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Iraq-Jordan
Iraq's Chalabis Face Warrants
2004-08-09
Follow-up on Frank G's post yesterday, dentally extracted from a Rooters article.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi judge has issued an arrest warrant against leading politician and former Pentagon darling Ahmad Chalabi and his nephew Salem Chalabi, the head of the tribunal trying Saddam Hussein. Zuhair al-Maliki, chief investigative judge of the Central Criminal Court of Iraq, said an arrest warrant had been issued against Ahmad Chalabi in connection with counterfeiting money and against his nephew on a murder charge.

Ahmad Chalabi, who helped lead the United States to war in Iraq, was once touted as a potential leader of the country after Saddam was ousted, but has since been spurned by Washington and many in Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's interim government.

Ahmad Chalabi, who fell out with Washington over accusations he provided false information on weapons of mass destruction, said he would come home to fight the charges brought by the U.S.-appointed judge which he said were politically motivated. "I do not know who is doing this and why. They are not patriots. I have done my duty and helped liberate Iraq," he told Reuters from Iran, where he was on holiday.

"I will return in a few days. I can easily prove that these charges are untrue and I intend to defend myself and clear my name."
Sounds like a Rantburg Futures to me.
Officials in Washington have said Chalabi is being investigated for leaking secrets to Iran. In 1992 he was convicted in absentia of bank fraud by a military court in Jordan. He says those charges too were politically motivated.

Salem Chalabi, a lawyer, is leading the work of the Iraqi Special Tribunal which will try Saddam, the deposed president captured last year by U.S. troops. He told CNN the charges appeared to be very strange. "The warrant for me has to do with the fact that apparently I threatened somebody, I have no recollection of ever meeting that person, but apparently I threatened somebody who subsequently was killed," he said, speaking from Britain.
That would be enough to empanel a grand jury here.
Posted by:Steve White

#7  "Officials in Washington have said Chalabi is being investigated for leaking secrets to Iran."
"I have done my duty and helped liberate Iraq," he told Reuters from Iran, where he was on holiday."

snicker. What better way to disprove allegations about one's giving secrets to Iran than to take a "vacation" there. Ha, ha.

In a futures re: his return to Iraq, I'd say he will eventually...but not before visiting France and obtaining UN top-cover.
Posted by: B   2004-08-09 12:17:54 PM  

#6  OldSpook, problem was the Gardner's plan wasn't working. The Iraqi army disintegrated, and the officer corp of said army was thoroughly corrupt -- selling off the men's food and stealing their pay. That army wasn't good for anything, let alone securing a border. Gardner wanted to set up a government quickly, but he found out that there wasn't anyone to set up a government around other than crooks and nutcases.

Bremer was dealt a bad hand -- Iraq was in far worse shape than we thought it would be (and that's a legitimate criticism of our government). Bremer did okay with what he had, and frankly I'm impressed that we have Allawi and a chance for an election soon.
Posted by: Steve White   2004-08-09 11:47:20 AM  

#5  Umm, OldSpook, State HATES Chalabi!
They always have...
Posted by: Ernest Brown   2004-08-09 9:49:49 AM  

#4  The very first sentence claims he was the Pentagon's guy.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester   2004-08-09 7:21:38 AM  

#3  Thats just it - we didnt need a puppet - we just needed locals to carry out the orders of the Military Constabulary - just like Germany post-WW2. ANd the US Military was going to take those Iraqi "regular" divisions that "sat still" as border security, paying off the commanders as promised, keeping the wapons out of the city, and keeping Iranians ans Syrians out (and incidentally keeping 50K armed and trained men way out in the country).

Bremer screwed that up.

Someone needs to clean out the State Department with a flame thrower.
Posted by: Oldspook   2004-08-09 1:45:23 AM  

#2  Why can not we use puppets that are not corrupted or murderers?
Posted by: Paul   2004-08-09 1:15:44 AM  

#1  And there you have it: CHalabi was State Dept's guy, Bremer's guy.

Biggest mistake Bush made was in letting Bremer and State Dept take over the occupation from the military.
Posted by: Oldspook   2004-08-09 12:34:40 AM  

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