Chalabi nephew loses Saddam trial role

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1298699,00.html

Salem Chalabi, the man organising the trial of Saddam Hussein, has been sacked from his job after allegedly failing to return from Britain to face a murder charge in Iraq.
Mr Chalabi, whose uncle Ahmad Chalabi is the controversial founder of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), has been removed as the head of the Iraqi special tribunal responsible for Saddam's case, INC officials said last night.

The move comes almost a month after an Iraqi judge issued a warrant for his arrest on suspicion of murdering a senior official in the finance ministry.

Another was issued for Ahmad Chalabi, accusing him of money laundering. Both men have denied the accusations, calling them "ridiculous".

Last night Salem Chalabi described his sacking as "illegitimate", saying: "I intend to challenge it."

In an email to the Guardian, he said he had been appointed to the "independent tribunal" overseeing Saddam's trial for a period of three years - and that its status had been enshrined in Iraq's transitional administrative law. Without changing that status it was impossible for him to be sacked, he said.


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[Old and In the Way]

1. I wonder if the US engineered his ouster?

Now that Uncle Ahmed is on the outs, was the US concerned that the Chalabi's might let Saddam embarass this administration with the real story of Saddam's rise to power? I suspect Saddam has some pretty nasty incriminating evidence against Poppy and Dimson.

[Octafish]

2. Whoever they get will have to past muster by Negroponte.

Still, it'd be nice to have an honest judge, rather than an oil-soaked BFEE stooge ...



This is the seventh in a series of articles on the history of Iraq and its relationship with the US. The previous articles appeared on March 12, March 13, March 16, March 17, March 19 and March 24. Parts five and six documented the increasingly close ties of the American government with the Saddam Hussein regime during the 1980s. This article examines ways in which the US sought to help finance Iraq’s arms purchases. Unless otherwise noted, all citations are from documents publicly available in the Iraq section of the National Security Archive at http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv or http://nsarchive.chadwyck.com.

The diplomacy of imperialism: Iraq and US foreign policy

Part seven: US financial assistance for Hussein in the 1980s

By Alex Lefebvre
26 March 2004

Having formally decided to covertly back the Hussein regime in the Iran-Iraq war, the Reagan administration had to plan how best to support Iraq’s war effort. The Hussein government’s existing arms purchasing programs—with the USSR, with European allies of the US such as Britain, France, and Italy, and with US-supplied Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt—guaranteed it technical military superiority over Iran.

However, this massive outlay for weapons completely undermined Iraq’s public finances. A key element in the US program to bolster Hussein was therefore the search for ways to provide Hussein with funds. The Reagan administration explored two principal avenues: first, building an alternate oil pipeline from Iraq to the Mediterranean Sea, and second, providing credit, ostensibly for purchases of US produce, through the US Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). The latter means of support was continued by the first Bush administration up until the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

The Aqaba oil pipeline project

Although it never came to pass for lack of funding, the pipeline project was a favorite of high-level Reagan administration officials. It involved influence-peddling with US corporations and cold calculations concerning the US ruling elite’s interests in the Middle East. The pipeline would have been largely situated in Jordan, a US ally, and would have ended at the Jordanian port of Aqaba.

It would have had the advantage not only of securing Iraqi export revenue and improving its position in the war, but also of undercutting other key countries in the Middle East. It would have cut out Syria, a key exporter of Iraqi oil not aligned with the US. It would also have reduced Saudi Arabia’s bargaining power by providing the US with another source of cheap Middle Eastern oil.

CONTINUED...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/mar2004/iraq-m26.shtml

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

3. So many hungry millionaires.

The lies and subterfuge are getting so complex that even the players are having a tough time keeping up with it all.

[daleo]

4. The hunter has become the hunted

Poor old Ahmad. That's what happens when you get in bed with the BFEE. Saddam should have warned him during those courtroom appearances a while back.