CIA Agent sues Government for making him support WMD lies

From Last Weeks New York Times:

WASHINGTON, July 31 - The Central Intelligence Agency was told by an informant in the spring of 2001 that Iraq had abandoned a major element of its nuclear weapons program, but the agency did not share the information with other agencies or with senior policy makers, a former C.I.A. officer has charged.

How do you "fix the facts around the policy" to invade Iraq at all costs? You ignore credible evidence by experienced persons which indicates that there is no good reason to consider Iraq an imminent threat - that's how. More from the Times Article:

In a lawsuit filed in federal court here in December, the former C.I.A. officer, whose name remains secret, said that the informant told him that Iraq's uranium enrichment program had ended years earlier and that centrifuge components from the scuttled program were available for examination and even purchase.

The officer, an employee at the agency for more than 20 years, including several years in a clandestine unit assigned to gather intelligence related to illicit weapons, was fired in 2004.

In his lawsuit, he says his dismissal was punishment for his reports questioning the agency's assumptions on a series of weapons-related matters. Among other things, he charged that he had been the target of retaliation for his refusal to go along with the agency's intelligence conclusions.

Michelle Neff, a C.I.A. spokeswoman, said the agency would not comment on the lawsuit.

It was not possible to verify independently the former officer's allegations concerning his reporting on illicit weapons.

His information on the Iraqi nuclear program, described as coming from a significant source, would have arrived at a time when the C.I.A. was starting to reconsider whether Iraq had revived its efforts to develop nuclear weapons. The agency's conclusion that this was happening, eventually made public by the Bush administration in 2002 as part of its rationale for war, has since been found to be incorrect.

Now on the one hand this could simply be the act of disgruntled ex-employee -- and then again it might not. We have to remember that when the new CIA Director Porter Goss was installed in 2004, there was a massive exodus and firings among top CIA officials, particularly for partisan reasons. Those who were "disloyal" to the President's agenda (ie. those who told the truth) were removed, so it really shouldn't be that surprising that at least one of these people has filed suit and is making the claims that the NYT reports.

Exactly how much of his case can be proven without violating National Security remains the biggest obsticle to determining if this person is just an annoying gadfly, or a truly courageous patriot as the vein of Lt. Col Karen Kwaitkowski and former CIA Bin Laden Desk Chief Michael Sheurer.

Vyan