Fabricating a threat

Remember those mobile nuclear and bioweapons labs that the Americans were so obsessed with? The ones that Powell talked about in front of the UN? The ones that weapons inspectors have found no trace of? Unfortunately, there's been some disturbing revelations about the Americans' primary source on these phantom trailers: he made it all up, and was simply telling them what they wanted to hear. In exchange for a large amount of cash, of course.

Powell's "eyewitness" was actually the brother of one of Ahmed Chalabi's top aides. He lied about his academic credentials, and "omitted to tell his interlocutors he had been fired as a chemical engineer for the Iraqi army and jailed for embezzlement before fleeing Iraq in the late 1990s". He is now regarded by his handlers as an "out-and-out fabricator".

But I guess when you want to fabricate a threat, an out-and-out fabricator is who you turn to...