Thursday, 20 May 2004
Strange Things Are Afoot en El Casa de Chalabi
Breaking news this morning is that U.S. troops have raided Chalabi's house in 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.
There was no comment from U.S. authorities, but American officials here
have complained privately that Chalabi - a longtime Pentagon favorite -
is interfering with a U.S. investigation into allegations that Saddam
Hussein's regime skimmed millions in oil revenues during the U.N.-run
oil-for-food program. A Chalabi aide, Haidar Musawi, accused the
Americans of trying to pressure Chalabi, who has become openly critical
of U.S. plans for how much power to transfer to the Iraqis on June 30.
[...]
American soldiers and armed U.S. civilians could be seen milling about
Chalabi's compound in the city's fashionable Mansour district. Some
people could be seen loading boxes into vehicles. Aides said documents
and computers were seized without warrants.
[...]
For years, Chalabi's INC had received hundreds of thousands of dollars
every month from the Pentagon, in part for intelligence passed along by
exiles about Saddam's purported weapons of mass destruction.
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.
There was no comment from U.S. authorities, but American officials here
have complained privately that Chalabi - a longtime Pentagon favorite -
is interfering with a U.S. investigation into allegations that Saddam
Hussein's regime skimmed millions in oil revenues during the U.N.-run
oil-for-food program. A Chalabi aide, Haidar Musawi, accused the
Americans of trying to pressure Chalabi, who has become openly critical
of U.S. plans for how much power to transfer to the Iraqis on June 30.
[...]
American soldiers and armed U.S. civilians could be seen milling about
Chalabi's compound in the city's fashionable Mansour district. Some
people could be seen loading boxes into vehicles. Aides said documents
and computers were seized without warrants.
[...]
For years, Chalabi's INC had received hundreds of thousands of dollars
every month from the Pentagon, in part for intelligence passed along by
exiles about Saddam's purported weapons of mass destruction.
The question is, how did Chalabi fall out of favor so fast? Less than a week ago, he was still receiving $340,000 per month
from the Pentagon. In the space of a week he's gone from being "our
kind of guy" in Iraq to being the subject of armed raids?
I doubt it. There is a classic nation-building technique that was
employed in British colonies all over the world. The British government
would pick their favored leader, arrest him and then make a hero out of
him. When the populace was sufficiently whipped into a fury about it
the British would release the guy just to "keep the peace" and then
hold elections. Inevitably, their handpicked stooge would win by a
landslide.
Of course, if this is what Bush and his clown troupe are trying to do
(and I'm not saying it is), it's going to fail miserably. Most Iraqis
think of Chalabi as a opportunistic, bank robbing thief who spent the last 30 years living comfortably outside Iraq:
Chalabi, a former banker and longtime Iraqi exile,
was convicted of fraud in absentia in Jordan in 1992 for embezzling
$US288 million from Petra Bank into Swiss bank accounts and was
sentenced to 22 years in jail.
was convicted of fraud in absentia in Jordan in 1992 for embezzling
$US288 million from Petra Bank into Swiss bank accounts and was
sentenced to 22 years in jail.
Good luck making a hero out of this guy. It'd be easier selling a line
of plush, snuggly Ken Lay dolls.
If Bush had any sense he'd have sent Chalabi's fat ass back to Jordan a
year ago. Instead he put him on the Administration's payroll to the
tune of almost $400,000 per month. That's certainly one thing you can
say about rich crooks - when times get tough they stick together.
UPDATE: Looks like I'm not the only one who thinks this is all another neoCon (link via Atrios):
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.
Chalabi, of course, is the roly-poly perpetrator of intelligence fraud
and the convicted bank embezzler who still hopes to be leader of Iraq.
Lately, Chalabi has scuttled into a would-be alliance with Ayatollah
Ali al-Sistani, the scowly fatwa man. In doing so, he's had the
temerity to criticize the United States, leading some fuzzy thinkers to
believe that Chalabi, whose puppet strings are made of steel, might be
trying to show some independence from Washington. Well, says Rubin, who
served as one the Pentagon's liaisons to Chalabi, that's exactly what
they want you to think:
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.
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.
Chalabi, of course, is the roly-poly perpetrator of intelligence fraud
and the convicted bank embezzler who still hopes to be leader of Iraq.
Lately, Chalabi has scuttled into a would-be alliance with Ayatollah
Ali al-Sistani, the scowly fatwa man. In doing so, he's had the
temerity to criticize the United States, leading some fuzzy thinkers to
believe that Chalabi, whose puppet strings are made of steel, might be
trying to show some independence from Washington. Well, says Rubin, who
served as one the Pentagon's liaisons to Chalabi, that's exactly what
they want you to think:
"Much of the information he collected was to roll up the
insurgency and Ba'athist cells. It caught people red-handed," said
Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon adviser who is now at a conservative
think-tank, the American Enterprise Institute.
"By telegraphing that he is not the favorite son of America, the
administration will bolster him, showing he is his own man."
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.
Posted by flow Frazao on May 20, 2004 at 09:08 AM | Permalink
Post a comment
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/851297
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Strange Things Are Afoot en El Casa de Chalabi: