Chalabi Raid Was Over Corruption , Not Politics

WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Michael Hirsh
Newsweek
Updated: 5:58 p.m. ET May 20, 2004
May 20 - The raid came as a shock to many: U.S. soldiers breaking into the home and offices of Ahmad Chalabi, the exile whom Pentagon hawks once saw as Iraq’s future leader. Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress promptly put its spin machine into overdrive. This was all about politics, the INC said—the souring of Chalabi’s reputation in Washington and his resistance to a United Nations-led plan for Iraqi sovereignty that would cut out the Iraq Governing Council, of which Chalabi is a member. "It's a provocative operation, designed to force Dr. Chalabi to change his political stance," fumed Chalabi aide Qaisar Wotwot.


In fact, sources close to the investigation tell NEWSWEEK that Thursday’s raid stems from a long-running probe by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq into financial corruption and criminal charges linked to the INC and its alleged efforts to profit illegally from Iraq’s reconstruction. Among the documents police were searching for relate to charges that INC officials profited from the introduction of a new currency. According to an official with the Coalition Provisional Authority, an INC-affiliated company was placed in charge of destroying the old currency, but “a lot of money was coming out again into circulation instead of being burned. Some of it had signs of partial burning.” The currency handover was supposed to be a one-to-one exchange, he said, “but we got a lot less in old money then we gave out.”

Among the felony counts already filed are theft of government property, theft of government money, misrepresentation and abuse of power, he said. Some of the other charges are connected to the INC’s seizure of government-owned homes and cars, especially through the group’s effective control of the Ministry of Finance, the CPA official said.

The CCCI is also investigating whether INC officials, including Chalabi and his intelligence chief, Aras Habib, misused the Baath Party files they seized upon being helped into Iraq early by the U.S. military. Chalabi ultimately became head of the De-Baathification Committee, and U.S. officials believe that some Iraqis have been threatened with blackmail by being identified as Baath Party members if they declined to do the INC’s bidding, the CPA official said. “Just recently we learned of a situation where a senior official in the Ministry of Science and Technology refused to sign off on a contract brought in by the INC. He felt it was overpriced or that there was something else wrong with it. Because he refused, the minister and the De-Baathification Committee included his name on the list members, and they sent a letter saying you’re a Baathist and you’ll be eliminated.” The official also said about 1 billion dinars allocated for de-Baathification has mysteriously disappeared.

~snip~
more:http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5024660/site/newsweek/

edited to change title to the link on google....more descriptive.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States paid Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress at least $33 million since March 2000, according to a congressional report made public on Thursday.

The report by the Government Accounting Office, the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress, found $33 million in funds from the State Department and did not include any funds from the Pentagon (news - web sites) or other U.S. agencies, a congressional source told Reuters.

~snip~
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&ncid=721&e=1&u=/nm/20040520/wl_nm/iraq_chalabi_payments_dc

So how much did the CIA give him, and the Pentagon in total?????

Hand appointed thugs placed in a position to "SIGN A WARRANT" by Pontius Paul Bremer.

No wonder things are so fucked up over there

These are the same CLOWNS and PUPPETS who signed the "ARREST WARRANT" for the Cleric Al Sadr.

I can hear the drivel now


"ITS THE RULE OF LAW"

Between corruption and politics.

on edit - By way of fuller explanation, this doesn't mean that there hasn't been a political falling out between BFEE and Chalabi. It just means that the everyday corruption that all of these types accept as normal is now being used against Chalabi by BFEE and friends. It is a convenience, nothing more.

Then Hugh Hefner is qualified to call someone a pimp.

:headbang:
rocknation

Ho hum....when you sleep with dogs you get up with fleas.

After his conviction for looting a hundred million from a bank in Jordan??????


This is just toooo good.

How does Jon Stewart even keep up???

who met the kindred spirit qualification.

Maybe Chalabi was stealing some of the money Halliburton was supposed to steal.

either way Mr. Chalabi is now trouble for the US Government. And the "puppet regime" they are planning to istall over there. Mr. Chalabi is shooting his big mouth off. He's telling the US to leave, and quickly. This should make them real happy in the Oval Office.

Take a close look at the Baklava you stuff into your mouth, Ahmed.

~snip~
His agents were also faster than U.S. troops at getting to Iraq's intelligence headquarters, where they took thousands of sensitive files, which the INC has refused to return to the new intelligence ministry, U.S. officials say. Supporters were implicated in commandeering the property of former Baath Party officials, from homes to upscale cars.

~snip~
"He won the confidence of the neo-conservatives, plugged into their wavelength and articulated a vision that was identical to the one they had. What he said about Baathism, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, Saddam and the future of the Middle East was indistinguishable from what they believed," the senior U.S. official said.

~snip~
Throughout much of its relationship with him, the United States has been willing to shrug off Chalabi's past as a convicted felon disliked and mistrusted by many in the Arab world. In 1992, Chalabi, whose family fled Iraq when he was a teenager, was sentenced in absentia by Jordan to 22 years in prison on 31 counts of embezzlement and other bank fraud charges.

But Chalabi's close relationship with Iran, the only neighboring state that regularly deals with him, is now a further cause of concern in Washington. The INC chief has always been a master at balancing the two foes, but U.S. officials have recently cited fears that Chalabi's ties could endanger U.S. operations in Iraq.

As U.S. and U.N. officials work to form an interim Iraqi government, U.S. officials have increasingly been frustrated by Chalabi's maneuvering to ensure that he and some of his Governing Council allies retain strong positions. Washington fears that he will try to undermine whomever U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi names, possibly next week.


~snip~

more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43775-2004May20_2.html

It's known for quite some time that Chalabi/INC engaged in frauds. So, who set the fox to keep the geese? What profits did these people make? Will anyone take any responsibilty for this?

I do hope that Chalabi starts to squeal ...

you're going to get burned. That's two for two (saddam, chalabi) and as things go in threes, I wonder who the 3rd will turn out to be. The Saudis or Sharon?

But Hussein Muathin, a judge with the Central Criminal Court of Iraq, said the raids were part of an investigation into such crimes as the detaining and torturing of people, theft of government cars and illegal seizure of government facilities. Eight people, including Aras Habib, Chalabi's security and intelligence chief, have been declared fugitives. Chalabi was not charged.


U.S. and Iraqi officials said that the arrest orders originated in the Iraqi justice system and that senior U.S. occupation officials did not know about the warrants until they were served.


The raids appeared to complete Chalabi's fall from grace in the eyes of U.S. officials over the last difficult year of the occupation. In recent weeks, occupation authorities have cut off a $335,000 monthly subsidy to the INC's intelligence arm and have pursued an investigation focusing on alleged fraud against government agencies by Sabah Nouri, a Chalabi aide who served as the anti-corruption chief at the Ministry of Finance.

~snip~

When auditors early this year began counting the old Iraqi dinars brought in and the new Iraqi dinars given out in return, they discovered a shortfall of more than $22 million. Nouri, a German national, was arrested in April and faces 17 charges including extortion, fraud, embezzlement, theft of government property and abuse of authority. He is being held in a maximum security facility, according to three sources close to the investigation.

In recent weeks, several other Finance Ministry officials have been arrested as part of the investigation. A U.S. official familiar with the case said, "We are cracking down on corruption regardless of names involved."

~snip~
more:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1802&ncid=716&e=16&u=/washpost/20040521/ts_washpost/a43761_2004may20

they certainly cut off his funding quickly, after it had been reported for quite a while just how much he's milked the pentagon for.

then just a couple of days later they raid his home? hmmmmm......

perhaps these are just calculated efforts to make it appear that chalabi is no longer in their good graces. if the u.s. hates him, maybe some iraqis will hate him less. he could be a good plant inside iraq.

besides, we all know that when the bush administration is finished with someone, that person typically either dies or disappears.

this just smells a little funny.