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Topic: Curveball

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	Curveball - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		The curveball is a type of pitch in baseball thrown with a grip and hand motion that imparts forward spin to the ball.
		It is a common misconception that throwing a curveball requires a wrist snapping motion during the release of the ball.
		As position is the second integral of force, the difference in trajectories between a fastball and a curveball is not apparent to the batter until the ball is close to the plate.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Curveball (648 words)

	Curveball (informant) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Curveball was the designation for a claimed "Iraqi chemical engineer" who the United States claimed had served as an informant.
		The name Curveball is a reference to a curveball baseball pitch, which is US English slang for something that behaves indirectly, erratically, or surprisingly.
		The CIA concluded formally that Curveball's information was fabricated, on May 2004, over a year after the invasion of Iraq.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Curveball_(informant) (748 words)

	Curveball (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		The curveball curves because of the 216 red stitches made of cotton that hold the baseball together.
		The curveball is thrown with a lot of top spin so that more air will flow around the bottom of the ball than around the top.
		A cuveball's speed, the distance travelled in a certain amount of time, isn't affected by the curving force of the ball but it is affected by the force of gravity pulling it down at a force of 9.8 m/s/s.
	www.thephysicsofbaseball.homestead.com /curveball.html (286 words)

	Intelligence Analysts Whiffed on a 'Curveball'
		U.S. intelligence agencies' reliance on Curveball and their failure to scrutinize his claims are described in the report as the "primary reason" that the CIA and other spy agencies "fundamentally misjudged the status of Iraq's [biological weapons] programs." No other episode is explored in as much detail, or recounted with as much evident dismay.
		Curveball said the program began in 1995, but family members and associates said that he had been fired from his position that year, and that he was out of the country for much of the following four-year period.
		Although Curveball had said the deadly accident he witnessed had taken place in 1998, he "was not even in Iraq at that time, according to information supplied by family members and later confirmed by travel records," the commission found.
	www.commondreams.org /headlines05/0401-10.htm (1730 words)

	Iraqi Defector's Tales Bolstered U.S. Case for War
		Curveball's story has since crumbled under doubts raised by the Germans and the scrutiny of U.S. weapons hunters, who have come to see his code name as particularly apt, given the problems that beset much of the prewar intelligence collection and analysis.
		Still, the Curveball case may be especially damaging because no other credible defector has provided firsthand confirmation that Iraq modified vehicles to produce germ agents, and no proof has been found before or after the end of major combat.
		The Curveball case began in 1992, when weapons inspectors from the U.N. Special Commission in Iraq, frustrated at their failure to find Iraq's germ weapon factories, wrote an internal report in which they speculated that Baghdad could have hidden small, mobile versions in modified vans or trucks.
	www.informationclearinghouse.info /article5958.htm (2907 words)

	THE CURVEBALL SAGA (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		Curveball was the chief source of inaccurate prewar U.S. accusations that Baghdad had biological weapons, a commission appointed by Bush reported this year.
		Curveball's reports were highly valued in Washington because the CIA had no Iraqi spies with access to weapons programs at the time.
		Curveball says he is assigned to help his boss, Dr. Rihab Taha, also known as "Dr. Germ," as she begins planning for secret assembly of vehicles that can brew deadly germs and avoid detection.
	discuss.agonist.org /smf/index.php?topic=24009.0 (6508 words)

	USATODAY.com - Officials ask why Iraq details are surfacing now (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		According to the report, CIA officials tried to tell the agency's top officials that Curveball was a suspected fabricator and may have been mentally unstable.
		Curveball was working with German intelligence, and U.S. intelligence had limited access to him.
		The report said Curveball met once with a defense official and seemed to have a hangover.
	www.usatoday.com /news/washington/2005-04-07-cia-curveball_x.htm (758 words)

	CIA informant "Curveball" was unreliable and an alcoholic .. according to American who knew him : Article from ... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		The only American who met a now-discredited Iraqi defector codenamed "Curveball" repeatedly warned the CIA before the war that the Baghdad engineer appeared to be an alcoholic and that his dramatic claims that Saddam Hussein had built a secret fleet of mobile germ weapons factories were not reliable.
		And Curveball -- the chief source of repeated U.S. assessments that Iraq had a mobile biological weapons program -- turned out to be a fraud.
		One result was that the CIA was never sure what Curveball, who spoke English, really was saying in the 112 reports they received from his debriefings.
	www.california-recall.com /articles/article-85501089439579.html (546 words)

	curveball
		The speed of the air moving past the ball's surface is the trick to a curveball.
		So curveballs do most of their curving in the last quarter of their trip.
		Considering that it takes less time for the ball to travel those last 15 feet (about 1/6 of a second) than it takes for the batter to swing the bat (about 1/5 of a second), hitters must begin their swings before the ball has started to show much curve.
	www.mrfizzix.com /baseball/curveball.htm (418 words)

	Guardian Unlimited \| Special reports \| US intelligence on Iraq chaotic and incompetent, says Bush commission
		Most critically, Curveball's description of mobile laboratories provided one of the highlights of Colin Powell's address to the UN security council on February 5 2003, in which the then US secretary of state laid out the justification for the invasion.
		Curveball's story has already been told in part, but yesterday's account is the most comprehensive.
		Curveball is reportedly related to a senior member of the Iraqi national congress (INC), then an exile group.
	www.guardian.co.uk /usa/story/0,12271,1449845,00.html?gusrc=rss (802 words)

	Stuffo "In baseball, how does a pitcher throw a curveball?" (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		A curveball is a pitch that appears to be moving straight toward home plate but that is actually moving down and to the right or left by several inches.
		To throw a curveball, a pitcher must hold the baseball between his thumb and his index and middle fingers, with the middle finger resting on the baseball seam.
		Because they are raised, the stitches increase the amount of friction created as the air passes around the ball and places more air pressure on top of the ball.
	www.stuffo.com /question444.htm (417 words)

	The Observer \| International \| US relied on 'drunken liar' to justify war
		According to a US presidential commission looking into pre-war intelligence failures, the basis for pivotal intelligence on Iraq's alleged biological weapons programmes and fleet of mobile labs was a spy described as 'crazy' by his intelligence handlers and a 'congenital liar' by his friends.
		Between January 2000 and September 2001, Curveball offered 100 reports, among them the claims of mobile biological weapons labs that were central in the US evidence of an illicit weapons programme, but subsequently turned out to be trucks equipped with machinery to make helium for weather balloons.
		While the results were inconclusive, a US official was surprised to find Curveball had a hangover and said he 'might be an alcoholic.' By early 2001, the Germans were having doubts of their own, telling the CIA their spy was 'out of control'.
	observer.guardian.co.uk /international/story/0,6903,1451138,00.html (736 words)

	Fearing 'Powers That Be,' CIA Fell for 'Curveball'
		And Curveball - the chief source of repeated U.S. assessments that Iraq had a mobile biological weapons program - turned out to be a fraud.
		Many of the details in the Senate committee report concerning Curveball were deleted by the CIA on grounds that publication might compromise intelligence sources and methods.
		In December, the DHS intelligence officer who had been responsible for collecting and reporting intelligence from Curveball's debriefings in Germany wrote a report for the committee asserting that the defector "is not a biological weapons expert" and "never claimed that the project he was involved in was used to produce biological agents."
	www.truthout.org /cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/4/5205 (1216 words)

	Codename 'Curveball' - CBS News
		It was Curveball, an Iraqi chemical engineer who defected, who was the inspiration for then-Secretary of State Colin Powell's statements before the United Nations that the United States knew Iraq possessed mobile bio-weapons labs.
		The case of Curveball was relevant to the election because it went to the heart of the Administration's competency in managing national security.
		The Curveball case was definitively closed when the CIA gained access to the Iraqi defector in March 2004 and categorically repudiated his story.
	www.cbsnews.com /stories/2005/04/06/opinion/main685931.shtml (715 words)

	War and Piece:
		Chalabi also claimed on Meet the Press to not know who the identity of the INC-provided defector code-named "Curveball" is. Indeed, to hear Chalabi tell it, Curveball may be a figment of the West's imagination.
		This exchange between Chalabi and Fox News' Chris Wallace April 25 2004 captures how Chalabi is able to deny the very existence, the very identity, of one of the four individuals the INC delivered to western intelligence that became the principal human sources for the fabricated WMD intelligence the US went to war on.
		There is no Curveball that is the brother of any member of the INC leadership at the high level or at the low level.
	www.warandpiece.com /blogdirs/000705.html (1329 words)

	The Rude Pundit (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		Curveball was an Iraqi chemical engineer who was sent to American intelligence through a "foreign liaison." But, in a way that wouldn't be admissible in any court of law because we'd call it "hearsay," the U.S. didn't formally interview the obliging Curveball because, it seems, Mr.
		"First, the detailee observed that Curveball spoke excellent English during their meeting.286 This was significant to the detailee because the foreign service had, on several earlier occasions, told U.S. intelligence officials that one reason a meeting with Curveball was impossible was that Curveball did not speak English.
		But still, because intelligence officials "believed" (or were told to believe) that Iraq had to have weapons, they clung to Curveball like a wet rat clings to the debris of a sinking ocean liner.
	rudepundit.blogspot.com /2005/04/of-fools-and-curveballs-so-lets-see-if.html (1160 words)

	The Curveball: How to Throw It (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		You see, the key to throwing a great curveball is in the position of the hand, not the position of the baseball in your hand.
		With a right-handed curveball, for example, your hand is on the third-base side of the ball (like a tomahawk chop), fingers pointing to the target.
		Most of the pitchers on my team who were throwing the curveball then weren’t “really ready” to throw the curveball at 14—that‘s why they had arm problems and never made the high school team a few years later.
	www.thecompletepitcher.com /pitching_article-26.htm (2373 words)

	Guardian Unlimited \| Special reports \| Germans accuse US over Iraq weapons claim
		An Iraqi defector nicknamed Curveball who wrongly claimed that Saddam Hussein had mobile chemical weapons factories was last night at the centre of a bitter row between the CIA and Germany's intelligence agency.
		It was the Iraqi defector's testimony that led the Bush administration to claim that Saddam had built a fleet of trucks and railway wagons to produce anthrax and other deadly germs.
		It has now emerged that Curveball is the brother of a top aide of Ahmad Chalabi, the pro-western Iraqi former exile with links to the Pentagon.
	www.guardian.co.uk /Iraq/Story/0,2763,1184172,00.html (532 words)

	'Curveball' Debacle Reignites CIA Feud
		Except for a brief meeting between Curveball and a DIA medical technician in May 2000, German authorities refused to let U.S. intelligence officials interview their source until March 2004, a year after the war began.
		With skepticism rising about Curveball, Drumheller said he arranged a lunch meeting with a German counterpart at Pavitt's behest in late September or early October 2002 to ask for an American meeting with Curveball.
		Pavitt rejected the notion that Drumheller should have issued a CIA-wide "burn notice" on Curveball's reports after the lunch, saying it would be inappropriate to unleash a sweeping condemnation after a single meeting with a foreign officer from an agency unwilling to stand behind its statements.
	www.commondreams.org /headlines05/0402-01.htm (1610 words)

	SPACE.com -- On Mars, Curveballs become Screwballs
		A standard curveball, thrown by a right-handed pitcher, is generated by a flick of the wrist that imparts spin on the ball.
		Viewed from above, the curveball spins counterclockwise and curves in the same direction as the spin, to the left.
		On the left side of a curveball, this whirlpool is moving in the same direction as wind that's zipping past the ball, generating increased air speed.
	www.space.com /scienceastronomy/mars_curveballs_030221.html (688 words)

	Belmont Club
		Speaking to him would be “a waste of time.” The representative reportedly went on to say that his service was not sure whether Curveball was telling the truth; that he had serious doubts about Curveball’s mental stability and reliability; and that Curveball had had a nervous breakdown.
		Further the representative of the foreign service is said to have worried that Curveball was “a fabricator”.
		The representative reportedly cautioned the CIA division chief that the foreign service would publicly and officially deny these views if pressed, because they did not wish to be embarrassed.
	belmontclub.blogspot.com /2005/04/curveball-last-post-iran-2-laid-out.html (1047 words)

	The Athlete's Advisor: Lauenstein Cited in Curveball Debate Article
		"Whether they are throwing curveballs or not, it's important for the kids to tell their parents if they are having pain when throwing," said Mahaffey, who is also the team physician at Southwest Missouri State.
		The Pittsburgh Pirates still have hopes that their first-round pick in 1999 will be able to have a successful career after three surgeries on both his right elbow and shoulder.
		But due to overuse and a constant reliance on a curveball that was called "Major League-ready" in high school, Bradley's stock has fallen considerably.
	www.athletesadvisor.com /media/newsleader_april_04.htm (1453 words)

	When and How to Throw a Curveball - Free Articles at www.baseballtips.com (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		If young players throw curveballs on a consistent basis at younger ages they can cause damage to their elbows and thus hinder the growth process.
		But it’s not only the fact that they are throwing curveballs at a young age, it’s the fact that they are throwing curveballs with improper mechanics that causes much of the damage.
		If two pitchers have the exact same curveball grip, mechanics, release, etc. but one throws it with quicker arm speed, the one with quicker arm speed will throw the curveball with more break, and thus the harder pitch to hit.
	www.baseballtips.com /print/curve.html (629 words)

	CJR May/June 2005: Letters
		All of these journalists unquestioningly accepted and published assertions from anonymous sources in U.S. intelligence that the Iraqi defector known as “Curveball” was linked to the INC and that the INC was the main source of U.S. intelligence on Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.
		As for the connection between the defector known as “Curveball” and the INC, my piece noted that the INC denied any relationship, and that such a link was unproven.
		He fails to mention, however, that a defector who was provided by the INC and later determined to have been a fabricator was used to corroborate Curveball’s false claims about Iraqi mobile biological warfare facilities.
	www.cjr.org /issues/2005/3/letters.asp (2037 words)

	Curveball
		Your arm path or swing should be the same as you use for a fastball.
		The only adjustment you have to make is to turn your hand so that your palm faces your head as it passes.
		The curveball should be thrown down in the strike zone.
	www.hhlittleleague.com /curveball1.htm (230 words)

	A Wicked Curveball - Newsweek National News - MSNBC.com
		The e-mail, written by a senior CIA official, addressed a debate that the agency's analysts were having about Curveball, an erratic Iraqi emigre who claimed to have seen Saddam's supposed mobile biological-weapons labs.
		The CIA had evidence that Curveball was a shameless fabricator months before Secretary of State Colin Powell cited the Iraqi's reports before the United Nations.
		The report includes a detailed new reconstruction of how Curveball's fanciful tales came to be accepted at the highest levels of government.
	msnbc.msn.com /id/7369843/site/newsweek (687 words)

	noscope \| Codename: “Curveball”
		This article also details a report on the basis for the war and goes on to say that the military “intelligence” that reported mobile bioweapons labs came from an Iraqi defector known as “Curveball” in the intelligence community.
		Intelligence officers from BND are now commenting that Curveball was unreliable, probably with mental problems, right from the beginning, and that they informed the US that any information learned from Curveball would be unreliable at best (and maybe total fabrication).
		"Codename: “Curveball”" was written November 21st, 2005 and filed under Sidenotes.
	www.noscope.com /journal/2005/11/curveball (394 words)

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