Questions about Chalabi pose dilemma for Bush administration
KR Washington Bureau | 11/06/2005 | Questions about Chalabi pose dilemma for Bush administration: "Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - When Iraq's controversial deputy prime minister, Ahmad Chalabi, arrives in Washington on Tuesday for an eight-day visit, he'll bring a lot of baggage and a tough question for the Bush administration: Is Chalabi with us or against us?
Chalabi, an MIT-educated, secular Shiite Muslim, was the Pentagon's and Vice President Dick Cheney's candidate to lead Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
His Iraqi National Congress helped pave America's path to war in Iraq in two ways: It supplied intelligence on Iraq's purported weapons of mass destruction and alleged ties to terrorism, and Chalabi and others assured U.S. officials that a large U.S. force and a lengthy occupation wouldn't be necessary because Iraqis would greet American soldiers as liberators.
Almost none of what Chalabi and his allies said, however, turned out to be true, and relations between him and the United States hit a new low months after his appearance at Bush's 2004 State of the Union address, when U.S. officials accused him or someone close to him of warning Iran that the United States has broken Iran's secret codes.
A knowledgeable U.S. official, speaking Sunday only on the condition of anonymity because the matter remains classified, said that a federal investigation into the Iranian matter is still open but is proceeding 'very slowly, if at all.'"
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