We didn't learn about him until after the fact, but leading up to the invasion of Iraq there was a character named Curveball. Curveball was America's secret agent, feeding the administration with inside information about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction, his biological warfare, the unmanned aerial vehicles that were ready to drop WMD on major cities in America, even Saddam's nuclear capability that, as (now) Secretary Rice warned, could lead to a mushroom cloud on American soil.
Of course, it turned out these were all lies, fabrications. But it was great material for the headlines and speeches that did an excellent job of scaring everyone during the year it took the U.S. military to build up the troops and materiel to invade. Yes, an important point, don't forget about that year where, as troops, ships and planes were piling up on the Iraqi borders, America's administration was talking about trying to give diplomacy a chance.
Today there's a headline in the Los Angeles Times: "Nuclear Trigger Project Alleged." The source is an Iranian exile group (the press conference was in Paris) and they allege that Tehran is close to producing a device to initiate a chain reaction for a nuclear bomb.
Meanwhile, in England, on CNN this morning, Secretary Rice was stating in a press conference that invading Iran "is not on the agenda" (and here's the kicker) "AT THIS POINT." She said that she wanted to see if diplomacy would get the desired result.
As Yogi Berra would say, this is deja vu all over again.
As I would say, Groundhog Year has just begun.
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