Did any of my fellow Cornerites see the expose on “Curveball” the intelligence “asset” most responsible for misleading American (and German) intelligence agencies about the scope and extent of Iraq’s WMD program?

Here’s my brief take from the story. Curveball was a fraud, everyone can agree. The Germans screwed up royally in taking him as seriously as they did, for not letting the Americans interview him (thanks guys), and for not being more forceful in warning us about him when we took his stories too seriously. CIA director George Tenant is a no-talent ass-clown who swore to the President of the United States and the Secretary of State that the Iraq WMD case was a “slam dunk” largely based on the testimony of this dubious source. History will assign some significant degree of blame on Bush and Powell for not being more skeptical. But, at the end of the day, it’s hardly as if anyone would expect the President of the United States to personally re-interview sources held in Germany (and Powell did something not very dissimilar to that, and actually went to the CIA and tried to separate the shinola from the rest). You go with the facts your National Security team gives you.

Finally, despite the very best efforts of “60 Minutes” not to say so — and to imply otherwise — George W. Bush did not “lie us into war” and he didn’t make up the WMD threat.