WP:Chalabi,Shunted,Shares Iraq Playbook (explosive info?) [View All]

[DeepModem Mom]

Chalabi, Shunted to Sidelines, Shares His Playbook for Iraq
Party Leader Emphasizes Elections, Shaking Off U.S. Tutelage
By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, June 30, 2004; Page A12


(Note: These comments by Chalabi,whose reputation is far from stellar, are deep within the page-12 article, but I thought they were of particular interest.)

....A good place to start (excercising power by the new government), Chalabi suggested, would be with the new Iraqi National Intelligence Service set up by the CIA to replace Hussein's much-feared services. The new intelligence apparatus, hundreds strong, was organized in secret without a known budget or statute, he said.

The director, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Abdullah Shahwani, was recruited by the CIA station in the Jordanian capital Amman after he fled Iraq in 1991, Chalabi said, and has been a favorite ever since. A member of Iraq's Turkmen minority, Shahwani reports directly to the prime minister but is closely supervised by CIA officers, Chalabi added. Under their guidance, the service has turned much of its focus toward neighboring Iran, he said.

According to a report prepared in April by knowledgeable officials for members of the now-disbanded Governing Council, the service roster is two-thirds Sunni Muslim and one-fourth Shiite in a country that is about 60 percent Shiite, giving rise to fears that the new service has incorporated many former members of Hussein's Sunni-dominated services.

"This won't fly here," Chalabi said....

***

Next, Chalabi said, the new government should grab control of the country's finances. Specifically, he said, it should demand a full accounting of how (Paul) Bremer, who had check-signing authority, spent funds from the Development Fund for Iraq, a pool of cash from Iraqi oil sales designated to pay for reconstruction....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16002-2004Jun29.html