Jordanian jail cell still awaits Iraq's Chalabi

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L22579000.htm

AMMAN, May 23 (Reuters) - Jordan said on Sunday a prison cell still awaited Washington's former Iraq favourite Ahmad Chalabi in the Arab kingdom where he was convicted in his absence of embezzling millions in a bank scandal. snip

"Chalabi was sentenced in Jordan and he is wanted for the verdict to be carried out," Jordanian government spokeswoman Asma Khader told Reuters. She did not say if Jordan was actively seeking the former banker's extradition.

Chalabi was convicted by a Jordanian court in 1992 of embezzling millions from Petra Bank whose 1989 collapse shook Jordan's political and financial system, forcing it to spend in excess of $400 million to bail out depositors.

A sentence of 22 years hard labour awaits the man who was once one of Jordan's most influential figures.

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[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Why hasn't the US issued a warrant for his arrest?

instead this felon is making the rounds of the morning talk shows? Excuse me?


http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1113603.htm

US probes Chalabi over Iran link

Saturday, May 22, 2004

The United States is investigating evidence that Ahmed Chalabi, the leader of the Iraqi National Congress, passed sensitive information to Iran, according to US officials and media reports.

"There is evidence Ahmed Chalabi passed sensitive information to Iran and an investigation is ongoing," one official, who asked not to be named, told AFP news agency.

Iraqi police raided Dr Chalabi's Baghdad home and the offices of his Iraqi National Congress on Thursday.

Senior US officials insisted it was not a US operation even though US troops were used to cordon off the area.

[Just Me]

3. One of many reasons why I believe this is another neocon ploy,...

,...the guy is a convicted crook and escapee AND has been accused of espionage to the detriment of the USA yet he is allowed to appear all over USA media.

Tell me there isn't something very stinky about THAT. :grr:

[salin]

6. The pawn... also has information

he has admitted in public that the intel that they passed on was bogus and that it was irrelevant because Saddam is gone. I think he kept info that would play poorly for the neocons - so he continues to be "protected" - even as they try to discredit him. Info like the possibility that the alleged ties to Iranian govt is true, and that the neocons knew it, but wanted their "game" anyway. Like watching an old west showdown - where each side thinks they are better positioned than the other - and if the neocons were not in such disarray it would be undisputed (with their previous tight control on the media) that they had all the big guns. Now it is a little less clear.

Chalabi is a tool, and slimey. The neocons knew it and played him to their advantage... but in their arrogance never conceived that there might be some associated blowback.

I feel so callous to view it this way, because the stakes are so tragically high. However, it is almost like a spectator sport (at least briefly) watching the various cons turn on one another with Chalabi at the center of the current drama. All for public consumption? Possibly. Would have thought absolutely just a brief time ago. Now - my gut says that many sides are trying to play things for public consumption - but multiple sides are going against each other... so it is hard to discern who is working which agenda - and I don't think it is all a singular concerted effort (i.e., going in the same direction to play a single story for the press/public to push a single agenda.)

[Just Me]

8. He's been poo pooing the CIA all morning,...

,...so, I am beginning to think that you were in fact correct in your theory that the CIA is doing some stuff completely independent of the neocon cabal. All the neocons and their best buddy, Chalabi, can do is spin, spin away.

[salin]

10. I think there are some careerists

in the cia who have been completely disenfranchised by the neocons - not just those who came into power since bush2, but those who entered in the paranoid post reagan era (starting with bush1). I surmise that these folks haven't had either much of a chance to speak (being stymied), nor audience (an unfriendly media afraid of being too harsh on the administration and being cut out of access). Suddenly there is an opportunity to speak (due to the disarray) - and an audience (in the end - the media feeds on frenzy.) Could be wrong - but I did speak with a well known journalist a couple of years ago (prewar - but during the push of faux intel leading to the war) who works on middle east and intel issues who was very clear that folks were trying to speak - but that Congress wasn't listening (the comment was... "why aren't the dems going after this...") and who were willing to speak to the press (quietly, of course) but that few in the press were going public. Almost like the press needed the story coming under the cover of criticism emanating from Congress... and then all would start running with it. That conversation was two years ago. The journalist has been part of the small group that along with Hersh have published some devastating info on the mideast and the neocons since about... February of this year... when things started going so badly that there were folks on the Hill starting to speak out.

All of that isn't to say that the neocons going after Chalabi were not attempting some 'game' (discredit to earn more credit, etc.) as you suspected - just that they may not have as good control of it (the story) or HIM as they thought so that things are spiraling out of their control.

Sad thing, is that with any other administration of my political awareness lifetime (beginning late Carter) - most of the highly visible neocons would be gone. If nothing for symbolic reasons. They have so visibly f*cked up on so many fronts. But perhaps that isn't sad - bush is so out of touch with how bad things are playing (as his comments at the Pentagon per Rummy being "supberb") that he is likely not only to keep them - but to keep saying things that start taking off the mask to the greater public about how out of touch (and dare we say venally dumb) that he is.

[Just Me]

12. *LOL* It does appear that there is more than one game being played.

For some reason, I suspect Chalabi is either a poor chess player or would be if he ever tried playing that game.

This is probably the most interesting "spectator" sport I have ever watched play out *LOL*. Of course, I don't mean to minimize anything that is happening.

[salin]

13. There isn't much coverage

but last year the NKorea negotiations (where bolton got our top negotiator called back to DC - and then he was such an ass that the NKor wouldn't go back to the table unless bolton wasn't there) - was very interesting. There wasn't the level of coverage (and now there is next to none) - but there seemed to be some real gaming going on over there. And like this - it was clear the neocons were attempting the gaming - but also appeared to be getting played... by... wait for it... Communist China. Seems that our happy little ideological neocons keep walking into doodoo and making alliances that old cold warriors should be (are? behind the scenes?) appalled by. I remember speculating at the time with another DUer about what was going on - who was playing who.

Have to admit I have taken my eye off of that story - now for a long time. Now that we are pulling troops out of South Korea... (for the neocon Iraq debacle).. while simultaneoulsy bad news about WHO North Korea has given nuke materials to (libya... Iran... who else??) we probably ought to start searching for those stories and developments to bring them for discussion at DU. For the big kicker behind that story (sadly that our public never seems to recall)...

The Bush admin received information about increased illegal Nuke activity in NKorea about 6 weeks before telling Congress about it... waiting until after the IRC vote. Interestingly enough during the buildup to the IRC vote some democrats were wondering aloud why we were concerned about suspected WMD activity and putting that ahead of much more probable activity in NKorea. For a couple of weeks after the vote the bushies had to fend of a tempest over their intentionally holding back info that verified the dire situation in NKorea. It is seriously doubtful, that the vote would have gone how it did per Iraq, had that information been passed on to Congress as it was supposed to have been.

[Just Me]

14. Well, I have accepted that the vast majority of members of Congress,...

,...really had no to little knowledge about that Pax Americana thingy drawn up by the neocons. Even after I recognized that the American public was being subjected to pure war propaganda and I suddenly starting delving into my own research about what the hell was going on,...it was a full two months before I discovered PNAC and its update. Of course, the neocon plan for control over the ME never had to do with WMDs or "liberation",...it had to do with "control" (power + money). Of course, I'm over-simplifying but,...

Anyway,...with respect to NK,...I believe Rummy is apparently working to move bases around in a more strategic way to deal with NK in the future. Like you said, though,...that's a discussion for a separate thread. (I agree that Bolton was a total ass,...but, this cabal is totally into inflaming/inciting emotional reactions: it's part of their strategic thinking,...put people off balance so they are reacting rather than "acting" with purpose).

[leQ]

9. to high heaven it stinks

anybody know what is jordan getting out of this?

[salin]

11. gut level speculation...

the neocon grip over US Mideast policy is horrible for Jordan. If they can discredit not only Chalabi (who they have a huge beef with - not least being his embezzlement AND his selling the Iraq war which has been very bad for Jordan in terms of its own citizen unrest).. but also the Neocons (esp if it turns out to be true... and true that the neocons were aware of it but wanted the wmd faked intel so badly that they risked US national security to get it)... then it might lead to less neocon influence over the current ME efforts.

[maddezmom]

4. JMO, but Chalabi holds the key to Cheney's secret Energy Task Force

:shrug:

[Old and In the Way]

5. I think you are correct.

He obviously has some kind of insurance policy that keeps the US military from arresting and returning him to Jordan. I'm sure the Jordanians are insulted with our support for a convicted criminal.

[lanparty]

2. Chalabi was the perfect stooge until now ...

I'm sure the Bush admin thought Chalabi was perfect. If he betrayed them, they'd simply kidnap him and turn him over to Jordan.

For some reason, Chalabi believes he can cross the Bush administration (or vice versa). I read this as Chalabi having A LOT of dirt on the Bush administration (1 AND 2).

I wouldn't be surprised if Chalabi is arrested in coming weeks. I also would not be surprised if he fled to Iran to avoid being arrested.

[daleo]

15. Chalabi must have something on Bush or Cheney

I think that was what the raid was really about. Documents that would incriminate Bush or Cheney in something big, and something that was flat out against U.S. law that could get them impeached.

[2Design]

7. Sounds like a Bush family member - bank scandals

One of the Bushes.....what is that other brothers name who took down the SNL but was also bailed out by our tax dollars and Bush with Harkin....no wonder these guys supported this guy...

Just one of the 'al capone' gangsters aka. Bush family