Chalabi returns to prominence and power

Source: LA Times

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Three years ago when the U.S. military came calling on the onetime darling of Washington's neoconservatives, it raided 11 of his properties and left his compound in ruins.Chalabi, who helped the Bush administration make the case for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq,denounced the American occupation of Iraq. It was the denouement to an increasingly fractured relationship between Washington and Chalabi, the Iraqi exile who provided intelligence about Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction program that proved to be false.

The Pentagon, which had provided millions of dollars to Chalabi's group, the Iraqi National Congress, cut off funding and accused him of passing sensitive U.S. secrets to Iran. His prospects appeared to reach a nadir last year, after his party failed to win a single seat in Iraq's 2005 parliamentary elections and he was later excluded from the government.

Now the 63-year-old Chalabi, ever the political chameleon, has maneuvered back into prominence and power. Prime Minister Nouri Maliki appointed him to a pivotal position last month overseeing the restoration of vital services to Baghdad residents such as electricity, potable water, healthcare and education. The U.S. and Iraqi governments say the job is crucial to cement security gains of recent months -- and that failure could cause the country to backslide into chaos.

Although he was among the leaders of the Iraqi Governing Council after the 2003 invasion and served as deputy prime minister for a year, Chalabi's new post in some ways will be his most high-profile role yet, making him the public face and point man in the Iraqi government's effort to meet its people's needs.

It is also one that will have him working hand in hand with troops and diplomats from the country that once closely embraced and then openly scorned him.



Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-chalabi13nov13,0,2576954.story?coll=la-home-center

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I swear this crook is going to end up as Iraq's next dictator!

pound a wooden stake thru his heart?

And I fervently hope he does.

Isn't he still wanted in Jordan for embezzlement?

that is my question, there must be a 1000 people who want him dead,

let me know. I would have thought that the 'terraists' would have taken his ass out a long time ago.

Because of thousands against him but a very few powerful (money people) for him.
He attends Bildeburg. His crime is mainly being corrupt, so those put into power by
the corrupt in the Whitehouse/PNAC running this war can't have a problem with it,
they are even more corrupt than he. He's just an effective tool. They like his evil.

and so to have him remain walking the corridors of power is not surprising.