Monday, January 15, 2007
Ahmad Chalabi, Iran, and War in Iraq
I have recently realized that the war in Iraq may have been carefully nursed into flame by the Iranian government as a means of destroying their old nemesis (Hussein) and weakening their neighbor to the west, so that it could never aspire to much more than satellite status
Ahmad Chalabi might be singled out as the person most responsible for this outcome. As the reader may know, Chalabi is a wealthy Iraqi who has spent nearly all of his life in exile. He is well educated, publishing several papers in mathematics. He has had numerous business dealings, some of which were questionable (for example, he had to flee Jordan because of apparent bank fraud). In any event, whatever his setbacks, he seems to always bounce back. He has a lovely home in London and has recently purchased a home overlooking Tehran. He also has an extensive family compound in Baghdad. For the last years of the Hussein's rule, he was known as a principal leader of Iraqi opposition, serving as the head of the Iraqi National Congress. He organized a resistance movement among the Kurds in the mid 1990s, fleeing after they were defeated. He then came to Washington where he became the idol of the neocons, the man who convinced them and many others that we should attack Iraq, and that the people were ready to transform their country into a democracy. His movement was well supported by the Americans.
After our victory, his Pentagon supporters managed to work him into top positions in the Iraqi government . He was appointed a member of the Interim Governing Council. But in 2004 his compound was surrounded by Iraqi forces. He was charged with grand theft and counterfeiting, and his nephew with murder. At about this time, the United States also accused him of passing U.S. government secrets to the Iranians. The Americans cut off his subsidy. But with the assistance of his friends, none of these charges were sustained. He had become one of Iraq's leading Shiite politicians, and was appointed Deputy Prime Minister in April, 2005. Once again in the good graces of the United States, in November, 2005 he visited Washington for high level meetings with American officials and Congress. He followed this up with a trip to Tehran where he met with Ahmadinejad and other top Iranians. In spite of this international comeback, with Iraqi voters he seems to have lost any influence. He is now out of government
Ahmad Chalabi might be singled out as the person most responsible for this outcome. As the reader may know, Chalabi is a wealthy Iraqi who has spent nearly all of his life in exile. He is well educated, publishing several papers in mathematics. He has had numerous business dealings, some of which were questionable (for example, he had to flee Jordan because of apparent bank fraud). In any event, whatever his setbacks, he seems to always bounce back. He has a lovely home in London and has recently purchased a home overlooking Tehran. He also has an extensive family compound in Baghdad. For the last years of the Hussein's rule, he was known as a principal leader of Iraqi opposition, serving as the head of the Iraqi National Congress. He organized a resistance movement among the Kurds in the mid 1990s, fleeing after they were defeated. He then came to Washington where he became the idol of the neocons, the man who convinced them and many others that we should attack Iraq, and that the people were ready to transform their country into a democracy. His movement was well supported by the Americans.
After our victory, his Pentagon supporters managed to work him into top positions in the Iraqi government . He was appointed a member of the Interim Governing Council. But in 2004 his compound was surrounded by Iraqi forces. He was charged with grand theft and counterfeiting, and his nephew with murder. At about this time, the United States also accused him of passing U.S. government secrets to the Iranians. The Americans cut off his subsidy. But with the assistance of his friends, none of these charges were sustained. He had become one of Iraq's leading Shiite politicians, and was appointed Deputy Prime Minister in April, 2005. Once again in the good graces of the United States, in November, 2005 he visited Washington for high level meetings with American officials and Congress. He followed this up with a trip to Tehran where he met with Ahmadinejad and other top Iranians. In spite of this international comeback, with Iraqi voters he seems to have lost any influence. He is now out of government
Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
