Iraqi defector "Curve Ball" speaks out

And that biological accident at Djerf al Nadaf Curve Ball said he witnessed, the accident which killed 12 people and blackened their skin?

It never happened. And it turns out Djerf al Nadaf really was a seed purification plant.

Curve Ball, who worked there procuring parts, wasn't even at the plant when he said the accident happened in 1998.

When Simon asked Alwan how long he worked at Djerf al Nadaf, Alwan said "four months."

He told Simon he left the plant in 1994.

His tale, which helped launch the war, he now acknowledges was one big lie.

"The story that you said helped remove Saddam Hussein wasn't true, was it?" Simon asked.

"No, not true," Alwan admitted.

But there's still one maddening mystery: how did this low-level chemical engineer come up with such a detailed story? Did someone put him up to it?

"Did you make it up yourself?" Simon asked.

"Yes," Alwan said.

Curve Ball then hinted that someone may have helped him, but exactly who? He just wouldn't give us a straight answer. But he did tell us he considers himself a hero for the important role he played in ousting Saddam. He even ran for a seat in the Iraqi parliament last March. He got creamed. Perhaps the voters didn't see him as the hero he claimed to be.

We showed excerpts of our interview to former CIA senior official Tyler Drumheller, now a consultant for "60 Minutes."

"Curve Ball insists he did all this to get Saddam out of Iraq. You believe him?" Simon asked.

"No, I think he probably believes that himself now. I strongly feel that he did it at the time to be able to stay in Germany," Drumheller said.

If that's the case, he succeeded. Today, Curve Ball and his family have German passports and live in the southern part of the country. So now he apparently feels safe enough to tell his story. At least part of it. As our interview entered its second hour, we pressed him for the whole story, the full truth.

"Tell the truth is not for me," Alwan said.

"Telling the truth is not for you?" Simon asked.

"You can't ask me tell the truth," Alwan said.

"I cannot ask you to tell the truth?" Simon asked.

At this point, Alwan stood up, offered Simon a handshake, and said, "Until next time."

And with that Rafid Alwan, the man who pulled off one of the deadliest con jobs in history, disappeared back into the shadows.

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[janettrevor123]

Wow this is an interesting story from "Curve Ball". What he just did made the entire world suffer - not to mention, adding to "below the belt" insults to Obama. This guy should write a fiction novel. Janet <a href="http://www.theleasingcentre.com.au/Application-Centre/default.aspx
">Finance Program</a>.

[larrythelen]

Your report claims that in 1998, Saddam Hussein excluded Hans Blitz and the United Nations inspection team from Iraq and that therefore no one knew what WMDs Iraq might be developing thereafter. Wikipedia reports that it was the U.S. that called for the removal of Blitz in 1998 "in response to diminishing Iraqi cooperation." It also reports that Blitz and his commission conducted another search for weapons of mass destruction in late 2002 and during the lead-up to war in March 2003, and had found no stockpiles of WMD; further that Blitz had made significant progress toward resolving open issues of disarmament noting "proactive" but not always the "immediate" Iraqi cooperation.

So who are we to believe, 60 Minutes or Wikipedia?

[johnrusselll]

Why did they want to believe him? Because it was an excuse to get the man who would not accept U.S. debt. If the following video is correct, Saddam Hussein was set up. Watch The Energy Non-Crisis by Lindsay Williams and judge for yourself.
http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=A90052E1B0B9AF1A8E8D29FC44512E28
This 75 minute video may also explains why we have not been drilling for oil.

[bennyj90]

You people don't get it. Most of us knew that Colin Powel's 'facts' were made up. We just needed it to fool all you wimps enough to get us in there to get that nut Saddam. Mission accomplished. I wouldn't change a thing accept perhaps use more missiles and bombs and less men on the ground if it were me in charge at the time. Anyways, Thank you Alwan.

[drsarahj]

Shame on American greed and those, including the media, who were blind to the warmongering idiots in power. Moreover, the press were passive onlookers to the destruction of a country under false pretenses and are a joke to the idea of a democracy. US leaders who gave orders to invade Iraq should tried and punished under International law.

[formrusmcsgt]

"Some guy said"....

Pathetic cause for an invasion.

[nottblu]

Yes, both Clintons, Colin Powell, John Kerry, mulitple other Democrats, too numerous to list, Both Bush's, Sadam himself, et al. Also, it required votes from both sides of the isle to go to war and fund it ongoing. Let's see, democrats were in control four for years prior to the last election, yet the war continues, even when both houses of congrees were controlled by filibuster proof majorities and a sitting president no charges were brought, ever ask yourself why? Because both sides were complicit, get it? Or does pure hatred for Bush allow you to ignore truth and facts?

[forparity]

* Simon concluded that the Bush administration had fallen for "one of the deadliest con jobs in history" by listening to Alwan and going to war in Iraq.
* The only source for that?

The only source? Ah come on here. How about the "President of the World," Bill Clinton (complements of Chris Matthews and the fine folks over at MSNBC).

Now make a note here Bob Simon. We all know that there was mostly nothing but agreement prior to the start of the Iraq War in March of 2003 on the issue of WMD's on both sides of the isle, but let's not forget that there was also much agreement offered up months later - from this source (other notables speaking out would also include John Edwards and former Clinton Sec. William Cohen.) I note that this is quite an edited excerpt; however, the message here is dead on Clinton's view (my bold):

* CNN LARRY KING LIVE Aired July 22, 2003
* Bill Clinton - I think the main thing I want to say to you is, people can quarrel with whether we should have more troops in Afghanistan or internationalize Iraq or whatever, but it is incontestable that on the day I left office, there were unaccounted for stocks...of biological and chemical weapons. ...... And what I think -- again, I would say the most important thing is we should focus on what's the best way to build Iraq as a democracy. How is the president going to do that and deal with continuing problems in Afghanistan and North Korea?
* We should be pulling for America on this. We should be pulling for the people of Iraq.

Let's be clear here. President Bush made the clear decision to go to war in Iraq to rid the earth of Saddam Huessein, a mad man who'd already cost the world close to 2 million souls; however, it was also President Bush who "inherited," the evidence of WMD's and the view that Saddam was a threat to the US and it's allies and to the peace of the world, from his predecessor, Bill Clinton.

[formrusmcsgt]

dubya wanted regime change and went with unconfirmed intel.

Scream all you want.

Changes nothing.

Those are the facts.

[nottblu]

former he is pointing out the fact that BOTH SIDES OF THE ISLE STATED the same thing, get it? Thoser are also facts.

[forparity]

formrusmcsgt is the only one screaming here, you see.

[forparity]

@ skyk-2009

<<This was ONE Administration who OPENLY called anyone who didn't go along with their LIES Un-American>>

Really - you want to find me a single example of someone in the Bush administration saying such a thing?

[leald1]

Started on the words of liar's liar. It's a shame the Americans have already forgotten the Iraq war and America's lost generation.

[chuck_mc]

According to Michael Scheuer in "Imperial Hubris", the build up to the Iraq invasion caused American troops to be pulled from Afghanistan causing the loss of the best chance America had to date of capturing Bin Laden post 9/11.

[forparity]

Bin Laden was "cornered" in Eastern Afghanistan, Tora Bora, in Dec. 2001. While there is much to be learned about the strategic mistakes in that moment in time (there always is) that is when he escaped into Pakistan. The Iraq invasion began in March of 2003.

[chuck_mc]

More than $700 billion, more than 4000 American dead, and more than 30,000 wounded for what? A complete and total waste based upon a complete and total lie that some were all too eager to believe, and in some cases, still are.

[nottblu]

How many wars did Sadam start? Two or three? How many lives did the "butcher of baghdad" wipe out? Hundreds of thousands? Did he commit genocide using WMD? Pay suicide bopmbers families 25 grand a pop? Steal billions intended for his people from food for oil program? iognore countless UN canctions? attack Americans in no fly zone every day? Didn't want you to forget truths some are eager to forget or ignore.

[forparity]

saveDarfur.org Hmm.
saveIraq.org Hmm.

Late 1990's - the activist left was screaming, "End the Sanctions."
Late 2002's - the same folks changed their tune - saying, "The sanctions are working."

@notthlu - I suspect the number who died because of Saddam's wars (1 million, following his invasion of Iran) and at the hand of him or his regime would land in the 1 1/2 million to 2 million range.

[jerry_chicago]

Chuck, Bush removed an unagrauably insane, brutal, mass-murdering dictator from Iraq, and replaced the government with a democracy and free market system that the people wanted. All that in a country that is sitting on the second largest oil reserves in the world. If you call that a "complete and total waste" then you are an idiot. By the way, even if your inflated $700 billion figure was correct, it is still not too much considering the facts, of which you are clearly ignorant. The US imports 9.6 Million barrels of oil EVERY DAY. That means that a $10 move in oil prices costs the us $35 BILLION a year. That's for just a $10 move. Experts contend that without Iraq oil, prices would go to $200/barrel, ie an increase of 100 from present day prices. That's an increased cost to the US of 350 BILLION EVERY YEAR. In other words, the Iraqi war pays for itself in 2 years you moron, that is not a "total waste". And no matter how heartbreaking losing 4,000 troops is, it is the duty of the president to keep this country safe. And at $200 barrel oil, that is controlled by a mad man is not in the definition. I'm just glad lily livered beatniks like you don't have to make the tough calls on protecting the country. Enjoy your freedom to speak against this country, provided courtesy of the "war mongers" you so despise.

[forparity]

@skyk-2009
<< we were told our Commander in Chief had the "Smoking Gun" proving that Saddam had Nuclear Weapons and we had HARD proof that he helped with the attack of 9/11.>>

Nope - no we were not. (Cheney once mis-spoke, but quickly and "OPENLY" corrected himself - for the record). Rice expressed fear that "some day," as had so many before her.

The only person I know of who actually officially went on record in stating publicly that Saddam actually had nuclear weapons was Democrat Senator Carl Levin, and he did it on MSNBC's Hardball, in Nov. of 2005 -- well after the fact. Go figure that one!!

'Hardball with Chris Matthews' Nov. 7, 2005
Senator Carl Levin (D) of Michigan, a member of the Intelligence Committee

"- look there was plenty of evidence that Saddam had nuclear weapons, by the way. That is not in dispute. There is plenty of evidence of that."

FTR, I think that the Iraq War was horribly mismanaged. It came with a great price. I would have supported immense efforts to help the people of Iraq overthrow that fascist dictator Saddam, covertly.