The man who many have claimed to be the
reason for the United States invading Iraq has now flipped his
story and taken back his allegations of seeing WMDs in an Iraqi
laboratory.
Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, known to American
intelligence as Curveball, came out last week admitting to have lied to the CIA
from 1999-2001 about Iraq having weapons of mass
destruction
in mobile weapons laboratories.
Curveball, who now lives in Germany and
has been quoted as saying that he “hates Americans”, came out last week in his
biography, stating his reason for lying to German and American officials was
that he wanted to take down Saddam Hussein’s regime. It seems now, that
he is the sole winner in the disaster that is the War in Iraq.
Now, it has been 8 years since we
invaded Iraq, killed their leader and took over their government. Who
will go down in the history books as the pivotal force behind the failure in
Iraq? History will tell us that George W. Bush was in office at the time
of war but did he act alone? There were many others who not only backed but
promoted this expensive trek into the Middle East. According to
CostofWar.com, Americans have spent over $750 billion to fund the War in
Iraq. Why the hell is gas $3.30 per gallon?
What has the war in Iraq done for the
United States? Besides wasting the money of tax payers, the war has also
has taken the lives of over 4,000 young men while injuring almost 34,000
American troops in combat. What the War in Iraq has failed to do is fulfill the
original goal of stabilizing Iraq under a democratic government, which still
stands unsteady after almost 8 years without Saddam Hussein at the helm.
As previously stated, many will blame
the president for the mess in the Middle East. That is fair, he does
deserve some blame but the main proponent in America going to War was Former Secretary
of State Colin Powell. His speech to the
United Nations garnered the support that America needed in its assault on
Iraq. Following the new revelations about the informant “Curveball”,
Powell
has already commented on the subject stating that he carries no blame for the
invasion and conquering of Iraq, saying only that “It has become clear that a
source named ‘Curveball’ is totally unreliable.” Great insight given by the man
who delivered a riveting speech to the United Nations on what a dire necessity invading
Iraq
was. In the speech given to the U.N. on February 5, 2003, he is quoted as
saying “Every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid
sources. These are not assertions. What we’re giving you are facts
and conclusions based on solid intelligence.” But how could he have even
known that his main source was reliable when no Americans ever spoke directly
with “Curveball”? Instead, “Curveball” chose to deal solely with German
intelligence on the matter. Apparently the American people’s definition of
intelligence is far different than that of the American Government.
The reoccurring theme in the aftermath of the Iraq war is the passing of blame
amongst past government officials. Colin Powell and George W. Bush can only
question the CIA as to why these liars were taken seriously, Dick Cheney
continues to refuse any blame and still believes the war has had a positive
impact on the nation, regardless of “WMD’s or no WMD’s”, democrats blame
republicans and republicans blame everyone who isn’t a republican.
It is time, after 8 long years, for
someone to step forward and admit their own guilt about the lives lost, the
money spent, and the state of the nation today. The sad part is that
those who should feel guilt about this whole catastrophe were affected the
least. These are rich old men. These aren’t members of the middle
class who are getting laid off due to the recession. These aren’t the
young men and women in the armed forces risking their lives everyday for an unjustifiable
war. These are wealthy old men who made mistakes, and its time for some
accountability.
