Faulty Intel Source "Curve Ball" Revealed

Once the U.S. took over Iraq and started looking for WMD, Curve Ball's story began to unravel. His university record was located. 60 Minutes obtained a copy. Rafid Ahmed Alwan, aka Curve Ball, had claimed to the Germans he graduated at the top of his class in chemical engineering. Well, not quite.

60 Minutes showed a copy of the record to Dr. Basil, Alwan's former boss and a scientist himself.

"It's a 59, 50, 50, 50, 50, 50, 67. I can see all his marks are 50, 50s," Dr. Basil remarks.

Those marks were out of a score of 100.

"Not a great student," Simon remarks.

"Never. No, never," Dr. Basil replies.

Not only that, it turns out Djerf al Nadaf was a seed purification plant after all. Dr. Basil was the head of production design. Alwan worked for him as an engineer, but only while the facility was being built.

"Rafid left few months after we finished Djerf al Nadaf, which was I would expect Rafid left sometime 1995," Dr. Basil says.

He did. 60 Minutes discovered Alwan then worked at the Babel television production company, where he stole expensive equipment. An arrest warrant was issued for him; charges were dropped when Alwan agreed to repay Babel. After that misadventure? The man who invited Alwan to his wedding, Dr. Hillal al Dulaimi, says Alwan's career took an even more unlikely turn.

"He working for a cosmetics," Dr. Hillal tells Simon. "He did some homemade cosmetics."

As for the biological accident that supposedly killed 12 people at Djerf al Nadaf in 1998? It never happened. Rafid Alwan wasn't even in Iraq when he said it happened. He had left the country, first traveling to Jordan, then Egypt, then Libya, before making his way to Morocco. From there, Alwan's trail ran cold, until he showed up in Germany and became Curve Ball. The case finally ended in Munich in March 2004, when the Germans allowed a CIA officer to interrogate Curve Ball.

"And the key thing, I think, was the wall. He showed him pictures of the wall," Drumheller remembers.

What did Curve Ball say?

"'You doctored these pictures.' And he said, 'No, we didn't.' He said, we didn't doctor them," Drumheller says.

The wall had been built in 1997. Curve Ball didn't know it existed because he had already left Djerf al Nadaf.

"Curve Ball was caught," Simon remarks.

"And Curve Ball said, 'I don't think I'm gonna say anything else,'" Drumheller says.

The CIA finally acknowledged Curve Ball was a fraud. But why did he do it?

Former CIA insider Tyler Drumheller has an idea. "It was a guy trying to get his Green Card, essentially, in Germany, playing the system for what it was worth. It just shows sort of the law of unintended consequences," he says.

Rafid Alwan got what he wanted. He is thought to be living in Germany today, most likely under a new name, after pulling off one of the deadliest con jobs of our time.

Produced By Draggan Mihailovich

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[The Die Hard]

I will bet you a space shuttle that "Curve Ball" was a rogue CIA plant, coached and installed by George Herbert Walker Bush''s deep network from his Iran-Contra treason days, just one of several put in place to fulfill his wet dream of "getting back" at Saddam for *** him on an oil deal. Remember, the plans for invading Iraq were already on Bush One''s desk back in 1992, when he was forced to give up his original plot for seizing Iraq''s oil fields when the traitor was trounced by President Clinton.

Too bad Clinton didn''t have the guts to have Herbert arrested and tried for his treason right then. It would have saved us a lot of grief and a lot of lives.

"Curveball" gave the bushdicks everything they wanted on a platinum platter. So now he''s living the good life, while hundreds of thousands of people have been murdered because of his lies -- and instead of prosecuting him, the bushdicks are probably still paying him off.

[The Die Hard]

I will bet you a space shuttle that "Curve Ball" was a rogue CIA plant, coached and installed by George Herbert Walker Bush''s deep network from his Iran-Contra treason days, just one of several put in place to fulfill his wet dream of "getting back" at Saddam for *** him on an oil deal. Remember, the plans for invading Iraq were already on Bush One''s desk back in 1992, when he was forced to give up his original plot for seizing Iraq''s oil fields when the traitor was trounced by President Clinton.

Too bad Clinton didn''t have the guts to have Herbert arrested and tried for his treason right then. It would have saved us a lot of grief and a lot of lives.

"Curveball" gave the bushdicks everything they wanted on a platinum platter. So now he''s living the good life, while hundreds of thousands of people have been murdered because of his lies -- and instead of prosecuting him, the bushdicks are probably still paying him off.

[salidagordy]

This article on "curve ball" seemed to be a one sided White House lame blame game. Seems very late to be making excuses - so, what is the White House up to or are they just trying to fool themselves. There also some very publicly know facts that they got wrong. I would like to see George Tenant, his old key staff and Valerie Wilson along with Collen Powell on 60 minutes to set the record straight.

[logicanada]

mrmazerati . . . anyone who thinks Bush didn''t plant this guy is nuts.

[The Die Hard]

I will bet you a space shuttle that "Curve Ball" was a rogue CIA plant, coached and installed by George Herbert Walker Bush''s deep network from his Iran-Contra treason days, just one of several put in place to fulfill his wet dream of "getting back" at Saddam for *** him on an oil deal. Remember, the plans for invading Iraq were already on Bush One''s desk back in 1992, when he was forced to give up his original plot for seizing Iraq''s oil fields when the traitor was trounced by President Clinton.

Too bad Clinton didn''t have the guts to have Herbert arrested and tried for his treason right then. It would have saved us a lot of grief and a lot of lives.

"Curveball" gave the bushdicks everything they wanted on a platinum platter. So now he''s living the good life, while hundreds of thousands of people have been murdered because of his lies -- and instead of prosecuting him, the bushdicks are probably still paying him off.

[tea333]

Re the Curveball report:

1) Who is Central Group Chief, Margaret Henoch referring to when discussing that she was ignored? Why did that person%u2019s input take precedent, and not Margaret%u2019s? Who was involved?

2) How historically typical is it for one person to make a %u201Cslam dunk%u201D remark that the Executive claims as the sole reason for making the final call? (i.e., in relation to Kennedy%u2019s wisdom and pause during the missile crisis.) Given history, should we citizens have expected the Executive or Powell to have pressed further beyond Tenant%u2019s %u201Cslam dunk?%u201D

3) The report says Curveball appeared credible as presented by the CIA. But to whom, and why?

4) Is the ease with which evidence was accepted by the Executive historically typical or suspect?

5) The month following Powell%u2019s presentation, several concrete flaws were reported to the Executive regarding Curveball%u2019s story. Why did it not change anything? Why were the inspectors%u2019 findings ignored? This was well after %u201Cslam dunk,%u201D so why did we still go to war? Who knew what when?

This report is not just about Curveball. It%u2019s ultimately another report about the events leading to war. I would consider the above questions connected to accountability higher priority than Curveball%u2019s grades or work in cosmetics.

You often have reports that are important for Americans to consume. If you read this, thanks! If not, have a great week anyway.

[jbkaufmann]

Scapegoating is probably this nation''s number ONE sport, above all else. The simple fact remains that the Cheney-Bush administration was going to war in order to depose Saddam Hussein no matter what. It''s so easy to find cranks and crackpots to bolster any position. If the Far Right in this country had been told we''d be spending trillions to benefit Republican war profiteers in this disastrous misventure known as the "war on terror," based soley on some psychic''s encounter with the ghost of JonBenet Ramsey, they would still be cheerleading Cheney-Bush to this very moment. We need someone who understands that UBL is still alive; that Putin should not get away with launching a radiological nuclear attack against the West-- whether to kill one person or a million! No one in the media seems to care about some very dire issues we as a nation face today and tomorrow. Is it any wonder the leadership in Iran laughs at us in contempt? Whatever you can say about Saddam Hussein, it was his Iraq that was the bastion in that region against Persian expansionism. Does anyone recall the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s??? The Iranians laugh because their "Big Satan" got rid of their "Iraqi Satan" and it didn''t cost them one thin dime. "Dubya" Bush will go down in history as the real "butcher of Bagdadh." In the eyes of the world, we are indeed responsible for every drop of blood shed after March 18, 2003 in that country. The time has come to face some harsh reality.

[The Die Hard]

I will bet you a space shuttle that "Curve Ball" was a rogue CIA plant, coached and installed by George Herbert Walker Bush''s deep network from his Iran-Contra treason days, just one of several put in place to fulfill his wet dream of "getting back" at Saddam for *** him on an oil deal. Remember, the plans for invading Iraq were already on Bush One''s desk back in 1992, when he was forced to give up his original plot for seizing Iraq''s oil fields when the traitor was trounced by President Clinton.

Too bad Clinton didn''t have the guts to have Herbert arrested and tried for his treason right then. It would have saved us a lot of grief and a lot of lives.

"Curveball" gave the bushdicks everything they wanted on a platinum platter. So now he''s living the good life, while hundreds of thousands of people have been murdered because of his lies -- and instead of prosecuting him, the bushdicks are probably still paying him off.

[prinzowhales]

TheDieHard--Why would Billy want to arrest Bush?-- He was partnered with him in the Mena drug and money smuggling...He vacations with the Bushies...Barbara describes him as being like another son...Its the same reason that George43 let Clinton of the hook...The same reason Whitewater and stained blue dresses were investigated and the important crimes of the Clinton presidency were glossed over by the crooked lawyer who ran the investigations...Clinton could no more arrest "the Queen of May" than its son, George43 could arrest Billy Blythe.

[The Die Hard]

I will bet you a space shuttle that "Curve Ball" was a rogue CIA plant, coached and installed by George Herbert Walker Bush''s deep network from his Iran-Contra treason days, just one of several put in place to fulfill his wet dream of "getting back" at Saddam for *** him on an oil deal. Remember, the plans for invading Iraq were already on Bush One''s desk back in 1992, when he was forced to give up his original plot for seizing Iraq''s oil fields when the traitor was trounced by President Clinton.

Too bad Clinton didn''t have the guts to have Herbert arrested and tried for his treason right then. It would have saved us a lot of grief and a lot of lives.

"Curveball" gave the bushdicks everything they wanted on a platinum platter. Obviously he''s living the good life now, no doubt paid off handsomely with our tax dollars.