NYT: Chalabi Links U.S. to Charges Against Him and His Nephew

[UpInArms]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/10/international/middleeast/10chalabi.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 9 - Ahmad Chalabi, the once powerful exile leader who returned to this country last year on a wave of American support, went on the offensive Monday, saying criminal charges filed against him and his nephew had been politically motivated and brought at the behest of American officials with whom he has fallen out of favor.

An Iraqi judge ordered the arrest of Mr. Chalabi and his nephew, Salem Chalabi, over the weekend. Mr. Chalabi was charged with counterfeiting and Salem Chalabi with involvement in the killing of an Iraqi official. Both men are traveling outside Iraq, and both have vehemently denied the charges against them.

At a news conference in Baghdad on Monday, Mr. Chalabi's spokesman and a member of his party said the charges were the initiative of American advisers to the magistrate who ordered the arrests, Zuhair al-Maliky - whom they characterized as an American puppet - not the magistrate himself or Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

"It's neither Allawi nor the judge behind this," said Mithal al-Alusi, a member of Mr. Chalabi's group, the Iraqi National Congress. "It's the American advisers who did this."

...more...

ah, the liars and the company they keep :evilgrin:

[bambo53]

1. When you lie with flees

You get dogs

[54anickel]

2. But what's this stuff Perle had to say about this judge?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x738659#739182

Richard Perle, a leading US neo-conservative, denounced the judge in June as a stooge of Paul Bremer, the American administrator of Iraq until the handover of sovereignty.

"He's a man of no consequence except he sits in Baghdad issuing arrest warrants for people who have for many years been fighting to liberate Iraq from Saddam Hussein," he told a Washington forum.

"He has been issuing arrest warrants without anything that could be called probable cause. His notion of due process includes threats to the counsel representing some of the accused."

Judge Maliki's relationship with Mr Bremer has raised eyebrows in Baghdad. The 38-year-old law graduate had no experience as a judge and worked as a translator for the Coalition Provisional Authority, headed by Mr Bremer.

[King of New Orleans]

4. Sounds like a neo-con civil war

Of course since they're alll chickenhawks it will have to be fought in sissy slapfight mode

[Disturbed]

5. The Truth About Ahmed Chalabi

The Truth About Ahmed Chalabi

Why the US Turned Against Their Former Golden Boy -- He was Preparing a Coup! What He Did as a Catspaw for Tehran: How He Nearly Bankrupted Jordan; the Billions He Stands to Make Out of the New Iraq
By ANDREW COCKBURN

In dawn raids today, American troops surrounded Ahmed Chalabi's headquarters and home in Baghdad, put a gun to his head, arrested two of his aides, and seized documents. Only five months ago, Chalabi was a guest of honor sitting right behind Laura Bush at the State of the Union. What brought about this astonishing fall from grace of the man who helped provide the faked intelligence that justified last year's war?

The answer lies in Chalabi's reaction to his gradual loss of US support in recent months and the realisation that he will be excluded from the post June 30 Iraqi "government" being crafted by UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.

Lashing out against his exclusion from power, he has in effect been laying the groundwork for a coup, assembling a Shia political coalition with the express aim of destabilising the "Brahimi" government even before it takes office. "He has been mobilising forces to make sure the UN initiative fails," one well connected Iraqi political observer, who knows Chalabi well, told me today. "He has been tellling these people that Brahimi is part of a Sunni conspiracy against the Shia."

This scheme is by no means wholly outlandish. Chalabi has recruited significant Shia support, including Ayatollah Mohammed Bahr al Uloom, a leading member of the Governing Council and two other lesser known Council members. Significantly, his support also includes a faction of the Dawa Party that has been excluded from the political process by the occupation authority and which also supports rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Other recently recruited allies include Iraqi Hezbollah. All are joined in a Chalabi dominated Supreme Shia Council, similar to a sectarian Lebanese model. "Sooner rather than later," the Iraqi observer, a close student of Shia politics, points out, "Moqtada al Sadr is going to be killed. That willl leave tens, hundreds of thousands of his supporters looking for a new leader. If Ahmed plays the role of victim, he can take on that role. His dream has always been to be a sectarian Shia leader."

http://www.counterpunch.org/chalabi05202004.html

[chookie]

3. Who does he mean?

The NeoCons -- the boys His Chimperial Highness listens too -- all still adore their precious Ahmed de Gaulle of Iraq.

Chalabi has in the past fingered George Tenet as one of his tormenters -- in fact, about two weeks before George Tenet was forced to resign. Hmmmm. I took this as a sign that the neoCons had prevailed in the White House....

In another article, Darth Perle called Judge Maliki a "stooge of Paul Bremer." Now -- was this prudent, even if it's true? Isn't it a teensy bit inflammatory to call an Iraqi a "stooge" of an American, when things are a bitsy bit tense regarding the presence of Americans there and the legitimacy of the interim government?

Gee -- you don't think that the NeoCons and the Chalabis are purposefully *destabilzing* Iraq, do you? Gee willikers.

[54anickel]

6. Purposely destabilizing Iraq? Why, you're beginning to sound like

the PM of Iran now! Along with a few others. :hi:

[ScrewyRabbit]

7. couldn't have happened to a nicer pair of guys

[demgrrrll]

8. All of this byzantine maneuvering has to mean something. n/t.

.

[legin]

12. As a suggestion

I'd say that that the u.s., or an import faction in power, are really pissed off with Chalabi.

As Chalabi sort of led the u.s. into attacking Iraq, he is sort of a standard barer.

For the world to watch on and see him fall so visably from grace, with a number of embaressing charges against him and his nephew, is a loss of prestige for the u.s. in front of the whole world, something that 'world superpowers' tend to avoid happening, especially if it could have been handled quietly.

For the u.s. to be willing to take such a hit in order to publically oust Chalabi would tend to suggest the Chalabi has really pissed some people off in the u.s.

[legin]

13. Another guess would be

that bush* must be happy with what is happening to Chalabi, either that or he has no control over his government what so ever.

[struggle4progress]

9. After all the millions the Bushistas paid him for his lies, he has ...

... no gratitude.

[DeepModem Mom]

10. I think Salem Chalabi was at a restaurant table next to mine...

a couple months back. Now that I see that he spends a lot of time in London, where I'm based most of the time for a while, I think I've identified the very knowledgeable Iraqi man, whose conversation with his female dinner companion I couldn't help but hear snippets of. I don't remember much of importance, and couldn't hear that well, but heard one statement loud and clear: "They took us to the cleaners." It was a day or so after that that reports started surfacing about the questionable accounting practices and missing millions related to our stewardship of Iraqi development funds. Not that the Chalabis are paragons of virtue -- or that I'm sure about this, but my husband, who was with me at dinner, thought the same thing when he saw Salem Chalabi on TV (but didn't mention until I did because he thought I'd think he was nuts).

[amber dog democrat]

11. I have to admire this crook

He is one operator who has achieved a measure of success only equaled by a few.
This whole thing is too funny. Cant wait to see what happens next.