get back control in congress so that we can then spend millions or billions on committee investigations that will accomplish nothing??

If so we could use an independent council to investigate congress itself because they are in my mind equally responsible for us getting where we are. Many in congress were aware of these reports being questionable and yet they sat on their hands. Bush did not have that great a consensus within the country on this that he was unstoppable with regard to invading Iraq.

[Fidelista]

for many reasons.
A huge mistake that will be paid for ---for decades
>f

[wacor]

Originally Posted by Fidelista

for many reasons.
A huge mistake that will be paid for ---for decades
>f

Yes it seems like some of the lessons of Viet Nam have been forgotten. We need to get the heck out in a way that does not make matters worse

[TooBad]

Originally Posted by linskyjack

CIA officer claims US ignored warnings about WMD errors

Sun Jun 25, 10:15 AM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US administration officials chose to ignore a
CIA officer's warnings that an Iraqi defector's claims of purported biological labs made by
Iraq for germ warfare were unproven.
ADVERTISEMENT

Sunday's edition of The Washington Post quoted veteran CIA officer Tyler Drumheller who, it said, "recognized the source, an Iraqi defector suspected of being mentally unstable and a liar.

"The CIA officer took his pen," he recounted in an interview, "and crossed out the whole paragraph" in a statement to be presented by then secretary of state
Colin Powell to the
United Nations.

"A few days later, the lines were back in the speech. Powell stood before the UN Security Council on February 5 (2003) and said: 'We have first-hand descriptions of biological weapons factories on wheels and on rails.'"

Drumheller was stunned, the newspaper reported.

"We thought we had taken care of the problem," it quoted the man who was the CIA's European operations chief before retiring last year, as saying. "But I turn on the television and there it was, again."

The newspaper said that although the US government had "acknowledged intelligence failures over Iraqi weapons claims that led to war", new accounts by former insiders such as Drumheller shed light on "one of the most spectacular failures of all".

This was, it added: "How US intelligence agencies were eagerly drawn in by reports about a troubled defector's claims of secret germ factories in the Iraqi desert. The mobile labs were never found."

Drumheller "described in extensive interviews repeated attempts to alert top CIA officials to problems with the defector, code-named Curveball, in the days before the Powell speech," The Post said.

Yet "the warnings triggered debates within the CIA but ultimately made no visible impact at the top, current and former intelligence officials said," it added.

"In briefing Powell before his UN speech, George Tenet, then the CIA director, personally vouched for the accuracy of the mobile-lab claim, according to participants in the briefing.

"Tenet now says he did not learn of the problems with Curveball until much later and that he received no warnings from Drumheller or anyone else," the Post said.

In late 2002, the Bush administration began scouring intelligence files for reports of Iraqi weapons threats, the newspaper went on.

"Drumheller was asked to press a counterpart from a European intelligence agency for direct access to Curveball," who was living in Germany and described himself as a chemical engineer.

"Other officials confirmed that it was the German intelligence service," the Post said.

"The German official declined but then offered a startlingly candid assessment," Drumheller recalled.

"'He said, 'I think the guy is a fabricator,'" Drumheller was quoted as saying, declining to name the official.

"He said: 'We also think he has psychological problems. We could never validate his reports.'"



It was Germany's intelligence agency BND that passed along Curveball's stories to Washington, the report said.

"Over time, the informant generated more than 100 intelligence reports on secret Iraqi weapons programs -- the only such reports from an informant claiming to have visited and worked in mobile labs. Other informants, also later discredited, had claimed indirect knowledge of mobile labs," the report said.

Hey liar, didn't you get the news? They have found WMDs in Iraq. Bush didn't lie you and your anti-American liberal snot-nosed, spineless, terroists lovers are the liars. When will you eat crow like a man. You talk a good game of supporting the troups, but I think you are all talk, no action on the truth. Murtha is a traitor, the NY times are traitors for printing classified information with the knowledge that it is helping our enemies and causing more deaths amoung American soldiers. The cabal of traitors that leaked the information need to be tried by a military tribunal and when found guilty, taken out back and shot like traitors should be!

[LANMaster]

[bill.aam]

Originally Posted by linskyjack

CIA officer claims US ignored warnings about WMD errors

"Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime ... He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation ... And now he is miscalculating America's response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction ... So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real..."
- Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003 | Source

"One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line."
- President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998 | Source

"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program."
- President Bill Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998 | Source

"We must stop Saddam from ever again jeopardizing the stability and security of his neighbors with weapons of mass destruction."
- Madeline Albright, Feb 1, 1998 | Source

"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983."
- Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998 | Source

"[W]e urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs."
Letter to President Clinton.
- (D) Senators Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, others, Oct. 9, 1998 | Source

"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process."
- Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998 | Source

"Hussein has ... chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies."
- Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999 | Source

"We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandate of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and th! e means of delivering them."
- Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002 | Source

"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country."
- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002 | Source

"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power."
- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002 | Source

"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."
- Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002 | Source

"The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons..."
- Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002 | Source

"I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force -- if necessary -- to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security."
- Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002 | Source

"There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years ... We also should remember we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction."
- Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D, WV), Oct 10, 2002 | Source

"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members ... It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons."
- Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002 | Source

"We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction."
- Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), Dec. 8, 2002 | Source

[linskyjack]

Originally Posted by TooBad

Hey liar, didn't you get the news? They have found WMDs in Iraq. Bush didn't lie you and your anti-American liberal snot-nosed, spineless, terroists lovers are the liars. When will you eat crow like a man. You talk a good game of supporting the troups, but I think you are all talk, no action on the truth. Murtha is a traitor, the NY times are traitors for printing classified information with the knowledge that it is helping our enemies and causing more deaths amoung American soldiers. The cabal of traitors that leaked the information need to be tried by a military tribunal and when found guilty, taken out back and shot like traitors should be!

Hey, do us all a favor---Turn off talk radio----sit there for about five minutes, and try to generate an original thought.

1. They have found WMDS--LOL--yes, circa 1992, inactive. Come on genius, if this WMD find is so important---why hasn't the WHite House said a word about it? You can't answer that one----
2. Murtha is a traitor---What war did you fight in? When did you put yourself at risk for your country? Read Murtha's military record and then look at your cowardly self in the mirror. If you are so interested in defending this country, suit up and get over to Iraq.
3. You want to suspend the Consitution in order to prosecute the "cabal of traitors" that leaked information--Shows how absolutely daffy you and the right wing extremists are.

No doubt, the fringe dwellers of the radical right are feeling the heat. Its kind of humorous---

PS. You called me a liar---I was going to call you NotToo Smart but heck, there are new rules in this forum and I suggest that you take a valium, turn on Rush, and pleasure yourself. Make love not war! By the way, as usual, you haven't responded to the original post---Is it to damaging to your fragile psyche?