WP, Pincus: Skepticism about Defector's Weapons Allegations Ignored

[DeepModem Mom]

Skepticism About Defector's Weapons Allegations Ignored

By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 13, 2004; Page A12


A Defense Intelligence Agency official warned the CIA about the questionable reliability of an Iraqi defector who was the chief source of allegations that Saddam Hussein had mobile facilities for making biological weapons, but his information was included in the official prewar intelligence estimate anyway, according to the report released last week by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence....

***

The Iraqi defector was listed as a "credible source" for the information on Iraq's bioweapons fleet in the CIA's October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, even though only one U.S. intelligence analyst had ever interviewed him....

***

The DIA employee, who was assigned to CIA headquarters, told his CIA superior that he questioned the "validity of the information" and that it warranted "further inquiry before we use the information as the backbone of one of our major findings for the existence of a continuing Iraqi BW program!"

He also e-mailed the deputy chief of the CIA's Iraq task force. Both officials said they were already aware of his concerns, the Senate report said.

The deputy chief e-mailed him back: "LET'S KEEP IN MIND THE FACT THAT THE WAR'S GOING TO HAPPEN REGARDLESS OF WHAT CURVE BALL SAID OR DIDN'T SAY, AND THAT THE POWERS THAT BE PROBABLY AREN'T TERRIBLY INTERESTED IN WHETHER CURVE BALL KNOWS WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT. However, in the interest of Truth, we owe somebody a sentence or two of warning, if you honestly have reservations."...


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45200-2004Jul12.html

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. Curioser and curioser.

At a minimum, the CIA should have CYAd and put Curveball's credibility noted with an asterisk or footnote on the report. It still would not have mattered, but the dolt that put the response in writing says it all.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Curve Ball, the article says, was hung-over on the morning of the meeting!

From the article:

"At that morning meeting, the defector was 'having a terrible hangover,' which raised questions about his reliability, according to the Senate report, which detailed deep flaws and exaggerations in the CIA's prewar intelligence reporting on Iraq."

[mhr]

3. Read The Intelligence Report Here

http://web.mit.edu/simsong/www/iraqreport2-textunder.pdf

[DeepModem Mom]

6. I see in the table of contents that "Curve Ball" is Section IV, pg. 152 --

but I'm having trouble getting to the page. Can someone get to that page in the document, and copy or report what ended up in the Intelligence Report?

And thanks, mhr, for posting --

[Snazzy]

7. Josh Marshall has linked a version...

where you can search for text. You still can't copy it, at least that I can figure out (the pages are images).


http://web.mit.edu/simsong/www/iraqreport2-textunder.pdf

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_07_11.php#003148


Edit: it's smaller too--13 mb vs 23 for the HYT version.

[DeepModem Mom]

9. Thanks, Snazzy!

[Snazzy]

10. Cheers

I wonder how that works. There's a test file in there somewhere....

[Rose Siding]

4. John Stewart said another informer's name was "Bullshit"

[DeepModem Mom]

5. LOL! Probably a buddy of Curve Ball's --

[Snazzy]

8. Who is Dep Chief CIA Iraq task force???

Do we know?

That's a hell of a quote, the stuff in caps.