Bush's Iraq Policy and Chalabi -- It gets Worse and Worse I can hardly claim to be the first one to call out for the immediate arrest of Ahmed Chalabi, I consider him to be perhaps the biggest flim-flam man in American History. But I it appears I have underestimated him. Bush, because of his lack of intellectual curiousity and inclinations, adopted hook, line and sinker the arguments of the PNAC, from Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, and their higher placed "vulcan" allies (Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al.). They all sold him on Ahmed Chalabi and his organization, the Iraqi National Congress, as the man and the group with keen intelligence on what it was like in Iraq -- they even flew him in at the end of the war to help take charge. Perle especially continually pushed the idea of making Chalabi into the new de facto ruler of the country. We continue to pay Chalabi's organization somewhere between $340,000 and $430,000 a month. His friends and associates continue to get contracts in Iraq. His nephew has somehow passed muster as being the lead judge in the trial of Saddam Hussein. All of these actions have been given the approval of the President. And what do we know of Chalabi. -- That he is believed to have embezzled $300 Million from Jordanian businesses; -- That he admits to providing the United States trumped up intelligence to justify war; -- That the prime example of lying was the supposed Iraqi informant named "Curveball" who spread the lie about mobile weapons labs used by Powell before the UN, that person was a relative and plant from Chalabi; -- In the aftermath of the occupation of Baghdad Saddam's files were given to Chalabi, giving him power that no other Iraqi possesses, especially among the IGC. And now what else do we believe? How about Treason? (he is a U.S. Citizen) Bush administration officials have been briefed on intelligence indicating that Chalabi and some of his top aides have supplied Iran with "sensitive" information on the American occupation in Iraq. U.S. officials say that electronic intercepts of discussions between Iranian leaders indicate that Chalabi and his entourage told Iranian contacts about American political plans in Iraq. There are also indications that Chalabi has provided details of U.S. security operations. According to one U.S. government source, some of the information Chalabi turned over to Iran could "get people killed." (A Chalabi aide calls the allegations "absolutely false.") Yet Chalabi continues to have defenders...who cannot come to grips with this lunacy (cognative dissonance anyone?) wonder who this might be: Yet Chalabi still has loyal defenders among some neoconservatives in the Pentagon. They say Chalabi has provided information that saved American lives. "Rushing to judgment and cutting off this relationship could have unintended consequences," says one Pentagon official, who did not respond to questions about Chalabi's dealings with Tehran. So is this Wolfowitz or Feith? Yet another reason to vote these clowns out of office. UPDATE: One important thing to consider at the moment also concerning Chalabi. Uberblogger (in comparison to me, uterblogger) Josh Marshall points out that the individuals most urgently pushing the UN, Oil for Food Scandal are affliliates of Chalabi. Nobody would be surprised if many of the allegations are true, but as Marshall points out the asserted documents have yet to be authenticated and confirmed. The Right-Wing has a great desire to push this story to offset things that are upsetting and ARE documented such as the torturers of Al Ghraib. But as with all things with Chalabi's fingerprints on them, consider the source first.