Intel Source Admits He Through US a Curveball

Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi is a name not known to many, yet he is arguably one of the most important figures in the Iraq war. He is instead better known by his CIA code name, Curveball. Curveball was the source that claimed that Saddam had a chemical weapons program and was producing weapons of mass destruction. He even claimed that he had worked on germ warfare trucks in the country. His information formed the basis of the investigation that lead the Bush Whitehouse to declare Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and the decision to invade. Now, al-Janabi has admitted publicly that it was all made up. Not a word of it was true. Though he is part of the cause for the Iraq war, he expresses no regret. He says that he hated Saddam Hussein and his regime and is proud that his lies brought down Saddam. Now, the German government, which ironically has anti-warmongering laws, is considering prosecuting. Some have asked whether the US should consider punishing him as well.

While knowingly delivering false intelligence feels like something that should be a crime, I believe that to lay the blame for the Iraq war on Curveball is too give him too much credit. Though they initially believed him, even before the invasion the Germans warned the US that Curveball’s info could not be trusted. As well, there were more causes to the war and Bush had more motivations to invade Iraq than the testimony of one man. As well, since the information was false, there was never any real evidence to back it up and it was believed only because the administration wanted to believe it. To say al-Janabi was the cause of the Iraq invasion is akin to saying the First World War was cause by the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, a gross oversimplication. Al-Janabi was an excuse, not the cause. While he should be prosecuted, if possible, purely because knowingly giving false intelligence should be discouraged, he should not be granted too much importance.