AP: Chalabi Offers to Be Questioned by Senate

Chalabi Offers to Be Questioned by Senate


Thursday November 10, 2005 5:31 PM

AP Photo DCYG101

By BARRY SCHWEID

AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi offered
Wednesday to be questioned by the Senate on his role in prewar Iraq
but refused to apologize for fueling allegations that Saddam Hussein
had hidden caches of weapons of mass destruction.

Accorded a warm reception by the Bush administration, Chalabi lined
up Vice President Dick Cheney and five Cabinet officers, including
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald
H. Rumsfeld, for meetings this week and next.

Chalabi, whose reputation in Washington has soared, fallen and now
revived, was welcomed by administration officials whom he briefed on
Iraq's reconstruction efforts, particularly on energy and financial
issues.

Sens. Durbin, Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt.,
told Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales that Chalabi should be
sitting down with FBI investigators rather than meeting with Cabinet
secretaries.