Hadi chalabi
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Ahmad Chalabi and the Great Man Theory of History
Last month was the third anniversary of the death of Ahmad Chalabi. It came only a few days after what was the 20th anniversary of President Bill Clinton’s signing of the Iraq Liberation Act, which passed with a vote of 360 to 38 in the House of Representatives and by unanimous consent in the Senate. This bill was unlike any other act of Congress in American history. Usually, even when openly hostile towards a regime, the United States maintains an ambiguous position on regime change. But now, without declaring war, the president was given the authority to select “Iraqi democratic opposition organizations” to receive up to $97 million of American assistance to remove Saddam Hussein from power.
While other Western countries sought an easing of sanctions against Saddam, the United States never did, although it is difficult to know whether this was in part because of the Iraq Liberation Act itself or simply due to of the state of elite American opinion. Nonetheless, the Iraq Liberation Act basically made political rapprochement with
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Ahmad Chalabi, RIP
I detested Ahmad Chalabi.
I first met him soon after the Persian Gulf War when I still worked for the CIA. I cannot remember if it was 1992 or 1993. I just remember that my immediate response after meeting him was that I wanted to take a shower. I could not believe that we were giving him money to try to overthrow Saddam Hussein. He was so unctuous, so obviously duplicitous and self-serving, I could not understand why anyone would buy what he was trying to sell.
And yet they did. That to me was the great mystery of Ahmad Chalabi. Why a great many people, particularly some terribly intelligent and worldly-wise American officials, took him at his word and believed that he was the answer to a variety of Iraq-related questions. How to get rid of Saddam before 9/11 created public backing for an invasion? Arm Ahmad Chalabi’s men and send them into Iraq backed by U.S. air power. How to rule Iraq after we had overthrown Saddam? Turn the country over to Ahmad who will make Iraq an American ally, make peace with Israel, build a true democracy, and keep the Irania
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Ahmed Chalabi
Iraqi politician (1945–2015)
Ahmed Abdel Hadi Chalabi[3] (Arabic: أحمد عبد الهادي الجلبي; 30 October 1945 – 3 November 2015) was an Iraqi dissident politician, convicted fraudster[4] and founder of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) who served as the President of the Governing Council of Iraq (37thPrime Minister of Iraq) and a Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq under Ibrahim al-Jaafari. He is believed to be an Iranian agent and having close ties with Iran.[5][6][7][8]
Chalabi was interim Minister of Oil in Iraq[9] in April–May 2005 and December 2005 – January 2006 and Deputy Prime Minister from May 2005 to May 2006. Chalabi failed to win a seat in parliament in the December 2005 elections, and when the new Iraqi cabinet was announced in May 2006, he was not given a post. Once dubbed the "George Washington of Iraq"[10] by American supporters, he was initially a CIA-backed operative,[11] who later fell out of favor, with U.S. Special Forces raiding his private residen
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