Ahmed Chalabi, the erstwhile Iraqi exile who intrigued with Pentagon officials and the media to create a casus belli for toppling Saddam Hussein, is up to his old tricks.
Chalabi's star plunged when it turned out Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, as the steady stream of informants he served up to the U.S. media maintained.
After the 2003 occupation, the crafty Shiite's effort to play a leading, if not top, role in Iraqi politics ended in humility when he won few votes at the polls. He did snag fleeting positions, as a deputy prime minister, oil minister and then the official in charge of rebuilding the capital's utilities.
But in part because of suspicions that he was an Iranian secret agent, U.S. defense officials, American commanders in Iraq, and even his neoconservative champions began to shun him.
A Pentagon investigation did not end in charges being filed, but in May, NBC reported that U.S. officials had "cut off all contact with controversial Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi, the former favorite of Washington's once powerful neoconservatives," because of "unauthorized contacts with Iran's government."
Chalabi faded from the international spotlight, but now he's back in action big time, says Aram Roston, an NBC investigative reporter and author of "The Man Who Pushed America to War: The Extraordinary Life, Adventures, and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi."
Chalabi's Star Rises Again with Iranian Intrigues in Baghdad
Roston calls Chalabi a "key figure" in Iranian efforts to scuttle the status-of-forces agreement that is under fierce negotiation between Baghdad and Washington.
"He is seen more and more by the U.S. as a foreign agent, an Iranian agent," Roston told me by telephone from Mexico, where he is vacationing. What Chalabi says is "equated" with the Iranian position on the status-of-forces agreement, Roston said, which it opposes.
During a visit to Iran in September, Chalabi said the agreement would be used by the U.S. to establish "secret bases" in Iraq. That allegation, and other unpopular items in it, such as exempting U.S. citizens from prosecution in Iraqi courts, has made it increasingly unpopular.
Just yesterday, Oct. 28, a conservative Shiite newspaper in Baghdad featured Chalabi's opposition to the agreement, which has to be signed by Dec. 31 or the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq will be illegal. The U.S. has threatened to cut off aid.
"This time represents a black page in the country's history," Chalabi told Al Bayyna Al Jadidah, according to a translation provided to Roston by an Iraqi contact.
"Chalabi is influential," Roston said, not just because he's "backed by Iran," but also because top Iraqi Shia politicians "view him as someone who understands the Americans, that he has the wisdom to know what's going on in their minds."
For years, Chalabi was a fixture in Washington's corridors of power.
"He is a genius," Roston observed, "at staying relevant."
"He is seen more and more by the U.S. as a foreign agent, an Iranian agent," Roston told me by telephone from Mexico, where he is vacationing. What Chalabi says is "equated" with the Iranian position on the status-of-forces agreement, Roston said, which it opposes.
During a visit to Iran in September, Chalabi said the agreement would be used by the U.S. to establish "secret bases" in Iraq. That allegation, and other unpopular items in it, such as exempting U.S. citizens from prosecution in Iraqi courts, has made it increasingly unpopular.
[Update: The U.S. raid into Syria last weekend has also generated Iraqi demands that the agreement include a prohibition on U.S. forces launching attacks on other countries -- read: Iran -- from Iraqi soil.]
Just yesterday, Oct. 28, a conservative Shiite newspaper in Baghdad featured Chalabi's opposition to the agreement, which has to be signed by Dec. 31 or the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq will be illegal. The U.S. has threatened to cut off aid.
"This time represents a black page in the country's history," Chalabi told Al Bayyna Al Jadidah, according to a translation provided to Roston by an Iraqi contact.
"Chalabi is influential," Roston said, not just because he's "backed by Iran," but also because top Iraqi Shia politicians "view him as someone who understands the Americans, that he has the wisdom to know what's going on in their minds."
For years, Chalabi was a fixture in Washington's corridors of power.
"He is a genius," Roston observed, "at staying relevant."
Recent Posts
- CIA Transitions Past: Jimmy Carter's Frosty Meeting With Spy Chief Bush
- CIA Transitions Past: Jimmy Carter's Frosty Meeting With Spy Chief Bush
- Blair Still to be Top Spy, Despite Silence on Nomination
- Israeli 'Disinformation' Campaign to Lull Hamas Preceded Gaza Strikes
- The Gift That Keeps on Giving: Kissinger's Secret Tapes
- Why Not Get the Saudis to Send Troops to Afghanistan?
- Blair Rumored Yet Again to be Obama's Top Intelligence Pick
![[RSS]](http://67.192.49.194/templates/images/rss_icon.gif)
Subscribe to RSS feed
Comments
When W was running for office he campaigned against regime change. Everyone knew he wanted to go into Iraq to repair his father's legacy, get revenge on Sadaam (Sunni Baath party ) for attempting to kill his father, and doing his oil buddies a solid sense he was a failure in the oil business.
After 9/11 the Iranians (Shiites) saw an opportunity. They knew W would have tunnel vision and be obsessed with attacking Iraq.
If America was to attack Iraq it would pit 2 of Iraq's biggest foes against each other. ( the enemy of my enemy is my friend ) It would eliminate the Iraqi government which they had been in a decade long bloody war with, and hurt America in both lives and treasure. On top of that Iraq has a population made up of mostly Shiites. If America suceeded it would create a Shiite majority democracy right next door to their Shiite Theocracy. This would extend Iran's reach and give them more power. ( which it has )
Chalabi ( Shiite , and convicted felon for bank fraud in Jordan ) who had been in Washington pushing for regime change in Iraq also maintained an office in Tehran. The neo-cons were dead set on going into Iraq and Chalabi gave them everything they needed, providing now dis-credited intelligence of WMD's and contacts stating the American's will be greated as liberators.
Chalabi's false intelligence was the primary evidence used to sell the invasion of Iraq. Intelligence communities around the world discredited the sources like " Curve ball" and the Bush administration tried to destroy people who ( see Valerie Plame ) if they tried to contradict the administration.
Cheney and Co. were going in... they didn't care if the intelligence was false they had tunnel vision.
Just before the invasion the Bush administration was calling Chalabi the "George Washington of Iraq" and he even sat next to Laura Bush at W's State of the Union address just before the war. The were going to insert him as the president of Iraq thinking he was their man.
When the war started Chalabi now in Iraq was busted giving the Iranians U.S. military codes. American troops raided his house and confiscated his computers. Somehow this guy manages to not be arrested as an enemy combatant. This guy is our enemy. There is no one person more responsible for the debacle we are in than this guy. ( other than shortsighted Bush administration that got duped into this war )
Now here he is proving all this to be true working with the Iranians in plain sight. The only reason I can see we don't kill or capture this guy is that it will expose this administration as being fooled into the biggest debacle in foreign policy and American military history.
This continues today. The Iraqi's are about to tell us to get out of their country. The biggest reason the "surge'" is supposedly working is not because of the extra troops, but because of Al Sadr's ( Shiite ) cease fire. When he called it off breifly earlier this year violence increased dramatically. When the cease fire was back on violence dropped.
Al Sadr who is tight with Iran will wait it out. When we leave we will have left a Shiite majority democracy on the doorstep of our enemies Shiite theocracy.
I wonder if they will send us a thank you card.
Death to Chalabi!
Posted by: BIGFOOT
| October 31, 2008 10:44 AM
Nice article
Posted by: Dee Illuminati
| November 1, 2008 10:39 AM
Post A Comment