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Iraqi Defector Admits Lying About WMD to Topple Saddam Hussein

Published February 16, 2011

KARLSRUHE, Germany -- A defector whose claims that Iraq had biological weapons were used in justifying the 2003 U.S. invasion has admitted that he lied to help get rid of Saddam Hussein, The Guardian newspaper said Tuesday.

"Maybe I was right, maybe I was not right," Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi told the British newspaper.

"They gave me this chance. I had the chance to fabricate something to topple the regime. I and my sons are proud of that and we are proud that we were the reason to give Iraq the margin of democracy.

"I had to do something for my country, so I did this and I am satisfied because there is no dictator in Iraq any more," he added.

Janabi, codenamed Curveball by German and American intelligence officials, told the BND, Germany's secret service, that Iraq had mobile bio-weapons trucks and had built clandestine factories.

Even after he went back on his story after being confronted with denials from another source, his former boss, the BND continued to take him seriously, he said.

The BND confronted Janabi with a statement from Bassil Latif, his former boss at the Military Industries Commission in Iraq, who said there were no trucks or factories.

"OK, when [Latif says] there no trucks then [there are none]," the paper reported Janabi telling the BND.

Despite his admission, Janabi said security officials continued to take his claims seriously. They told him in 2002 that his pregnant wife might not be allowed to join him in Germany if he refused to cooperate.

The faulty information Janabi provided helped form the cornerstone of former U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell's key address to the United Nations on Feb. 5, 2003.

During the speech, Powell described Janabi as "an Iraqi chemical engineer" who "supervised one of these facilities."

"He actually was present during biological agent production runs and was also at the site when an accident occurred in 1998," Powell told the U.N..

Janabi said he was "shocked" by Powell's speech, but played down his role in the conflict.

"Powell didn't say I was the only reason for war, he talked about three things -- uranium, al Qaeda in Iraq and my story [biological weapons]," he said.

And he accused the BND of having broken an agreement that they would not hand over his information to other countries.

Tyler Drumheller, the former CIA chief in Europe, said Janabi's "fascinating" admissions "makes me feel better."

"I think there are still a number of people who still thought there was something in that, even now," Drumheller told The Guardian.

German authorities approached Janabi in 2000 after identifying him as a Baghdad-trained chemical engineer with possible inside intelligence of former leader Saddam's regime.

Janabi, who fled Iraq in 1995, denied that he lied to the BND in order to secure asylum, claiming he did it purely to topple Saddam.

"I had a problem with the Saddam regime, I wanted to get rid of him.

"Believe me, there was no other way to bring about freedom to Iraq. There were no other possibilities," he said.


Film at 11....

Wait - so the premise on which we have spent hundreds of billions of dollars and sacrificed thousands of soldiers' lives was BOGUS? Holy cow! Who could have seen this coming?!?!?

Well, at least it was worth it, because Iraqistan is now TOTALLY awesome.

Can you imagine if Saddam was still in power these days. He would have Obama bent over while pulling his big dumbo ears asking what's my name b&%ch. The world is better off. If Barry wasn't POTUS we could move on to Iran, North Korea and the worst of the evil empires New York City.

how do we know he's not lying now..??

He's GOT to be lying now! Now we can't blame all of it on Bush! What's a lefty to do!

How about some REAL critical thinking? I mean it wasn't like Saddam ACTUALLY EVER USED any chemical weapons right?

I miss Baghdad Bob's pressers...it was like watching Gibbs only with berets and military garb.

it's all to protect Israel.

rfenst, PUH-LEEZE

We went to war in Iraq to forestall the inevitable nuclear armageddon that Saddam would have visited on our great nation had we given that dweeb Hans Blix even a week longer to ****** around not finding anything.

You should consider yourself lucky that our leaders and their proxies had the foresight to launch a stupendously expensive war there so that we aren't having to engage in hand-to-han combat with Iraqi invaders here.

Since you think differently, you obviously hate:

America
The Troops
Jesus
American Idol
The Rich
Joe Lunchbox
Hockey Moms
Apple Pie
Everything else we hold dear

Why do you hate America, rfenst? Why do you wish Saddam had been able to take over our country?

Do you realize that we already won the ground war and peace has broken out?



We weren't protecting Saudis, Kuwaitis, and oil supplies. Those nations were already packed full of US troops and weren't in danger. Turkey wasn't in danger. Iran wasn't in danger. Jordan wasn't in danger, Syria wasn't in danger. Europe wasn't months away from being in range of long range nukes.

The only thing that was in danger was maybe a SCUD missle hitting a US base in Kuwait......or Israel. Even US aircraft crisscrossing over Iraq daily weren't in any real danger other than metal fatigue on the airframe.

We eliminated a threat....just like we've been asked to do with Iran now.

One thing we do know is that we should not consider the occupation of either Iraq or Afg. in terms of the impact on our economy. History has shown that the invasion of such countrries makes the superpower stronger economically and is never a drain.

and Hans Blix is an efftard.

Eliminating a threat is not the same as "protection". Israel doesn't need military protection from any nation in the Middle East. What they need sometimes is politically viable military solutions which have someone else do their dirty work. What they need at ALL times is financial assistance. Although Israel could wipe out any of their neighbor's military, Israel can't afford the economic hit that happens every time they shut down the country to go to war and they can't afford to put troops on the ground. Israel truly can easily afford quick air wars. Beyond that things get very difficult.

It is OK. You can just say JPotts!

The run-up to the war just goes to show that terrorism works. A scared nation sometimes reacts irrationally.

But before everyone pats themselves too much on their backs, the "No war for oil" crowd were as equally wrong as the "Iraq will nuke us in less than a year" crowd.

In the end, the Iraqi threat to the world was eliminated. It just turns out that the threat was a lot more wimpy than many believed. Russia, Germany, and France got it right.

^
believe it or not, I agree with most of this. But this war had nothing to do with Israel. Iraq was not a serious threat. Countries and radical organizations that do not show Israel on their World maps are threats to their existence. How can one negotiate with those who live by a slogan of "from the river to the sea".

If I am correct in inferring a sort of "public relations" issue or world opinion angle for Israel from your words, I believe you misunderstand the mindset of a country under seige. They don't give a crap what the world thinks...they think "survive". Never Again is not a catchy marketing slogan. I apologize if I am putting words in your mouth.

Financial assistance to Israel makes sense for Americe, the payback far outweighs the dollars, many of which do come back. Has the roughly same aid to Eqypt paid off over the decades? Would they fight along side us if push came to shove?

"But before everyone pats themselves too much on their backs, the "No war for oil" crowd were as equally wrong as the "Iraq will nuke us in less than a year" crowd."

I'm ok with war for oil. But I also think the no war for oil crowd was wrong as well. They gave Cornwallace Bush too much credit. He is simply a dolt.

31 for 25

Frank

Unfortunately, you're right about the "anti-American" BS.
But how did you personally "know" that the Iraq invasion was predicated on lies?
No one in congress knew, and the few countries who cried foul were proven to be in bed with Saddam to begin with.

re 37

no weapons were found

and

No Iraquis were involved in 9/11.

That's how.

C'mon TG. The whole thing reeked of bull**** from the start. It's not a question of omniscience, partisan politics, idealogy, or anything else. Just basic common sense. The whole venture was "sold", badly, and when the sell job didn't go so well, we got the anti-American B.S. referenced above.

The mere fact that national leaders had to resort to that level of vitriol and insanity to ram this through was evidence enough that their "case" for war didn't hold water.

"The finger pointing at W...for acting on the very same intel that previous administrations had is something that I don't understand"

he acted on it. they didn't. *shrug*

Well, that's sheer hypocrisy!!!

true... true...

here's a little something to refresh memories:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/wmdquotes.asp

Drafter... no doubt. the dems wrote a blank check and have no room to posture.


It was a bad move all the way around and Cbc is absolutely right.... to say so at the time was unamerican.