Chalabi severs ties with US-led authority in Iraq

[demdave]

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmed Chalabi said his relations with the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority were "non-existent" after an overnight raid against his house.

"My relationship with the CPA now is non-existent ..." he told reporters after claiming a firefight had narrowly been avoided between his guards and US-backed Iraqi police during the raid.


"I am America's best friend in Iraq; if the CPA finds it necessary to direct an armed attack against my home you can see the state of relations between the CPA and the Iraqi people."


---snip---

My message to the CPA is let my people go, let my people be free. We are grateful to President Bush for liberating Iraq (news - web sites) but it is time for the Iraqi people to run their affairs," he told a press conference.


http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1514&u=/afp/20040520/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_us_chalabi_040520142214&printer=1

[Maeve]

"I am America's best friend in Iraq"

With friends like this.... :eyes:

Of course, if what he said is true, we're in even WORSE shape!

[Spentastic]

1. So it is a ploy

"my people"?

That's awfully presumptuous.

[On the Road]

3. Maybe "My People" Means the Other Carpetbaggers

[Just Me]

10. Yup,...I am getting increasingly suspicious,...

,...but,...this could involve a "behind the screen" struggle that is beyond tenacles of the neocons,...or, at least, chopping off those tenacles.

[Renew Deal]

2. That's good. $310,000 off the payroll.

I guess his "friends" turned on him.

[Kahuna]

4. Just STFU Ahmed. You belong in a cell with Saddam.

My hope is, that is where you're headed. :puke:

[prolesunited]

5. A MUST read here

As posted by Mel earlier today. It's all a political ploy and I'm sure the Iraqis won't fall for it. They need to come up with better script writers. They are just getting too predictable and transparent.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/neocon_lets_cat_out_of_bag.php

Neocon Lets Cat Out of Bag
Robert Dreyfuss

May 19, 2004

<snip>Michael Rubin—a young staffer at the American Enterprise Institute who’s just left the Pentagon, where he played a small role as a neocon cog in the Office of Special Plans war machine—let a herd of cats out of the bag about his favorite Iraqi phony, Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress.</snip>

<snip>"By telegraphing that he is not the favorite son of America, the administration will bolster him, showing he is his own man."</snip>

<snip>In other words, it’s all a big con game. The still-neocon-dominated Pentagon—which this week stopped funding Chalabi’s INC —is playing its last card, hoping that it can boost Chalabi’s sagging fortunes by pretending to sever ties with him. That, the neocons hope, will allow Chalabi to strengthen his ties to Sistani, the king-making mullah who, they hope, holds Iraq’s fate in his wrinkled hands.</snip>

[Just Me]

12. I don't know. Maybe the neocons are losing control.

Just a thought.

With the "behind the theatre/screen" exposure at hand,...perhaps what we are witnessing is a complete loss of control by the neocon cabal,...

[Suspicious]

17. Unbelievably transparent.

Anyone who has been paying even the slightest bit of attention to the situation will see this for what it is. I'm sure you're right - Iraqi citizens will not buy it, but how much difference will it make?

I believe this BS just about as much as I believe the U.S. intends to hand over full sovereignty to the Iraqi people. :eyes:

[Just Me]

20. I'm still not buying. I believe the neocons have completely lost control.

They were way too arrogant to actually anticipate the level of opposition that they are being subjected to. Way, way too freakin' arrogant to believe that the force of human decency would backlash.

I'm telling you,...I REALLY do NOT believe this has anything to do with a conspiracy to somehow "lift" Chalabi in the eyes of the Arab community.

I believe the neocons have completely lost control over what they arrogantly thought they could control.

[bemildred]

22. The have. That is why the attempt to rehabilitate this tool. nt

[July]

23. That's the speculation at Daily Kos, too.

That he's establishing his "street cred" with Iraqis.

[Just Me]

25. PUH-LEASE. How presumptuous to treat Iraqis like they are stupid.

If this crap it true,...all I can say is,...unfreakinbelievable!!!

[PurityOfEssence]

6. News Flash: U.S. does something non-stupid in Iraq

Without us, he's nothing, so I suggest he find a nice home of permanent exile before someone comes a-knockin'.

[jackstraw45]

7. Now we know why Perle resigned in February...

Read his pre-war comments here:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/issue_mayjune_2003/debate.html

"You are imagining a U.S. general riding roughshod over Iraqis and confirming the worst fears of Muslims around the world that we are an aggressive, imperialist power. I have another view. We have Ahmed Chalabi, chief of the opposition Iraqi National Congress, to enter Baghdad. Ending the current Iraqi regime will liberate the Iraqis. We will leave both governance and oil in their hands. We will hand over power quickly—not in years, maybe not even in months—to give Iraqis a chance to shape their own destiny."

WHEN did they know Chalabi was a crook?

WHEN did they tell CONGRESS?

I smell yet ANOTHER criminal scandal for the cabal...

[saigon68]

8. ADIOS AHMAD

[hatrack]

9. Bad puppet! No presidency for YOU!!

A tool for fools in OSP.

[CaptainClark23]

11. Ahmed Chalabi - The Moses of Babylon!

[Johnny 99]

13. So?

Chalabi is an idiot, always has been, he has little or no support amongst the majority of Iraqis. He wants a quick handover so he can make a play for power, not look out for the best interest of Iraq.

[mulethree]

14. maybe NOW he will be extradited to Jordan

to pay for his bank fraud crimes

[qanda]

15. "Let my people go"

Oh, now he's Moses. For his next act, he'll be parting the Red Sea!

[TahitiNut]

16. When he's extradited to Jordan, I'll begin to believe it.

Until then, this is just bullshit kabuki.

[bemildred]

19. Yeah, Chalabi the "freedom fighter" coming right up.

This crap works so well here at home, they must think
Iraqis are as dumb as Americans.

[doubles]

18. Raid his house, took computers, he might have some BIG secrets..........nt

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

21. The first, immediate instinct is that this is a put-up job. I'll believe

it when I see Chalabi as the star of his own beheading video, or "shot while resisiting arrest" of U.S. troops. I'll bet the plan is for him to be "divorced" from the U.S. and become the heroic recipient of the "begrudging" transfer of power.

It could be as represented, but my first instinct is no, it's a fake.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

24. Yesterday Sivits was the Bush scapegoat. Today it's Chalabi

The Republicans are already trying to spin the war as being all Chalabi's fault. Chalabi is the man who allegedly helped write Bush's State of the Union Address, who received letters of commendation from the Bush administration, and who was generally living, breathing and operating inside the Office of Special Plans. It would be interesting to go back and examine Bush's speeches to see how many times he praised this crook. I'm persuaded that Cheney knew that Chalabi was a liar and crook but used his lies to build the phoney case for war. It was very convenient while it lasted. Now, a scapegoat to pin the blame for this mess is what's convenient.

[Moderator]

26. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=568670