$3 billion from CIA to rebuild Iraq secret police

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From Juan Cole today (scroll down to: Maneuvering over Transitional Government Continues)

http://www.juancole.com/2004_06_01_juancole_archive.html#108606748245306964

snip>

Colin Powell at State has gotten control of the $18 billion in reconstruction aid voted by Congress, very little of which the Pentagon managed to disburse. The CIA will reportedly put $3 billion into building up a new Iraqi secret police. Iyad Allawi, who is called "Iyad al-Baathi" on the streets in Iraq, has long had an interest in rebuilding the secret police which seems to me sinister. It is a little shocking that Brahimi should have been willing to be party to this appointment. But I suspect he believes that Allawi cannot be elected to anything important in January, since he has no grassroots support and is widely disliked for his 1970s Baath background before he broke with the party. He had organized ex-Baath officers in the 1990s, some of whom were even more recent converts from the Baath ideology.

snip>

[starroute]

1. This was already in the works 6 months ago

But it looks like getting Chalabi out of the way may have been necessary to enable it to move ahead. Alawi was always the CIA's guy, and I suspect their hand behind much of which is happening in Iraq at the moment.


http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/nation/2286920

December 11, 2003 -- The Bush administration has authorized creation of an Iraqi intelligence service to spy on groups and individuals inside Iraq that are targeting U.S. troops and civilians working to form a new government, according to U.S. government officials.

The new service will be trained, financed and equipped largely by the CIA with help from Jordan. Initially the agency will be headed by Iraqi Interior Minister Nouri Badran, a secular Shiite and activist in the Jordan-based Iraqi National Accord, an exile group that includes former Baath Party military and intelligence officials.

<snip>

Badran and Ayad Alawi, leader of the Iraqi National Accord, are spending much of this week at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., to work out the details of the new program. Both men have worked closely with the CIA over the past decade in unsuccessful efforts to incite coups against Saddam. The agency and the two men believe they can effectively screen former regime officials to find agents for the service and weed out those who are unreliable or unsavory, officials said.

By contrast, some Pentagon officials and Ahmad Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress, vehemently oppose allowing former intelligence and military officials into the new organization for fear they cannot be trusted. Chalabi and his sponsors also fear that some former regime officials would use the new apparatus to undermine the influence of Chalabi, who wants to play a central role in a new Iraq.

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2. Wow, starroute,

looks like the New World Order is definitely getting itself in order.

Thanks for that context.