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Free Iraq "The Iraq Intelligence Chief, Tahir Jalil Habbush — a man still carrying with $1 million reward for capture, the Jack of Diamonds in Bush’s famous deck of wanted men [emphasis added]— has been America’s secret source on Iraq. Starting in January of 2003, with Blair and Bush watching, his secret reports began to flow to officials on both sides of the Atlantic, saying that there were no WMD and that Hussein was acting so odd because of fear that the Iranians would find out he was a toothless tiger. The U.S. deep-sixed the intelligence report in February, “resettled” Habbush to a safe house in Jordan during the invasion and then paid him $5 million [emphasis added] in what could only be considered hush money. In the fall of 2003, after the world learned there were no WMD — as Habbush had foretold — the White House ordered the CIA to carry out a deception. The mission: create a handwritten letter, dated July, 2001, from Habbush to Saddam saying that Atta trained in Iraq befo...

How Tenet Betrayed the CIA on WMD in Iraq - by Gareth Porter : "Tenet has called the story of the Habbush prewar intelligence a 'complete fabrication,' claiming Habbush had 'failed to persuade' the British that he had 'anything new to offer by way of intelligence.' His statement actually reinforces Suskind's account, however, by indicating that he had simply chosen not to believe Habbush. 'There were many Iraqi officials who said both publicly and privately that Iraq had no WMD,' said the statement, 'but our foreign intelligence colleagues and we assessed that these individuals were parroting the Ba'ath Party line and trying to delay any coalition attack.' Contradicting Tenet's claim that the British did not take the Habbush report seriously, MI6 director Dearlove told Suskind he had asked Prime Minister Tony Blair why he had not acted on the intelligence from Habbush."

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 08/10/2008 | United States holds little leverage over Russia in Georgia conflict WASHINGTON — Even as it accused Russia of using "disproportionate" force in the conflict over Georgia's rebel South Ossetia province, the United States on Saturday found itself with few diplomatic or military options to deter Moscow's ferocious air and ground assault. In fact, most of the key cards, including the power to veto any United Nations Security Council resolution, were held by Russia, which appeared to be using the crisis to ram home to the United State and its allies that it will not accept further expansion of NATO. Both Georgia and the former Soviet republic of Ukraine are seeking to join the alliance. The Russian invasion "sends a message to all of the countries in the former Soviet space that Russia is resurgent and is willing to flex it muscles," said David Phillips, an expert with the Atlantic Council. "This is Russia's ass...