Clueless.

• Author: Peters, Charles
• Position: TILTING at windmills - Central Intelligence Agency - Brief article

Bob Drogin, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, in his new book Curveball, tells the story of the CIA being duped by the former Baghdad taxi driver with that code name who invented the story of Saddam's mobile biological weapons labs. But the tale Drogin recounts is redeemed by at least one CIA analyst, called Margaret, who had the sense to see that Curveball was a phony. Similarly, the Washington Post's David Ignatius recently praised the CIA analyst who wrote two reports early in 2003 that accurately predicted the post-invasion chaos in Iraq. But, with the exception of the two analysts and a handful of other success stories, the CIA's record is far...