Chalabi Is Focus Of Broad Review By White House

[PfcHammer]

http://daily.nysun.com/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:ArticleToMail&Type=text/html&Path=NYS/2004/05/05&ID=Ar00103

Publication:The New York Sun; Date:May 5, 2004; Section:Front page; Page:1

CHALABI IS FOCUS OF BROAD REVIEW BY WHITE HOUSE
INC DENIES SHARING INTELLIGENCE WITH THE GOVERNMENT IN IRAN

By ELI LAKE Staff Reporter of the Sun

WASHINGTON — The White House is reviewing reports culled from electronic intercepts that allege the Iraqi National Congress and its leader Ahmad Chalabi have shared sensitive information with the Iranian government.

The new allegations — part of a nearly two- year surveillance campaign of Mr. Chalabi’s contacts with the Iranian government — have apparently led to a decision from the White House to distance itself from one of the former exile leaders who opposed Saddam Hussein throughout the 1990s.

The INC has denied the charge in a public statement and many longtime supporters of Mr. Chalabi told The New York Sun the allegations, first reported in Newsweek magazine, are preposterous.

Those inside the government pushing the line that Mr. Chalabi has divulged secrets to the Iranians come from the same bureaucracies, the State Department and CIA, that have also advocated for the inclusion of Iraqi parties with more open links to Tehran in the Iraqi Governing Council, such as the Dawa Party.

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