Codename: CURVEBALL

 ⁵Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 2 Corinthians 10:5

Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi let his imagination run wild as he “waxed poetically" to British

reporters from the Guardian News, Martin Chulov and Helen Pidd in Karlsruhe Germany as he stated “Colin Powell didn' t say I was the only reason for this war, he talked about three things. First of all, uranium; secondly, al-Qaida; and thirdly, my story.”(1) Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi proceeded onward with his delusional rant as he described himself and his very foolish decision to deceive the Western Intelligence Community as an Iraqi patriot and modern day “deliverer of his people”. Alwan who was codenamed “Curveball” by German Intelligence was quoted making the following bold proclamation "Believe me, there was no other way to bring about freedom to Iraq. There were no other possibilities. Saddam did not [allow] freedom in our land. There are no other political parties. You have to believe what Saddam says, and do what Saddam wants. And I don't accept that. I have to do something for my country. So I did this and I am satisfied, because there is no dictator in Iraq any more." (2)

Iraqi patriot, pathetic liar & petty thief, diabolical psychopath, or perhaps a culmination of all three mindsets; however to many observers it may appear that “Curveball’s” mentality was and  still is today irrelevant. Due to the fact that the lies that “Curveball” sold to German Intelligence were the foundation in which Operation Iraqi Freedom was conceived.Some may choose to view “Curveball” as a opportunist; simply out to dupe the Western IC out of cash so he and his family could live comfortably in their new home; Germany. While others may contend that Alwan was a maniacal, manipulative, madman who strategically set out to “plant the seeds” of dissension that would ultimately lead to the destruction of the land of his birth.

Moving forward, to reiterate with the perspective of “hindsight being 20/20” it simply no longer matters; the damage has been done, Saddam has been executed at the hands of his countrymen, and America remains the most powerful nation on the face of Earth! What experts may consider intelligence failure; observers may consider quite frankly an embarrassing situation for the United States bureaucracy as the world watched and listened intently as then Secretary of State, General Colin Powell state "we have first-hand descriptions of  biological weapons factories on wheels, the source was an eyewitness — an Iraqi chemical engineer who supervised one of these facilities. He was present during biological agent production runs. He was also at the site when an accident occurred in 1998. Twelve technicians died." (3)

The Western media marvelled and gushed with comments regarding General Powell’s  “statesmanlike bearing and brilliant mind, which was aimed squarely at rebutting the conclusions of  UN weapons inspectors on the ground in Iraq, who were not finding the weapons and weapons-making facilities that U.S. intelligence agencies had pinpointed.” (4) “Curveball” had dangled the bait; and the Western Intelligence Community swallowed “hook, line, and sinker” thus ancient Mesopotamia who evolved into modern day Iraq lie in ruin.While reviewing such a gross miscalculation in judgement by the “leaders of the free world;” multiple theories come into play regarding Iraq and WMD debacle.

1)                  Conspiracy theorist who derive pleasure in viewing the United States as a wicked monolith capable of tremendous evil, may cognitively choose to perceive that “Curveball” presented himself as a dull witted “scapegoat” and his “information”

provided the Bush Administration with the perfect excuse to implement Operation Iraqi Freedom.

2)                  Others may ponder was Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi an elaborate, well trained covert agent of a Western Intelligence service. An agent assigned the task of toppling Saddam Hussein and his regime.

3)                  Then there is the prospective of the United States of America in the wake of September 11, 2001. Human nature may have dictated that in the aftermath of the massacre of thousands of American non-combatants at the hands of Middle Eastern terrorist; some may find it a miracle that Iraq is the only Middle Eastern nation that has incurred the wrath of the fiercest military that has ever existed on the face of the Earth!

In closing, much burden has been placed on the shoulders of analyst within the American Intelligence Community; granted their role in the securing of our nation is crucial. However some may perceive that the placing of blame on analyst while describing the Iraq and WMD affair as a failure on the part of the American IC; many may consider absolutely ludicrous.

The lesson learned and long term goal regarding a failure of the aforementioned magnitude may be for policy makers to accept more accountability regarding the intelligence they seek while being willing to “own” the outcome, rather positive filled with accolades for the policy maker or negative, laden with ambiguous results and or failure. On the surface it appears that the American Intel analyst succumbed to human nature, and that was to retain their employment in service to our nation while pleasing their superiors; the American policy makers. Thus the lies of “Curveball” were embraced, much to the detriment of Mr. Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi’s countrymen, the Iraqi people.

References:

(1)http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/15/curveball-iraqi-fantasist-cia-saddam

(2) Ibid

(3)http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/01/60minutes/main3440577.shtml