Chalabi's daughter writes of his pre-war visit to IRAN

[Oilwellian]

This is a very revealing article. I wonder if this trip was sanctioned by Bush? I also found it interesting that Chalabi's delegation entered Iran with the following sense:

The delegation is opposed to an American occupation. The post-1945 German or Japanese model would have serious repercussions for Iraq and the region. Moreover, the birth of a democratic Iraq cannot be dependent solely on US troops invading and occupying the country. While US forces would initially be regarded as liberators, a lengthy stay would trigger dramatic opposition from Iraqis.

Doesn't this prove the Bush crime family, who feigned total surprise at the amount of resistance already forming in Iraq, actually knew it was going to occur? They also know it's not going to settle down once they capture Saddam. It's astounding to me that Bush believed Chalabi's intelligence information vis-a-vis the OSP over our traditional intelligencia, and he's hosted by a member of the axis of evil right before the war. What the hell is going on here?

<snip>

Journey to a liberated Iraq
Tamara Chalabi
6 - 2 - 2003


After a week of intensive discussions with Iranian officials, delegates of the Iraqi National Congress crossed the mountains into northern Iraq. In a vivid report from the political and military frontline, the daughter of the INC leader reports on the Tehran meetings and registers mounting anticipation in the liberated zone that Iraq’s long nightmare is nearing its end.






There may still be some distance to travel before representative government can be established in Iraq, but a number of determined activists have independently taken their quest to their embattled land, via Iran. I had the privilege of accompanying this group, and in the process witnessed the forging of alliances on the path to making a liberated Iraq a reality.

On a wet, grey London winter day, our Iraqi National Congress (INC) delegation passed through the check-in counter at Heathrow on its way to Tehran. A determined and defiant group, this is not the opposition routinely criticised as divided, incompetent, non-representative, a stooge of the US. Rather, it is an organisation both frustratingly elusive (due to its non-ideological and consensual internal structure) and provocative (a result of the way its activities are covered in the international press, and its unique skill in generating great criticism from all of the Iraqi people’s would-be ‘friends’ around the world).

US occupation – the wrong option

Among the delegation arriving in Tehran are Ahmad Chalabi, Mudhar Shawkat, Kanan Makiya, Goran Talabani and Jawad al-Haeri. Kurds, Sunni and Shi’a, they represent Iraq’s diverse population. Several in this group have spent decades fighting for the world’s attention; all are fervently committed to rid Iraq of its totalitarian incarceration and establish a democratic state. The main purpose of the trip is to discuss the liberation of Iraq and the mechanisms of a post-Saddam transitional government with both Iraqi Islamists and the Iranian authorities.
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http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-2-73-963.jsp