Even More Curveball

Colin gets duped. LA Times (11.20.05):

"On Feb. 5, 2003, Powell told the packed U.N. chamber that his account was based on 'solid sources' and 'facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence.' Instead, Powell emphasized Curveball's 'eyewitness' account, calling it 'one of the most worrisome things that emerge from the thick intelligence file.'" How U.S. Fell Under the Spell of 'Curveball'

A supervisor for the German Federal Intelligence Service watched the speech on TV. "'We thought maybe they had the smoking gun. My gut feeling was the Americans must have so much from reconnaissance planes and satellites, from infiltrated spotter teams from Special Forces, and other systems. We thought they must have tons of stuff.'" Nope. It was just Curveball. On the other hand, in response to Colin's speech, the Iraqis went apeshit: "'[They] scoured the country for trailers,' said a former CIA official who helped interrogate Iraqi officials and scientists in U.S. custody after the war. 'They were in real panic mode. They were terrified that this was real, and they couldn't explain it.'" The UN's weapons inspectors actually went and checked. "On Feb. 8, three days after Powell's speech, the U.N.'s Team Bravo conducted the first search of Curveball's former work site. The raid by the American-led biological weapons experts lasted 3 1/2 hours. It was long enough to prove Curveball had lied." The weapons inspectors found that Curveball's assertions were abject nonsense. Six weeks later, US troops crossed the border.