Hard to help

If you haven't yet read Josh Marshall's piece about the difficulty Obeidi (this Iraqi scientist who had nuclear plans and centrifuge components buried under a rosebush in his back yard) had in getting anyone to listen to him, you really should. It's astounding.

It turns out that Obeidi was trying to give up the goods almost from the moment US troops stormed into Baghdad. But our operation was so poorly run that we ended up making the guy into some sort of friggin' nuclear Diogenes, practically wandering the streets trying to find one competent person to turn himself in to.

In the end, for Obeidi to be able to get anywhere in turning over this material, he had to go around to the international journalists ouside the Palestine Hotel, and approach them randomly until he was able to find someone who could contat David Albright, a UN inspector whom Obeidi had known when from when he'd been working in Iraq.

After several tries, Albright finally got someone at the CIA to listen to Obeidi, and arrangements were thought to have been made in regards to keeping him and his family safe, since he was still somewhat nervous about possible repercussions from his actions. I say they were thought to have been made because apparently they weren't made well enough. After turning the material over to the CIA, the Army showed up at his house and arrested him. Eventually he got things straightened out and he was released.

Then things got even weirder.

After Obeidi got out of Army slammer, the CIA started hedging on its promises to get him out of the country. Or at least that's what Obeidi thought.

"First they have promised that they will make all the attempts to safeguard me ... and then what happened they told me that they have looked and they have investigated this matter, and they have discovered that there is more that I can offer, and they are ready to take the news to the media."

At this point, Obeidi apparently started to freak and asked Albright what he should do. Abright told him to go to the media. And this, it would seem, is how CNN got pulled in -- as Obeidi's insurance policy that our folks over in Iraq didn't completely screw-up the situation or end up FedExing him and his nuclear parts to Osama bin Laden off in the wilds of Central Asia.

CNN checked out the story with the CIA, who asked CNN to hold off for a few days while they got Obeidi and his family out of the country.

If you want to read the CNN story about this whole mess, it's available here.

Posted by thorswitch at June 29, 2003 01:57 PM | TrackBack