The Chalabi Dossier
CBS reported yesterday that the most serious charge against Chalabi, in the eyes of U.S. officials, is that both he and one of his own senior officials was spying for Iran. Today Newsday is reporting that Chalabi's intelligence operation, which was receiving over $300,000 per month from the U.S., was actually a pro-Iranian front. (Both via Josh Marshall). Pro-Bush sources seem to be confirming that this is the word from the White House. (See also here. Until he actually showed up in Iraq, some Bushies kind of hoped he was another DeGaulle. Er, no.). Of course, it's still barely possible that they're trying to give him some anti-U.S. cover so he has some chance of taking part in any future government in Iraq. It seems more likely, however, that they've believed a lot of lies from him over the years, and now they've (more or less--see Oil for Food) stopped believing.
Records show that he was paid $30 million by the State Department from 2000 to 2003 (Marshall again). This is far more than three or four hundred K per month, and it must be in addition to the $40 million or so the U.S. Congress paid him over a 10-year period. Then there are the security contracts in Iraq in the past year, the jobs and contracts for relatives, and so on. Let's just keep it at $70 million for now, in very round numbers.
UPDATE: Newsday says it has been $40 million total over four years: including $33 million from the State Department and $6 million from the Defense Intelligence Agency. But the Iraqi National Congress started receiving funding earlier, under the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, and indeed even earlier than that. See more here.
Couldn't they have picked up a Washington hooker for less than that? ("All I want you to do is whisper in my ear: 'You are the real Greatest Generation; you are huge and powerful; strategy ... liberation ... democracy.'")
Of course, depending on who her friends were, she might have been tougher on them than Chalabi has been.
There has been some attempt by the White House to say they're not sure who Chalabi is, he was never more than a minor player, at most he's one of many people who were graciously granted meetings with senior staff, etc. Obviously there are so many Iraqi individuals who have received $70 million from official sources, sat near the First Lady at the SOTU, and had their personal militias flown in to Iraq by the Pentagon with the invasion, that it's difficult to tell them all apart.
If they were like LBJ, they would start mangling his name on purpose: "Charlappi? Was that the name? I believe that was a Mexican gentleman we had some contact with. Yes, as I recall, the President chatted with him once at a social function."
One more, and I know this is very stale: With all the commotion, and the evidence that a supposedly brilliant plan has turned into guano, it's just possible that Dick Cheney will have another heart attack. The worse news: Bush would have to take over as President.
UPDATE on the cost of Chalabi to the U.S.:
While we're at it: a piece in the New Yorker on Chalabi (via Atrios): A new total! "Between 1992 and the raid on Chalabi's home, the U.S. government funnelled more than a hundred million dollars to the Iraqi National Congress. The current Bush Administration gave Chalabi's group at least thirty-nine million dollars." Making Saddam look as bad as possible was originally a CIA operation, with money channelled through the Rendon Group.
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