US begins to distance itself from Chalabi
ROBIN WRIGHT & MAGGIE FARLEY
WASHINGTON, OCTOBER 3: After supporting Ahmed Chalabi for years, the US has grown disenchanted and made a serious effort in the past two weeks to rein in the former Iraqi exile leader, pressing him to stop embarrassing President Bush with calls for a speedy handover of power in Baghdad, according to senior US officials.
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice confronted Chalabi in a meeting last week in New York and again on Tuesday in Washington, on statements calling for greater Iraqi control over political power and economic reconstruction, sources said. ??She was instructed to tell him to behave,?? said an official.
The Bush administration?s pressure on Chalabi comes as he increasingly emerges on the world stage as the face of new Iraq, speaking at length before the UN General Assembly on Thursday on behalf of the 24-member Governing Council.
Chalabi in his debut speech on Thursday chastised nations that kept silent while former president Saddam Hussein abused ordinary citizens. ??I stand in front of you today representing the voice of the Iraqi citizen who has long suffered from cruelty within and outside his homeland,?? he said. Describing torture under Saddam, Chalabi said countries in the region and beyond had cooperated with those who abused the Iraqi citizen.
??His brothers and friends in the region not only maintained silence and ignorance toward his catastrophe, they also criticised him and shamed him the day he dared raise his voice,?? he said.
Until recently, Chalabi, had been the political favourite of many in the Bush administration, with Pentagon policy-makers backing him to lead post-war Iraq. However, in a meeting of Cabinet-level officials, even Pentagon officials conceded that Chalabi had gone too far and was endangering American efforts, officials said.
In talks with other West Asian leaders, Bush expressed anger at Chalabi and his political lieutenants for undermining the US effort to return stability to Iraq, according to Arab and US officials. Some officials have suggested Chalabi?s call for greater immediate control by the Iraqi Governing Council is a bid to ensure he gains the top leadership position.
The State Department and CIA have long had doubts about Chalabi, stemming in part from accountability problems with US funds provided to the Iraqi National Congress, which he founded and controlled. That disillusionment has grown in other sectors of the administration as information he supplied proved either faulty or unrealistic. (LAT-WP)
fyi
ROBIN WRIGHT & MAGGIE FARLEY
WASHINGTON, OCTOBER 3: After supporting Ahmed Chalabi for years, the US has grown disenchanted and made a serious effort in the past two weeks to rein in the former Iraqi exile leader, pressing him to stop embarrassing President Bush with calls for a speedy handover of power in Baghdad, according to senior US officials.
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice confronted Chalabi in a meeting last week in New York and again on Tuesday in Washington, on statements calling for greater Iraqi control over political power and economic reconstruction, sources said. ??She was instructed to tell him to behave,?? said an official.
The Bush administration?s pressure on Chalabi comes as he increasingly emerges on the world stage as the face of new Iraq, speaking at length before the UN General Assembly on Thursday on behalf of the 24-member Governing Council.
Chalabi in his debut speech on Thursday chastised nations that kept silent while former president Saddam Hussein abused ordinary citizens. ??I stand in front of you today representing the voice of the Iraqi citizen who has long suffered from cruelty within and outside his homeland,?? he said. Describing torture under Saddam, Chalabi said countries in the region and beyond had cooperated with those who abused the Iraqi citizen.
??His brothers and friends in the region not only maintained silence and ignorance toward his catastrophe, they also criticised him and shamed him the day he dared raise his voice,?? he said.
Until recently, Chalabi, had been the political favourite of many in the Bush administration, with Pentagon policy-makers backing him to lead post-war Iraq. However, in a meeting of Cabinet-level officials, even Pentagon officials conceded that Chalabi had gone too far and was endangering American efforts, officials said.
In talks with other West Asian leaders, Bush expressed anger at Chalabi and his political lieutenants for undermining the US effort to return stability to Iraq, according to Arab and US officials. Some officials have suggested Chalabi?s call for greater immediate control by the Iraqi Governing Council is a bid to ensure he gains the top leadership position.
The State Department and CIA have long had doubts about Chalabi, stemming in part from accountability problems with US funds provided to the Iraqi National Congress, which he founded and controlled. That disillusionment has grown in other sectors of the administration as information he supplied proved either faulty or unrealistic. (LAT-WP)
fyi
That reminds me of an article I read awhile back:
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