Extreme Makeover, Spy Edition

Donning this clever disguise, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi walks out of at the State Department in Washington after a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2005.



From a recent WSJ piece...

More than 17 months after then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice publicly promised a full criminal inquiry, the Federal Bureau of Investigation hasn't interviewed Mr. Chalabi himself or many current and former U.S. government officials thought likely to have information related to the matter, according to lawyers for several of these individuals and others close to the case.

The investigation of Mr. Chalabi, who had been a confidant of senior Defense Department officials before the war in Iraq, remains in the hands of the FBI, with little active interest from local federal prosecutors or the Justice Department, these people said. There also has been no grand-jury involvement in the case. ...

via
http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/003008.html

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7961

November 9, 2005
The Return of Chalabi
Some Democrats are outraged, but both parties sired this scamster "liberator"
by Justin Raimondo

<snip>
As blowback from the lies that duped us into war plunges Washington into a maelstrom of investigations and counter-investigations, Ahmed Chalabi adds insult to injury by making a return trip to the Imperial City. He's staying at the ritzy-glitzy Ritz-Carlton, where he's staked out a whole bloc of rooms at (U.S.) taxpayers' expense, and is slated to meet with Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, Treasury Secretary John Snow, and the Chalabi fan club over at the American Enterprise Institute.

Gee, that's funny: I could've sworn Chalabi was under investigation for turning over highly sensitive U.S. intelligence to the Iranians, and had his Iraqi home and headquarters raided by American and Iraqi troops last year. Not to mention the fabrications he retailed to New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who reported them as fact and plastered them all over the front page of the "newspaper of record."

A lot of people are mad about this: John Conyers, for one, and the congressman has a whole list of people who have questions similar to his own. Senator Richard Durbin has some, too, as Arianna Huffington helpfully informs us: Durbin is outraged that Chalabi is back in town, and he wants to know what Ms. Rice and other administration officials are doing meeting with a man who may very well have endangered American troops in Iraq. Says Durbin:

"So don't be surprised if you watch the Chalabi motorcade speed up when they pass the Department of Justice. I guess they're concerned whether an FBI agent will come out and pursue this so-called active investigation."

pointed out that a man currently under investigation by the DOJ and treasury is being courted by the State Department.

Makes you wonder WTF is going on with this admin.

Even the Iranians think he's presidential, now. Could it be he's brokered The Big Deal?

Look for most US forces out by this time next year. (before the '06 elections) The Shi'ia militias will now sweep in on the remaining Sunni holdouts. In return, we hand most of Iraq to Iran, and get out of the way of reunification of Persia, as Bush 41 promised way back in 1980. Iraq gets divided three ways, and oil exports rise. Everyone gets their way.

Nation building, at its finest. Now, wait and see somebody throw a wrench into this.