Curveball

Spies, Lies, and the Con Man Who Caused a War

By: Bob Drogin

Narrated by: Erik Singer

“A crucial study in the political manipulation of intelligence, understanding how Curveball got us into Iraq will arm us for the next round of lies coming out of Washington.”—Robert Baer, author of See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism

Curveball answers the crucial question of the Iraq war: How and why was America’s intelligence so catastrophically wrong? In this dramatic and explosive book, award-winning Los Angeles Times reporter Bob Drogin delivers a narrative that takes us to Europe, the Middle East, and deep inside the CIA to find the truth—the truth about the lies and self-deception that led us into a military and political nightmare.

Praise for Curveball

“Just when you thought the WMD debacle couldn’t get worse, here comes veteran Los Angeles Times national-security correspondent Drogin’s look at just who got the stories going in the first place. . . . Simultaneously sobering and infuriating—essential reading for those who follow the headlines.”—Kirkus Reviews

“In this engrossing account, Los Angeles Times correspondent Drogin paints an intimate and revealing portrait of the workings and dysfunctions of the intelligence community.”—Publishers Weekly

“An insightful and compelling account of one crucial component of the war's origins . . . Had Drogin merely pieced together Curveball's story, it alone would have made for a thrilling book. But he provides something more: a frightening glimpse at how easily we could make the same mistakes again. . . . The real value of Drogin's book is its meticulous demonstration that bureaucratic imperative often leads to self-delusion.”—Washington Monthly

“Drogin delivers a startling account of this fateful intelligence snafu.”—Booklist

“By the time you finish this book you will be shaking your head with wonder, or perhaps you will be shaking with anger, about the misadventures that preceded the misadventures in Iraq. This book is so powerful, it almost refutes its subtitle: The man called Curveball did not cause a war; he became a pretext—one among many.”—George F. Will

©2007 Bob Drogin (P)2007 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

“There used to be an old rule that real journalists lived by: ‘All governments are run by liars, and nothing they say should be believed.’ We've come a long way from those days, to a media that has been cowed into submission and accepting the ‘official story.’ Thank God for Bob Drogin and his refusal to believe. It's journalists like him and books like Curveball that give many of us a sliver of hope that we can turn things around”—Michael Moore, Director of Fahrenheit 9/11 and Sicko

“Curveball is the factual equivalent of Catch 22. It is impossible to read this book and then look at our world leaders without thinking, ‘F*ck. Oh f*ck. Oh my God, oh f*ck.’”—Mark Thomas, comedian and political activist

“Bob Drogin struck journalistic gold in this story of a conman who told his intelligence handlers exactly what they wanted to hear. If this twisted tale could be read simply as a thrilling farce it would be pure delight—but much more importantly, it is a history of our time.”—Philip Gourevitch

Curveball

Great book... This is one of those books that makes you go "Hummm....." I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know the "truth" as this author puts it.

Its amazing to me (maybe not to others) how messed up the whole hunt for WMD's was and how gung ho people in the CIA and other foreign intelligence agencies were.

George W. Bush lied...

... So often the claim by partisans who are more interested in their party than the nation. Mr. Drogin's inimitable research encapsulates the failures that led to the US invasion in Iraq. While the Bush administration is not innocent, Drogin's narrative really clears the air on where the fault should be... the ego-centric culture of the CIA.

Being someone in the know, I'm disgusted by the entire thing, but empathetic to how it happened. I think the community has addressed many of the 9-11 and Iraq war Intelligence errors, but only time will tell.

This account is a non-partisan examination of all the key players. Liberals should read this so they don't sound so stupid and partisan when they try to smear W. Conservatives should read this to realize that W's administration created the culture in which the intel was allowed to fail. In short everyone can learn something from this, if only they get beyond their preconceptions and biases... the very lesson of the book.

Great Book!

Interesting read on what could have been an otherwise boring topic. I read it for research purposes to add context to many things that were going on in the intelligence field at the time.

scary what a prideful person can do

amazing book, it is quite te horror story on human pride and inability to accept a mistake and defeat

So much information, so short of a book

For a six-hour book, this was packed with information. I almost wish it were twice as long because the throat punches just kept coming.

Required reading for US foreign policy

A quick listen that had me hanging on every word. If this information and its sources had been known to Americans in 02 and 03, the war could have been avoided.