by TChris

A former associate of Ahmad Chalabi, Muhammad al-Zubaidi, confirms a fact that has been obvious for some time: the Iraqi defectors who served as Chalabi’s “intelligence agents” were coached to lie before meeting with U.S. intelligence agents and journalists.

The defectors spoke of a nation pocketed with mobile weapons laboratories, a new secret weapons site beneath a Baghdad hospital, a meeting between a member of Mr. Hussein's government and Osama bin Laden - accounts that ultimately became potent elements in Mr. Bush's case for war.

"They intentionally exaggerated all the information so they would drag the United States into war," Mr. Zubaidi said. "We all know the defectors had a little information on which they built big stories."

Zubaidi wonders why the C.I.A. fell for the lies: "I don't want to criticize U.S. agencies, but it's strange that the U.S. with all its powerful agencies, the C.I.A., could not manage to know the truth from the lies in these people." A Senate Intelligence Committee report released today is asking the same questions.