Ahmad Chalabi emerges, once again, as powerful leader

[Barrett808]

Ahmad Chalabi emerges, once again, as powerful leader
By Hannah Allam, Knight Ridder Newspapers

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A tall Texas engineer in a John Deere cap and cowboy boots spoke slowly and a little too loudly to make sure a visiting Iraqi dignitary could grasp the mechanics of a power plant in a dusty village south of Baghdad.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi listened calmly to the contractor's carefully enunciated syllables, the kind a teacher might use with an ignorant student. Then, the MIT-educated mathematician shot back with an eloquent stream of jargon-laced comments that made the engineer's eyes widen.

"So, can we see the turbines now?" Chalabi finished with a grin.

"Absolutely," the humbled Texan replied.

The contractor was only the latest American to learn lesson No. 1 in dealing with Chalabi: Never underestimate him. A year after observers pronounced him finished - spurned by one-time American sponsors and with no apparent political base in Iraq - Chalabi has emerged more powerful than ever.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/krwashbureau/20050726/ts_krwashbureau/_bc_usiraq_chalabi_wa

[90-percent]

1. Chalibi

Our deputy Prime Minister in error. If he was a gentleman he'd get his mistress Judith Miller out of jail. It's the least he could do for printing everything he told her in the run up to this stupid war.

Why is this guy not under arrest?

-85%

[wurzel]

6. He probably has too much on Bushco.

[Zensea]

2. Something tells me this was the plan all along

"Even the U.S. government has warmed to Chalabi again. American officials never pursued the allegation that his associates passed intelligence to Iran,"

All we have is the Administration's word that they were ever really serious about pursuing Chalabi. Isn't it convenient that someone who helped engineer the war in Iraq is in the position he is in in Iraq?

"From his deputy premier's seat in the elected Iraqi government, Chalabi, 60,oversees Iraq's vast oil resources as chairman of the energy council. He presides over a board that regulates multimillion-dollar rebuilding contracts. He commands the controversial purge of former Baath Party members from government posts and the Iraqi Special Tribunal prosecuting Saddam Hussein. Until an oil minister was named, Chalabi held that job, too.

One of his top aides, Entifadh Qanbar, is headed for a plum job at the Iraqi Embassy in Washington. Chalabi's Harvard-educated nephew is the finance minister;"

Really convenient.

[Gloria]

7. He's purportedly masterminding the secession of Southern Iraq,

with all the oil, which could help split Iraq into 3 sections: Northern (Kurds); Baghdad; and the South. Interesting, particularly because in the North, Kirkuk's vast oil reserves may be readily accessible due to poor management in the past....which means Chalabi is out to control the most important oil reserves in the South....

[K-W]

3. Of course he is, hes still got backing in Washington.

You know Washington DC, the capital of Iraq.

[oasis]

4. When your surrounded by Blackwater mercenary bodyguards you tend to

get more attention than the average Joe strolling around Baghdad.

Chalabi and Judith Miller are like the characters in "Good Fellas" who are waiting until the heat blows over so they can divy up the cash from the big heist.

[Disturbed]

5. Ahmed is the consumate con artist.

He is indeed a "hero in error", as he caled himself and his fellow con artists. Even G. Tenet couldn't bring this guy down. I hear his cousin, the chief former Judge is in exile in the UK after being charged with murder in Iraq. Wonder when he will be back in the good graces of the "new" Iraqi Govt.

[daleo]

8. Why the buildup for Chalabi?

This is a real puff piece, if you can stand reading it.

These passages may be the key. The Bushco propaganda machine is building him up all over again. They can't think of anything else to do. And they don't mind repeating mistakes.

"Then came a total makeover. He turned critical of the Americans, who a year earlier had airlifted him into Iraq, and relied on Iraqi power brokers to protect his shaky Baghdad empire.
...
Even the U.S. government has warmed to Chalabi again. American officials never pursued the allegation that his associates passed intelligence to Iran, and both U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Chalabi to congratulate him on his election win. He accepted the U.S. military's offer to train his phalanx of bodyguards. And he attended the American Embassy's Fourth of July celebration, where diplomats and U.S. military commanders greeted him like an old friend."

[Roland99]

14. Hmm...Jaafari spouting off about wanting speedy withdrawal of US troops

And Chalabi is the Deputy Prime Minister? How the fvck did that happen?


Anyone foresee an assassination of Jaafari soon?

[arewenotdemo]

9. T'will be a fine day in Iraq

when the "insurgents" zero in on the "MIT-educated mathematician".

I personally can't wait.

[AtomicKitten]

10. They have him to thank

for channeling all the BS to Judith Miller so she could write her pro-war propaganda pieces. The audicity in giving this cheeseball ANY position is breathtaking.

[Disturbed]

11. A theory: Ahmed Chalabi blackmailed his way into..

the Interim Oil Minister position. When the troops first got into Baghdad Chalabi and his group were the first non- Military contingent in the city. They gathered two tons of Saddam's docs. No one knows where those are. He has info that he blackmailed the Iraqi Govt. with to obtain his position.

[smoogatz]

12. Chalabi will do whatever it takes to sieze power in Iraq

I think he wants the whole enchilada. He's smart, he's patient, he's a pathological liar, and he's absolutely amoral. He and his Iranian buddies did everything but hypnotize Bush, Cheney, Condi and Wolfie in the run-up to the invasion. He's a genius at exploiting chaos and the stupidity of both friends and adverseries.

[tanyev]

13. Surprise, surprise, surprise!

[Roland99]

15. Convicted of bank fraud in Jordan, suspected of spying for Iran, now...

Deputy Prime Minister.



"What a world! What a world!"