Bob Simon interviews Rafid Alwan, whose false tale of Iraqi WMDs influenced U.S.'s argument for war
(CBS News)
Next Saturday will mark the eighth anniversary of America's invasion of Iraq. And after all this time, questions still remain as to why the United States launched the war in the first place. The Bush administration said it was because of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.
But there were no such weapons.
So how did U.S. intelligence get it so wrong? Incredibly, it was all because of one man - an Iraqi defector codenamed "Curve Ball" - who spun a web of lies which convinced America's top spies. His allegations became the crown jewel of the case Colin Powell made to the United Nations before the war.
Three years ago we told you part of this story. But we were missing one crucial element: Curve Ball himself.
We couldn't find him. Finally, we did and now we're going to introduce you to the man and ask you to ponder how anyone could ever have believed one word he said...[Full Article]
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Play CBS Video Video "Curve Ball" speaks out Bob Simon interviews the Iraqi defector code-named "Curve Ball," whose false tale of a mobile, biological weapons program was the chief justification for invading Iraq.
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Video Extra: The argument for war Charles Duelfer, who had been a leader of the UN inspections team in Iraq during the 1990s, tells Bob Simon that faulty intelligence source Rafid Ahmed Alwan, also known as "Curveball," provided the U.S. with an argument for war.
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Video Extra: How Curveball created his story UN weapons inspector Charles Duelfer tells Bob Simon his theory of how intelligence source Rafid Ahmed Alwan fabricated his story about Iraqi WMDs. Alwan's story provided the U.S. with arguments for declaring war with Iraq.
