Iran rejects Chalabi spying accusations

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran acknowledged Sunday it had a strong dialogue with embattled Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi, but rejected accusations that he passed classified intelligence to Iran.

Chalabi's long-standing contacts with Iran have left some in the U.S. government suspicious about his intentions. Chalabi has denied allegations he handed over sensitive information to Iran about the U.S. occupation.

His home and offices were raided by Iraqi police backed by American soldiers on Friday, and Chalabi is now mbroiled in a public battle with the U.S.-run occupation authority. He has become a harsh critic of Washington's Iraq policies.

"We had continuous and permanent dialogue with Chalabi and other members of the Iraqi Governing Council," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said at a press conference. "But spying charges are unfounded and baseless. It's not true at all."

"We didn't receive any confidential information from Chalabi or any other member of the Iraqi Governing Council," Asefi said.

~snip~
more: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Iran%20Iraq%20Chalabi

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Iran admits close contacts with Chalabi, rejects spying accusations

TEHRAN, Iran(AP) — Iran acknowledged Sunday it had a strong dialogue with embattled Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi, but rejected accusations that he passed classified intelligence to Iran.
"We had continuous and permanent dialogue with Chalabi and other members of the Iraqi Governing Council," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said at a press conference. "But spying charges are unfounded and baseless. It's not true at all."

Chalabi's long-standing contacts with Iran have left some in the U.S. government suspicious about his intentions. Chalabi has denied allegations he handed over sensitive information to Iran about the U.S. occupation.

~snip~
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-05-23-iran-chalabi_x.htm

The qualifier "sane" excludes BFEE/PNAC, Rummy, etc., of course.

WASHINGTON — Ahmad Chalabi, the onetime White House favorite who has been implicated in an alleged Iranian spy operation, sent Iraqi defectors to at least eight Western spy services before the war in an apparent effort to dupe them about Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s illicit weapons programs, current and former U.S. intelligence officials said.

~snip~

The U.S. investigation into the suspected spy operation was a key reason behind Thursday's raids on Chalabi's Baghdad house and the offices of his Iraqi National Congress. Several INC members were accused of kidnapping, robbery and corruption.


Until recently, civilian leaders in the Pentagon (news - web sites) touted Chalabi as a potential postwar leader of Iraq. The former exile leader denounced the raids as retaliation for his increasingly sharp criticism of U.S. occupation policies and operations in Iraq. He has not been accused of any crime.


It is not clear whether Iran had any role in the alleged use of the INC to provide disinformation to the West. U.S. officials say the INC may have been acting on its own when it sent out a steady stream of defectors from 1998 to 2003 with apparently coordinated claims about Baghdad's purported weapons of mass destruction.

~snip~
more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2026&ncid=716&e=29&u=/latimests/20040523/ts_latimes/suspicionofchalabideceptionintensifies

Jeez. So now the CIA and the Bush administration is saying that they went to war in Iraq over false information supplied by Chalabi on the instructions of Iran. Lemme guess what's next: since Iran got Chalabi to lie to get the US to invade Iraq, we'll invade Iran next! I mean, all this Reagan worship by the Bush Cabal has to seriously stop. Didn't Reagan beat Carter by getting Poppie Bush to delay the release of hostages at the US embassy in Iran? Can't we at least have new enemies? Like, uhm, I dunno, North Korea? If the Bush administration was writing a college paper on the war in Iraq, they'd already have gotten thrown out on plaigarism charges alone.

Grr!!!! ****FUME!!!!****

to delay the release of hostages at the US embassy in Iran?"

Good question

The timing of the release those 52 hostages was very puzzling.

Archive
October Surprise 'X-Files' Series

http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile.html

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

blah,blah,blah
~snip~
Asefi said the accusations against Chalabi, a former favorite of the Pentagon (news - web sites), were part of an effort to deflect attention away from Washington's problems in Iraq.


"The Americans have in recent months lied about several issues and failed to prove them," he said. "It seems that lying is becoming institutionalized in American policy."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=5&u=/nm/20040523/ts_nm/iraq_iran_usa_dc

Again, this Chalabi situation may not be what it first appears to be. Yes, he is a crook and a criminal. But he may very well not have been a spy for Iran. The Neo-Cons who are Bush's puppet-masters are probably sacrificing Chalabi in order to move forward with their plans to attack Syria and Iran on behalf of Israel. This has always been their agenda, so the spy for Iran story can be used as more justification.

This article is from February of 2003 (as the war on Iraq was launched) and appeared in an Israeli newspaper.

U.S. official to Israel:
We'll deal with Syria, Iran after Iraq war

(from an Israeli newspaper that often
reveals more truth than US media)

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/263923.html

Monday, February 17, 2003 Adar1 15, 5763 Israel Time: 19:57 (GMT+2)

U.S. official to Israel:
We'll deal with Syria, Iran after Iraq war

By Aluf Benn and Sharon Sadeh, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and Agencies

U.S. Undersec'y of State John Bolton
Syria and Iran are next.
(Photo: AP)

U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton said in meetings with Israeli officials on Monday that he has no doubt America will attack Iraq, and that it will be necessary to deal with threats from Syria, Iran and North Korea afterwards. (maybe not that last part... about North Korea... any time soon)

Bolton, who is undersecretary for arms control and international security, is in Israel for meetings about preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

In a meeting with Bolton on Monday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that Israel is concerned about the security threat posed by Iran. It's important to deal with Iran even while American attention is turned toward Iraq, Sharon said.

Bolton also met with Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Housing and Construction Minister Natan Sharansky.

----

NOTE: Sharansky has had heavy influence upon all the Neo-Cons and is a promoter of taking over all the Palestinian lands although he, like Sharon, sometimes pretends at peace processes that of course will never take place. The goal is to divide and weaken all the surrounding Arab nations by use of US military force.

Chalabi gains in popularity with the Iraqis as he distances himself from Bushco. He could NEVER have effectively been accepted in Iraq as a legitimate leader otherwise.(That's IF they still decide to somehow install him in the new Iraqi government).

Chalabi insinuates Iran is plotting against the U.S. and therefore adds incentive for targeting/further demonizing Iran.

Chalabi takes the brunt of blame for WMD claims, which makes him look bad but takes the heat off Bushco for making the decisions.

And Rumsfeld has been playing dumb about the Chalabi house raid, saying he wasn't informed about the raid. Of course he was just IN Baghdad but assures us it was only to look into the prison abuse issue.

Of course the possibility of him NOT knowing anything is as remote as finding WMD in Iraq.

You would have to assume that Iraqis are dumber than trailer dwelling Republican Americans to think that they would "embrace" Chalibi just because he's on the outs with the Americans.

How does blaming Chalibi take any "heat off of Bush"? We didn't elect Bush, and we sure as hell didn't elect freakin' Chalibi!

Admitting that your administration was rolled like a drunk in some Vegas alley hardly adds to your credibility or takes off any "heat".

Tehran - Iran has sent a "formal warning" to the United States over American policy in neighbouring Iraq, foreign ministry spokesperson Hamid Reza Asefi said on Sunday, as he branded Washington immoral and deceitful.

The situation in Iraq is serious and this is why we have addressed the necessary warning," he told a press conference.

Shiite Muslim-dominated Iran has voiced alarm in recent days at fighting around the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala between US-led coalition forces and the militia of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr, for which it blames the United States.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1531289,00.html

If he can stir up the pot with Iran and make the situation more difficult, maybe the U.S. would get "happy feet" on getting out. That might've led to his appointment to lead Iraq. He didn't count on the U.N. getting involved. Ever wonder why no one has seen the documentation on the U.N. oil for food allegations except for Chalabi?

Things just aren't always what they first appear. Chalabi has more background in playing up to Israel and the Neocons who are most ardently ultra-Zionist than to any probable real intrigue with Iran. Here are two sources that tell another story.

The first is based on the second. The second is more detailed and is written by a researcher from India.

AHMED CHALABI'S TIES TO MOSSAD & NEOCONS
Christopher Bollyn
Date: Friday, 25 April 2003

http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=31508


NEWSASIA.COM -- ALL THE ASIAN NEWS

Ahmed Chalabi: The Janos Kadar of Iraq
By B Raman

Selection: After section about why Chalabi fell from grace in Clinton years.

Following this fiasco, the CIA, with Clinton's approval, cut off its funds to Chalabi. Despite this, Chalabi, who had settled down in the UK, remained a frequent visitor to the corridors of power in Washington DC and claimed to have played an active role in encouraging the Congress to enact the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 calling for a change of regime in Baghdad.

He staged a spectacular come-back into the favours of Washington after the Bush administration came to office in January, 2001. In the 1980s, when he was associated with the Petra Bank in Jordan and before he incurred the displeasure of King Hussein, Chalabi, who was allegedly helping the Mossad, the Israeli external intelligence agency, in the collection of intelligence about Iraq's arms procurements abroad, particularly from the USSR, used to visit Israel secretly.

During those visits, he became close to the late Albert Wohlstetter (he died in 1997), who was reputed to be a godfather of the neoconservative movement in the US, which has a strong influence on the West Asian policies of the present Bush administration.

Chalabi had earlier come into contact with him in his students days at the University of Chicago, but the friendship became close only after their meetings in Israel. Through Wohlstetter, he became acquainted with Richard Perle, who was Under-Secretary of Defence for international-security policy under President Reagan, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, both of whom took turns in serving Reagan in his White House Staff.

These friendships stood him in good stead and helped him in his come-back. Perle, as the chief of the Defence Policy Advisory Board, a position which he has since resigned, became a strong supporter of Chalabi, but the CIA and the State Department continued to have serious mental reservations about him.

The CIA was reportedly disinclined to resume funding of Chalabi's INC. It is said that Rumsfeld then ordered that the DIA should take him under its wings and fund the INC.

For all of this, see:

http://www.samachar.com/newsasia/featarchives/15042003.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,120697,00.html

~snip~

WALLACE: And have you ever passed intelligence either from the U.S...

CHALABI: And we meet people from the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad regularly, as do all members of the Governing Council.

As to the charges you've mentioned, I have never passed any classified information to Iran or have done anything — participated in any scheme of Iranian intelligence against the United States. This charge is false. I have never received a U.S. classified document. And I have never seen — had a U.S. classified briefing.

These charges are being put out by George Tenet. Let him come to Congress. I will come to Congress, and I will lay everything on the table. Let Congress decide. It is time to have church (ph) hearings about that again now.

WALLACE: Dr. Chalabi, are you willing...

CHALABI: Yes, go ahead.

WALLACE: ... to testify under oath before Congress to let Congress see all of your files and talk to any INC operative, including the head of intelligence, Mr. Habib, if they're able to find him?

CHALABI: Yes, absolutely. I am ready to come to Congress, lay all my files, lay all of the facts. We have nothing secret from the U.S. Congress. They were responsible for the liberation of Iraq. They passed that Iraq Liberation Act.

Also any INC official they care to talk to, and I will volunteer Aras Habib to come to Congress and also testify under oath in the United States Congress and let them decide about our role in the past 12 years of confrontation with Saddam and the role of the CIA and also of George Tenet in that process. Let them find out the truth.

~snip~

So does Chalabi know where Habib is hiding?