Curveball's True Identity Comes to Light

'Curveball' proud to have started war

(NEWSER) - When Colin Powell gave his speech at the UN in February 2003 insisting that Iraq had biological weapons of mass destruction, he relied heavily on intelligence from a source codenamed “Curveball.” Well now Curveball, aka Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, tells the Guardian that he flat out made all of it up, in the hopes of ousting Saddam Hussein. “Maybe I was right, maybe I was not right,” he says, in admitting to the lies for the first time. “They gave me this chance. I had the chance to fabricate something to topple the regime.” More»

88-year-old who killed Dutch civilians faces German court

(NEWSER) - A Dutch Nazi collaborator who killed his countrymen in reprisals for anti-German actions has gone on trial in Germany. Heinrich Boere, 88, has admitted gunning down three civilians as part of a Waffen SS death squad. He fled to Germany after the war and dodged extradition attempts for years. Prosecutors took a renewed interest in the case after Boere boasted to a documentary filmmaker: "I don't feel guilty. That's why I have always made sure they couldn't catch me." More»

(NEWSER) - Europeans may have longer lives and longer vacations, but red-blooded Americans don't want their socialist ways on this side of the ocean, right wing media mouths are eager to remind everyone, MIchael Freedman writes in Newsweek. Underlying much of the opposition to health care reform is the fear that it's part of an anti-American conspiracy to transform the US into a "European social welfare state," according to Rush Limbaugh. More»

German case tests EU 'unlawful war' directive

(NEWSER) - German authorities will take up the case next week of Spec. André L. Shepherd, who deserted the US Army and sought asylum rather than face a second tour of duty in Iraq. “I’m having the time of my life,” Shepherd tells the Wall Street Journal from a refugee-processing center as he tests an EU law directing members to take in soldiers fleeing unlawful wars. More»

AWOL soldier says Iraqi war violates international law

(NEWSER) - Specialist André Shepherd has become the first US military deserter to apply for political asylum in Germany, Der Spiegel reports. Shepherd, who disobeyed orders to redeploy to Iraq from Germany in the spring of 2007, argues in his petition that the Iraq war violates international law. "If I carried out my orders, it would make me a criminal," said the 31-year-old Cleveland native. More»