Chalabi Furious at U.S. Over Raid on Baghdad Office

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi launched a bitter attack on his former U.S. mentors and on Iraq (news - web sites)'s U.S.-appointed police commander after U.S. troops and police raided his home and offices on Thursday.



It was time U.S. occupying troops left Iraq, said Chalabi, who lost U.S. funding for his political party earlier this week.


"They invaded the home of a Governing Council member a few days after the president of the Governing Council was blown up by terrorist actions at an American checkpoint," a clearly livid Chalabi told a hastily arranged news conference.


Brandishing a framed picture on which the glass was shattered, he accused troops and police of rousing him from his bed, ransacking his office, removing documents and a valuable copy of the Koran and "vandalizing" his belongings.

~snip~
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&ncid=721&e=1&u=/nm/20040520/wl_nm/iraq_chalabi_reaction_dc

Looks like Chalabi is asking for the US to leave... :eyes:

:crazy:

I tend to believe with Bush losing his grip in Iraq, the Neocons are resorting to plan 'B'- which is to make sure their boy Chalabi can keep his foot in the door by 'appearing' to be victimized and on the outs with the the coalition....some of us appear to have taken the 'bait'- shows how well the Neocons plan is working eh??? the stuff about losing his funding- propaganda IMO-

its impossible to take anything at face value. Its just as possible that Chalabi may wind up dead if the story is true that he's been dumped because he would certainly have alot of damaging information about Shrub. The one certain thing is that he knows how to play his "friends" for fools.

perhaps something to do with new Iraqi currency?? Did anyone catch it?

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. soldiers and Iraqi police raided the residence of Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi on Thursday, and aides accused the Americans of holding guns to his head and bullying him over his criticism of plans for next month's transfer of sovereignty.


AP Photo

U.S. Troops Raid Chalabi's House
(AP Video)

There was no comment from U.S. authorities, but American officials here have complained privately that Chalabi — a longtime Pentagon (news - web sites) favorite — is interfering with a U.S. investigation into allegations that Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime skimmed millions in oil revenues during the U.N.-run oil-for-food program

American companies have been named now in the oil-for-food program kickback scandal, and that probably means Halliburton under Cheney's directorship. Chalabi may have the goods, and is using them to threaten BFEE. It would explain searching his house.

~snip~
First on the list of “requirements” (spy jargon for assignments) laid out in the DIA’s agreement with the INC was “the location of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) storage, development facilities and individuals associated with these facilities,” says the document, according to a text made available to NEWSWEEK by U.S. intelligence sources. Second on the INC’s list of intelligence assignments from DIA was the collection of information on “Former Iraqi regime connections with Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups”—a matter that was well-known to be of great interest to the offices of Vice President Dick Cheney, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith.

~snip~

more: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5016031/site/newsweek /


Thae aticle also goes on to say Chalabi is under investigation by the GAO for misusing State Dept funds. This investigation was requested by Carl Levin and John Kerry.

To the death of his other council members killed already.

I bet he is more upset about losing the 4million a year, than having his house searched.

Rummy Buddy !!!!!! Where are you when I need you ??? Why are you letting them do this to me?????

When I heard on NPR Monday that the Iraqi leader had been killed...I thought hmmmm....who wants to be a President? Chalabi.

However, I think this situation is a set-up by Bremmer, et al to try and make him appear on the Iraqi's side...against US, thus installing him as the <wink wink> true Iraqi leader.

He will be killed soon

And the DEED blamed on OSAMA !!!!!

Rummy's trying to "clean house". Wonder what incriminating documents just went down the rabbit hole?

You think maybe Chalabi had dirt on the admin and was trying to use it to his advantage? Maybe if they piss this guy off enough he'll sing to the press, if he survives, that is.

You'll see the overfed face of that fat fuck Ahmad Chalabi. What's the matter, Ahmad? You cultivated and exploited your PNAC ties because you knew that those guys were as unscrupulous, underhanded and corrupt as you. Now that the deal is going bad, you're finding out that instead of looting banks you should have been buying arms and mercenaries. A simple miscalculation. A bad business decision.

You probably won't get the Jacques DeMolay treatment, but it's better than what you deserve.

Perhaps, it has something to do with the fact that he is a slimy, lying criminal.

YUCK!!!

~snip~
A Chalabi aide, Haidar Musawi, said a U.S.-Iraqi force surrounded the compound about 10:30 a.m., while Chalabi, a member of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, was inside. They told Chalabi's aides they wanted to search the house for wanted officials in Chalabi's party, the Iraqi National Congress.


A senior coalition official said on condition of anonymity that an Iraqi judge issued several warrants and would make details public later.

snip~
I am America's best friend in Iraq," Chalabi said. "If the CPA finds it necessary to direct an armed attack against my home, you can see the state of relations between the CPA and the Iraqi people."


The Americans also raided other offices of the INC, Musawi said.

~snip~
more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=2&u=/ap/20040520/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

Its Democracy folks

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/neocon_lets_cat_out_of_bag.php

Neocon Lets Cat Out of Bag
Robert Dreyfuss

May 19, 2004

<snip>Michael Rubin—a young staffer at the American Enterprise Institute who’s just left the Pentagon, where he played a small role as a neocon cog in the Office of Special Plans war machine—let a herd of cats out of the bag about his favorite Iraqi phony, Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress.</snip>

<snip>"By telegraphing that he is not the favorite son of America, the administration will bolster him, showing he is his own man."</snip>

<snip>In other words, it’s all a big con game. The still-neocon-dominated Pentagon—which this week stopped funding Chalabi’s INC —is playing its last card, hoping that it can boost Chalabi’s sagging fortunes by pretending to sever ties with him. That, the neocons hope, will allow Chalabi to strengthen his ties to Sistani, the king-making mullah who, they hope, holds Iraq’s fate in his wrinkled hands.</snip>

Of course, it's all another shadow play: prop up the favoured puppet by making it appear he's standing on his own.

in assuming Iraqis would buy it. They must assume that the Iraqis are as stupid as they are.

maybe even stupider because they a little brown people.

RC

Risky, too, given the fact that Chalabi is known to be a con artist -- the Jordanian conviction for embezzlement, for example. I'd be afraid this type of ploy would backfire at least a bit.

Plus, if the Iraqis hate him on his own, I fail to see how the U.S. roughing him up would make them love and accept him. They might see him as a more sympathetic character, perhaps, but I don't get wholesale love and acceptance OR credibility.

to agree with it more and more.

In fact, I figured we probably blew up the leader of the IGC on Monday but meant to get Chalabi. This makes a helluva lot more sense.

I fell for it; will the Iraqis?

david

:eyes:

These guys are more predictable than a bad television show.

If it's true, it's still a blunder - as BFEE looks bad right now.

Infidels I tell ya! Infidels!!! Jesus this shit is so transparent as to be laughable!!

Sort of like throwing a brick through your own window then calling the cops and saying you saw your hated neighbor do it. Subterfuge 101.

RC

when listening to NPR mention that Chalabi's fortunes will be boosted in the Shia community. It's an obvious scam. Let's wait and see how the Shiites react.

Chalabi, the puppet who lied about WMD, the neo-con darling, put into office with his very own army gets raided by the US! His group was the reasons used to invade for oil and now the US is after him. On initial thought, besides laughing at how stupid and crooked this is, I thought that this is the first step the US is taking to be in Iraq for many more years. There is no way this crooked presidency will leave this oil rich country in the hands of people who don't want them. BUSH..............WORST PRESIDENT EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's my guess ... Get the Iraqis to thinking he's really one of them after all, an Iraqi persecuted by the Baath party and the Amercians, so he can rival the cleric come election day.

No way they'd make all this fuss if they wanted to get rid of him... he'd be assasinated by terrorists or he'd commit suicide or something.

They cant rescue his popularity this way. He's toast, evryone's better off.

And no amount of coalition propping up can change that.

Can the neocons be this stupid? Can they be so far removed from conditions on the ground? Perhaps.

More likely that this is a distancing game for domestic consumption, actuated by the revelations of "deliberate deception" noted by Powell. Rather than setting up Chalabi as a "real Iraqi," they are rather setting him up as the dishonest broker in the WMD calamity.

"That, the neocons hope, will allow Chalabi to strengthen his ties to Sistani, the king-making mullah who, they hope, holds Iraq’s fate in his wrinkled hands."

Sistani may have wrinkled hands, but his mind is razor sharp and would never fall for a bullshit scheme. And if true that this is a double agent plot. I believe Sistani will use Chalabi to his advanage not the other way around.

Chalabi is a dead man walking, with some half ass phoney deal from the U.S.

His sorry ass.

How good I don't know. If the rumor is true, I'm sure that if he can't pay 'em, they'll be gone fast.

I don't know?

They were the gang who along with the marine tank and chains pulled down the Saddam statue

isn't going to buy the set-up. They know Chalabi for who and what he is.

prior claim on that goniff's hide.

Remember, he was tried and convicted in absentia on embezzlement charges stemming from the collapse of Jordan's Petra Bank all those years ago.


:evilfrown:

would saw off his head.

RC

His faulty "information" about Iraq is one of the main reasons we are there in the first place. The man is a liar of majestic proportion.

That's gratitude for ya. My bet is that this never happened. Chalabi has been full of Bushit on every count so far.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmed Chalabi said his relations with the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority were "non-existent" after an overnight raid against his house.

"My relationship with the CPA now is non-existent ..." he told reporters after claiming a firefight had narrowly been avoided between his guards and US-backed Iraqi police during the raid.


"I am America's best friend in Iraq; if the CPA finds it necessary to direct an armed attack against my home you can see the state of relations between the CPA and the Iraqi people."

~snip~

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=4&u=/afp/20040520/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_us_chalabi_040520142214

Boy, Chalabi is a drama queen isn't he???

Isn't something anyone looking to court Iraqis would say.

````
The Pentagon flew him into Iraq (news - web sites) with a group of followers after the U.S.-led invasion last year, giving him an opportunity to establish a political base.


But he has struggled to drum up support and surveys in Iraq have ranked him as one of the least-liked politicians.


Chalabi has many critics elsewhere in the U.S. government, notably at the CIA (news - web sites), which suspected his group may have been penetrated by Saddam's agents before the war and which questioned the intelligence information it provided.


The State Department also had its doubts and resented the Pentagon's support for Chalabi. State Department officials questioned whether he could emerge as a national leader.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20040520/ts_nm/iraq_chalabi_dc

````
U.S. officials said in February an Iraqi who was the source for Washington's prewar claim that Iraq had mobile biological weapons labs had fabricated the allegation. The man was introduced to U.S. intelligence by Chalabi's group.

`````````

But wait here's what Scotty said yesterday:


No Consensus on Iraq Bioweapons Labs -White House

Wed May 19,10:47 PM ET Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It remains unclear whether the CIA (news - web sites) was wrong about Iraq (news - web sites)'s purported prewar mobile biological weapons laboratories, the White House said on Wednesday, disputing a comment by Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites).


Reuters Photo




Latest news:
· U.S. Troops Raid Chalabi's House in Iraq
AP - 4 minutes ago
· U.S. Troops, Police Raid Chalabi's Home, HQ in Iraq
Reuters - 6 minutes ago
· Iraq Coalition Allies Face EU Election Backlash
Reuters - 8 minutes ago
Special Coverage





White House spokesman Scott McClellan said it was still not known why Iraq had the rolling labs. They had been described in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq as part of an effort to build weapons of mass destruction.


"The latest that has been said by the intelligence community is that there is no consensus. There is disagreement on what the use of those biological laboratories were for," McClellan said at a briefing.


He said that an independent commission appointed by the president to look at prewar intelligence related to weapons of mass destruction would take another look at the laboratories.


Powell expressed regret on Sunday for having made claims in a U.N. Security Council speech now known to have been "inaccurate" and "wrong."

~snip~

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=8&u=/nm/20040520/ts_nm/iraq_usa_laboratory_dc

Maybe? This is FREAKY.

PLEASE, let them raid Wolfowitz and Perle's places next.

:shrug:

Let's see smack dab in the middle of a chaotic war you cut ties with your bank/supporters to "go it alone" and lead your fellow countrymen....blah blah blah.

No I don't believe it, he would be dead in 72 hours without the AMericans.

The rantings of him and his envoy Qanbar are ridiculous and cannot be taken seriously. They speak for no one but themselves. If they want to win the approval of the Iraqis, they can't be proxies for the US and Israeli interests. Iraqis want peace with other countries, but they don't want to further the policy aims of these two countries.

This is transparently a ploy to elevate Chalabi. He's as corrupt as they get and a total lapdog to the Busholini regime. The "raid" was obviously done with a heavy-handed emphasis to leave VISIBLE overkill -- purely for propaganda purposes.

That they had to rebel against us - that we had to lose to win. They always announce what they're going to do first. So maybe Brooks was signalling this. HOWEVER, I think Chalabi has no popular support so I dont' get the point. I think it's more likely that CIA is doing some law enforcement here.

here in the states. If they're doing this in order to dupe the Iraqi's into supporting Chalabi, it's one of the dumbest things ever, but that might actually work in favor of that theory since these morons show no compunctions about doing incredibly dumb things...

No matter what Chalabi does he will NEVER have any real support among the Iraqis. His life is probably measured in hours at this point...

They have one of the largest paramilitary forces in Iraq. They're paid at least $355,000 per month through next month, purportedly for "intelligence gathering." There's almost no more corrupt relationship than the one between the Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz/Feith Neocons and the INC.

It's a tangled mess though...Who knows what the fuck is going on. This is like the Keystone cops and threes stooges on a freaky brown acid binge...with live ammo...

Do we see him extradited? Nope. He's still a tool.

:shrug:

You very well may be right, but I just don't know....

Don't fly on any small planes, bud, you've worn out your welcome.

... U.S. troops and police raided his home and offices on Thursday.

American Republicans say "if you haven't done anything then you have nothing to hide" so go ahead and let them run roughshod over your home and office.

After all, you DO believe in what the GOP, led by their puppet and puppet master, preaches. Don't you?

~~~~
The Iraqi National Congress leader told a news conference that the raid had been led by an ex-Ba'ath party member, and that the raid had been engineered by Ba'athists "who now control the police".

Mr Chalabi, who heads a council committee purging the administration of the upper ranks of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party, has been criticised for spearheading a policy that has excluded Sunni Muslims from senior positions.

These critcisms led the US in April to announce an overhaul of the "de-Ba'athification" policy to allow some former members join an interim government being put together by the United Nations.

An incandescent Mr Chalabi said he believed the raid on his offices was politically motivated, because the CPA was unhappy with his calls for greater independence to be given to the Iraqi government and for a fraud investigation to be carried out into the UN's oil for food deal.

~~~~~~~
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1084907712286

Ahmed Chalabi's failed coup
The U.S. raids his home and headquarters in Iraq to foil his plot.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Andrew Cockburn



May 20, 2004 | The U.S. command in Baghdad raided Ahmed Chalabi's home and headquarters in Baghdad at dawn today. U.S. soldiers put a gun to his head, according to his nephew Salem Chalabi, the Associated Press reports. Chalabi aides blame the CIA and Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority.

Why did the Bush administration turn against its former favorite Iraqi? Almost certainly because it realized that Chalabi, maddened by the realization that he was being excluded from the post-June 30 hand-over arrangements, was putting together a sectarian Shiite faction to destabilize and destroy the new Iraqi government. "This all started since Brahimi announced that Chalabi would be kept out of the new arrangement," says an Iraqi political observer who is not only long familiar with Chalabi himself but also in close touch with key actors, including U.S. officials at the CPA and Iraqi politicians.


"Ahmed is gathering groups to bring this new government down even before July 1. He is in a very destructive phase, mobilizing forces to make sure the U.N. initiative -- due to be announced in 10 days -- fails." Chalabi has reportedly been inflaming his recruits with reports that veteran Algerian diplomat Brahimi is part of a Sunni conspiracy bent on undermining the rights of Iraqi Shiites to hold power in Iraq.


Some of his followers are drawn from the faction of the historic Shiite Dawa Party that has been excluded from "official" politics by the occupation authority and that has been giving support in the streets to Muqtada al-Sadr. Others, however, are prominent in Iraqi politics, most notably Ayatollah Mohammed Bahr al-Uloom, a former chairman of the Iraqi Governing Council usually described as a "moderate" Shiite cleric. Bahr al-Uloom is also father of the minister of oil, Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloom, one of Chalabi's key allies and a potentially very profitable liaison. Two other members of the Governing Council are also considered close adherents of Chalabi, who recently inaugurated the Supreme Shia Council, modeled on a similar entity that flourished in Lebanon during that country's bloody civil war. Among other entities included in the council are Iraqi members of Hezbollah.

~~~~~~~~
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/05/20/chalabi/index.html

This article is a must read. It shows what a bunch of delusional lunatics the neocons are, and how reckless and out of control this Administration's foreign "policy" is. What a giant monumental (even by Bush Administration standards) fuck up this is.

The crook Chalabai has been feeding these insane fanatics in the Pentagon pure unadulterated bullshit all along, and they fell for it because it bolstered their insane fantasies. The State Dept. knew all along but they're evidently not really part of the Administration (Colin Powell should have resigned in protest long ago.)

Now the guy the Neocon madmen wanted to directly install as Iraq's kinder, gentler dictator is trying to destabilize the fake provisional government entity that will receive the fake sovereignty! Holy crap! This story should be bigger than the prisoner abuse as it shows the complete incompetence of the Administration and the utter folly of Mr. Bush's War.

Ahmed Chalabi's failed coup
The U.S. raids his home and headquarters in Iraq to foil his plot.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Andrew Cockburn



May 20, 2004 | The U.S. command in Baghdad raided Ahmed Chalabi's home and headquarters in Baghdad at dawn today. U.S. soldiers put a gun to his head, according to his nephew Salem Chalabi, the Associated Press reports. Chalabi aides blame the CIA and Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority.

Why did the Bush administration turn against its former favorite Iraqi? Almost certainly because it realized that Chalabi, maddened by the realization that he was being excluded from the post-June 30 hand-over arrangements, was putting together a sectarian Shiite faction to destabilize and destroy the new Iraqi government. "This all started since Brahimi announced that Chalabi would be kept out of the new arrangement," says an Iraqi political observer who is not only long familiar with Chalabi himself but also in close touch with key actors, including U.S. officials at the CPA and Iraqi politicians.


"Ahmed is gathering groups to bring this new government down even before July 1. He is in a very destructive phase, mobilizing forces to make sure the U.N. initiative -- due to be announced in 10 days -- fails." Chalabi has reportedly been inflaming his recruits with reports that veteran Algerian diplomat Brahimi is part of a Sunni conspiracy bent on undermining the rights of Iraqi Shiites to hold power in Iraq.


Some of his followers are drawn from the faction of the historic Shiite Dawa Party that has been excluded from "official" politics by the occupation authority and that has been giving support in the streets to Muqtada al-Sadr. Others, however, are prominent in Iraqi politics, most notably Ayatollah Mohammed Bahr al-Uloom, a former chairman of the Iraqi Governing Council usually described as a "moderate" Shiite cleric. Bahr al-Uloom is also father of the minister of oil, Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloom, one of Chalabi's key allies and a potentially very profitable liaison. Two other members of the Governing Council are also considered close adherents of Chalabi, who recently inaugurated the Supreme Shia Council, modeled on a similar entity that flourished in Lebanon during that country's bloody civil war. Among other entities included in the council are Iraqi members of Hezbollah.

~~~~~~~~
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/05/20/chalabi/index.html

yesterday, May 19th, he was smuggling papers and sharing information with Iran. However, upon reading today’s press on Chalab, I went back to the Arabic website and the mention of Chalabi sharing documents with Iran has been removed!!!

I have to make the connection that Ibraihimi from the UN probably thought Chalabi was an obstacle. No wonder the US wants to protect the UN office ( according to a different thread on the DU)..they are worried about retaliation from Ahmad Chalabi.

That is my take on it.

As I was writing this the above was posted. It explains better than I did.

I strongly urge DUers to treat EVERYTHING coming out of Chalabi's mouth as SUSPECT. The neocons and his AEI sponsors know that with just the right degree of "anti-americanism" and a little help from the compliant media, Chalabi might just be able to gain supporters in Iraq.

IOW, it's a fucking SCAM. These people do NOT invest the kind of time and money they have invested in the INC and in Chalabi and then ditch it all at the last minute...though they sure would like it if you believed that.

While Volcker said the inquiry's priority was to investigate allegations of misconduct by U.N. staff, he said discussions about accessing Iraqi records "as needed" were under way with the board of the Supreme Audit Authority of Iraq, its accounting firm and the coalition.


"Those records are particularly important for identifying the conduct of outside contractors and the flow of funds," Volcker said.


The committee statement was issued shortly after U.S. soldiers and Iraqi police raided the residence of Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi. Police seized computers, documents related to the oil-for-food program, a report by the Oil Ministry to the Governing Council and letters from the council, he said at a news conference.


U.S. and coalition officials have recently accused Chalabi of undermining their investigation into the oil-for-food program. The U.S.-backed investigation has collected more than 20,000 files from Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s old regime and hired the American accounting firm Ernst & Young to review them.

~snip~
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&ncid=535&e=9&u=/ap/20040520/ap_on_re_mi_ea/un_oil_for_food

in corruption. That's been pretty clear.

It may have been a condition of involvement on the part of the UN that Chalabi's fake-paper factory be closed down, and the truth of the matter determined. Since these forged documents are the lifeblood of the Freeper delusions, however, and Chalabi the freeper Man-in-Baghdad, this move may cause a good deal of cognitive dissonance for the rapid right domestically.

Thursday at 10:30 a.m. local time, American troops and Iraqi forces surrounded Chalabi's compound in Mansur and entered the house. They overturned desks, seized computers and documents, and loaded boxes into waiting cars. Coalition officials told Associated Press that warrants had been issued for "up to 15 people" on allegations of "fraud, kidnapping, and associated matters." An Iraqi National Congress (INC) spokesman, interviewed on the Arabic language Al Jazeera satellite TV channel, said troops accused Chalabi of harboring terrorists.

Observers say that Chalabi's fall from American graces began months before Thursday's sudden raid. After allegations that Chalabi had provided faulty intelligence to American defense leaders - mainly, weapons of mass destruction that were never found - the American government cut off his party's monthly stipend.

In recent days, American officials have hinted that Chalabi was impeding US investigations into funds allegedly skimmed from the United Nations oil-for-food program during the time of Saddam Hussein. In a strange twist, Chalabi claimed Thursday that one of the reasons for this raid was his leading role in opening the investigation.

Last year, Chalabi was one of 25 Iraqis handpicked by US authorities for Iraq's governing council. His name was originally floated as a possible finance minister, though that idea was eventually scrapped, in large part because of his 1992 conviction for embezzlement in the neighboring country of Jordan. (Chalabi, who lived in exile for years during Hussein rein, claimed the conviction was politically motivated
~snip~
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0521/p01s01-woiq.html

lying..." that is all.

you lying sack of shit

Foreign Policy

Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 20, 2004; 12:00 PM


Washington Post foreign policy reporter Peter Slevin comes to the Web to discuss the latest developments in U.S. foreign policy -- from the State Department to the frontlines in Iraq, join Slevin every Thursday to discuss the diverse factors that shape U.S. foreign policy and how it impacts our lives and the world.

Peter Slevin: Another day, another spate of bad foreign policy news. Let's get to the questions and comments.

_______________________

Woodbridge, Va.: What foreign policy?

Peter Slevin: That about sums it up in these chaotic days. The administration is scrambling to hold things together on some of the biggest national security challenges facing the country. But, funny, a lot of the world isn't cooperating.

_______________________

Delmar, N.Y.: What do you make of the Chalibi raid? What does this say about the Neocons and others in this Administration who relied on Chalibi and his Iraqi National Congress for the motives for going to war and the how a post war Iraq would play out? Does this affect the status of Chalibi's nephew as head of the Tribunal slated to preside over Saddam Hussein's trial?

washingtonpost.com: Chalabi's House Raided by U.S. Troops, (post.com, May 20)

Peter Slevin: Today's raid on Ahmed Chalabi's house and offices in Baghdad is a startling turn of events, another sign of how far he has fallen. It is also another piece of news the U.S. architects of the war don't need right now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24224-2004May13.html

~snip~



~snip~

Defense sources say the INC signed a written agreement with the Defence Intelligence Agency, which included strict controls over INC information-gathering activities, involving close supervision of INC intelligence personnel by case officers from the DIA.

~snip~
First on the list of “requirements” (spy jargon for assignments) laid out in the DIA’s agreement with the INC was “the location of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) storage, development facilities and individuals associated with these facilities,” says the document, according to a text made available to NEWSWEEK by U.S. intelligence sources. Second on the INC’s list of intelligence assignments from DIA was the collection of information on “Former Iraqi regime connections with Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups”—a matter that was well-known to be of great interest to the offices of Vice President Dick Cheney, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith.

Also high up on the list of assignments the DIA laid out for the INC was information on the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein—captured last year without any known involvement of INC informants—and Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, the former Saddam lieutenant who is believed to have had a hand in launching and coordinating the terrorist campaign against U.S. and other Coalition occupation personnel in Iraq. Al-Duri is still at large. Another top priority for the INC’s intelligence-gathering apparatus was the collection of information on the “fate/whereabouts of U.S. POW Capt Michael Scott Speicher,” a Navy pilot who was shot down over Iraq during the first gulf war. Though the INC and other exile groups stoked prewar rumors among U.S. conservatives that Speicher was alive and being held by Saddam’s regime in a secret Iraqi prison cell, most U.S. intelligence officials, including senior DIA officials, believe that Speicher probably died years ago. Current and former U.S. intelligence officials say that the DIA concluded shortly after major combat operations ended in Iraq last year that Speicher almost certainly was dead and that prewar reports from exiles and defectors that he was still alive probably were hoaxes.

~more: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5016031/site/newsweek/

Other items in the article: Carl Levin wants the INC investigated for illegally using state Dept funds.

~~~~~~~~~
Thursday at 10:30 a.m. local time, American troops and Iraqi forces surrounded Chalabi's compound in Mansur and entered the house. They overturned desks, seized computers and documents, and loaded boxes into waiting cars. Coalition officials told Associated Press that warrants had been issued for "up to 15 people" on allegations of "fraud, kidnapping, and associated matters." An Iraqi National Congress (INC) spokesman, interviewed on the Arabic language Al Jazeera satellite TV channel, said troops accused Chalabi of harboring terrorists.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0521/p01s01-woiq.html

When will they ever learn,
When will they ever learn? --- Pete Seeger

;-)

That's why I love ya, baby! :hi:

Yep, the McDaddy of all the former Bush friends, NSMA. The Bin Ladens.

Chalabi's just become the new Noriega. Put this together with what Mr. Powell said on MTP this past Sunday, the bit about "boo-hoo, we were so misled..." and here you have the new fall guy. They are going to blame all the faulty intelligence on him (and it is true that he was responsible for a great deal of it), and the misadministration can say, "See? He did it. We believed him. He lied to us. And made us lie to you. And we would NEVER knowingly lie to you, great people of America. Now he will be punished. He's the reason that we went in to Iraq. He made us think all of you beloved Americans were in grave and mortal danger. We were innnocently duped." Now, on with the show.....

would be Chalabi bringing about some kind of coup against the governing council and US and being the final nail in the whole Democracy in Iraq dream.

It fits my theme, which is whatever BushCO does, it turns into the opposite, they are the image of irony perfected.

When Powell started talking about "misleading sources". This pretty much confirms it. It remains to be seen how much damage Chalabi can do to Bush in return. I wouldn't want to be the company that holds Chalabi's life insurance policy.

Since Chalabi's nephew has been given charge of the Saddam trial, I wonder what the implications will be there?

On edit - Think about what Chalabi may have on the BFEE; documents about the whole sorry Iraq invasion scam. Also, documents about the Cheney/Halliburon role in the oil-for-food program. Maybe stuff on Rummy going right back to selling Saddam chemical weapons in the 80's. If there has been a falling out, everybody will be playing for keeps.

has him on their "Dead Pool" list.

If he was smart he would have backup copies of those documents and notes to trusted allies with instructions to open "this" if he doesn't make it.

does anybody remember bush's desperation speech last month where the press asked him who would handle the july 1 handover of power to iraq. bush's exact quote, i know this because i actually watched the press conference, was "that's up to mr. chalabi."

so let me see if i got this right. the guy in charge of the power handoff in 10 days has just been jailed by us soldiers. that means he's standing on a box right now wearing one of dubya's klan outfits. is this what we call "taking off the training wheels?"

is anybody believing george bush's reality anymore?

I agree with markses, I think Chalabi is being discredited so he can take the fall for the faulty WMD intellegence.

That may not be the main reason for the raid, but as the US election heats up, I bet Bush uses Chalabi as the scapegoat for sending us into war. That's a huge issue in our election.

Ok...Bear with me!

You are The US Secretary of Defense. And you didn't know about a major raid.

How long must we stand for this ignorance?

I am not at all sure about the twisted logic that Chaliba is
being attacked by Bushco to make him more viable with Iraqis. We may know about that after June 30.

I am confident of this: The Office of Special Plans knew that his info from his various defectors was BOGUS! They used it anyway because it gave Bushco the reason to invade Iraq. My theory: He has outlived his usefullness and will now the the scapegoat for the "bad intell". The CIA has been the whipping group thus far and they are not going to take it anymore.

osama is bad, wait until chalabi starts looking at his check book.

--did he really think he'd be treated any differently once labeled expendable?