So it seems that the US government thought it was good idea to trust an informant that they never met who was talking to the US via the German government (If I recall the German's didn't think the war was a good idea)

The informant went by the handle 'Curveball' , yes that's what I said 'Curveball'

David Kay, the postwar weapons inspector whose declaration in January that Iraq had no WMD initiated a series of hammer-blows to the credibility of the Bush administration and the British government, described Mr Powell's use of Curveball's information before the UN as "disingenuous".

He told the LA Times: "If Powell had said to the Security Council: 'It's one source, we never actually talked to him, and we don't know his name', I think people would have laughed us out of court."

Full story at CommonDreams.org