U.S. to Halt Payments to Iraqi Group Headed by a Onetime Pentagon Favorite

[Khephra]

The United States government has decided to halt monthly $335,000 payments to the Iraqi National Congress, the group headed by Ahmad Chalabi, an official with the group said on Monday.

Mr. Chalabi, a longtime exile leader and now a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, played a crucial role in persuading the administration that Saddam Hussein had to be removed from power. But he has since become a lightning rod for critics of the Bush administration, who say the United States relied on him too heavily for prewar intelligence that has since proved faulty.

Mr. Chalabi's group has received at least $27 million in United States financing in the past four years, the Iraqi National Congress official said. This includes $335,000 a month as part of a classified program through the Defense Intelligence Agency, since the summer of 2002, to help gather intelligence in Iraq. The official said his group had been told that financing will cease June 30, when occupation authorities are scheduled to turn over sovereignty to Iraqis.

Internal reviews by the United States government have found that much of the information provided as part of the classified program before American forces invaded Iraq last year was useless, misleading or even fabricated.

more............

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/18/politics/18CHAL.html

[happyending]

1. LOL

It's about time.

Long overdue.

[dusty64]

10. No kidding.

x

[stickdog]

2. "That's the way you do it. You make up stories for the DOD."

Isn't that cute, boys and girls? It's time to kick our little Iraqi graftlings out of the nest. You know, now that they've got a new country of their own to exploit and mislead and all ...

[izzie]

3. Your tax money at work. This mans son has also got top contracts.

I do not recall site as it was weeks ago I read it.

[hadrons]

4. big deal, Chalabi now has access to good info and a willing buyer ... Iran

why do you think he was comminicating with them

[Disturbed]

5. Scum

His security better be real good. No doubt that he is in someone's deck of cards.

[acmavm]

6. He may not get a regular check, but part of that 25 - 50 billion that they

are asking for includes a 5 billion dollar slush fund for rummy to spend at his discretion. And we all know how discrete rummy is.

NO more money should be given to this administration for Iraq unless they start to account for every dime they've already been given.

[remfan]

7. INC's "Information Collection Program"

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/2004/03/001783.html

Chalabi fools the media
Finally, damning evidence that the big media outlets were completely played by the likes of Ahmed Chalabi. A Knight Ridder investigation reveals that the Iraqi National Congress fed fabricated intelligence not just to the New York Times (courtesy ace reporter Judith Miller), but also the Washington Post, Vanity Fair, the Associated Press, and two of Knight Ridder's own newspapers.

The kicker is that this disinformation effort was part of the INC's Information Collection Program, which received more than $18 million of Congress approved money to collect intelligence on Iraq. The INC's remarkable success is evident in the list of 108 articles that they submitted to Congress back in 2002.

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/8173201.htm

103. The Times (London), November 9, 2001, Saddam's terror training camp teaches hijacking, by Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor

104. The Vancouver Sun, November 9, 2001, Is Iraq, not bin Laden, real force behind terror? By Jonathan Manthorpe

105. The New York Times, November 8, 2001, A nation challenged: The school; Defectors cite Iraqi training for terrorism, by Chris Hedges

106. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, October 23, 2001, Iraq’s terrorist role must be examined

107. AP Online, October 23, 2001, Ex-CIA chief suggests Iraq involved, by Anne Usher, Associated Press Writer

108. The Washington Post, October 12, 2001, Editorial: What About Iraq?

[Just Me]

16. I'm curious. Is that Iraqi-American Congress an off-shoot of INC?

You know,..the IAC that Taee (the guy who made some comments about Berg) was involved in?

[maddezmom]

8. Ahmed Chalabi's Free Iraqi Forces going bankrupt?

~snip~

Ahmed Chalabi arrives in southern Iraq April 6, with members of the Free Iraqi Forces.

The war over the peace
The Pentagon, the State Department and the U.N. are fighting over who controls postwar Iraq. It's a battle that could be more critical than the military campaign.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Michelle Goldberg



April 14, 2003 | The bloody fighting on the ground in Iraq may be drawing to a close, but in offices and back rooms in Washington, London, New York and Kuwait, the battle to control the country's reconstruction rages. Three groups are vying for dominance -- the Pentagon and its neocon proxies, with their grand dreams of a new Middle East, the State Department realists, who fear Iraq could become a new Lebanon, and the United Nations, fighting the Pentagon's efforts to marginalize it. Which group prevails will determine, in part, what the next government of Iraq looks like, and whether the liberal democracy many exiles dream of is born and whether it survives.

Ultimately, there will be elections, so no group will be able to simply install Iraq's new leaders. But there are important open questions about when those elections will take place, under what kind of constitutional system, and who will rule the country in the interim. Whoever is running the country while the groundwork for democracy is being laid will be able to place Iraqis in temporary positions where they can consolidate power. According to Aziz Al-Taee, chairman of the Iraqi American Council, 36 exiles, handpicked by Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, have spent the past four weeks in Virginia training for prospective roles in a transitional Iraqi government. Whoever ultimately has the power to fill such roles will have the power, at least in the short term, to shape Iraqi politics.


On Friday, Wolfowitz told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Iraq's transition to democracy would happen in three stages. America's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance will run the country in the immediate aftermath of the war. Meanwhile, Gen. Tommy Franks will hold meetings across the country to identify potential local leaders who can join Iraqi exiles in an interim authority. Once basic services are up and running in the country, Iraq's administration will be turned over to the Iraqi authority, which will govern until elections can be held.

~snip~
more:http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/04/14/reconstruction /

[maddezmom]

17. kick

[MSgt213]

9. I wonder if they just can't afford it anymore

[CWebster]

11. Nothing more than a con man

who said what they wanted to hear and gave them what they wanted. Chalabi is their kind of folk - kindred spirits.

[Mel]

12. Hello NY Times So where's your Judith Miller?

Why isn't she talking about this story she was so close to the bank robber Chalabi?
Think she'll get an exclusive interview with Chalabi? {heavy sarcasm}


One other thing why doesn't Biden just come right out and say it? Chalabi is wanted for robbing Petra Bank, he either conned the Neo-Cons {their stupid} or they knowingly believed his lies {think we are stupid}

[CWebster]

13. The question is

has the NYTimes canned her yet? She has lost all credibility. I saw her on some talk show the other night--and all I could think about, as she rattled on with mock authority, was Chalabi..

[Mel]

15. Sulzberger was asked and here's his reply

he's wrong and I won't ever believe anything she writes.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000468401
<snip>At one point, a college reporter asked Sulzberger a pointed question about one of his newspaper's star writers, Judith Miller, who has been widely criticized for misleading coverage of alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq last year. The publisher defended Miller, saying he had known her "for decades," adding that she "has fabulous sources."

Then he added: "Were her sources wrong? Absolutely. Her sources were wrong. And you know something? The administration was wrong. And when you're covering it from the inside like that you're going to get things wrong sometimes. So I don't blame Judy Miller for the lack of finding weapons of mass destruction." This produced a few laughs from audience members. "I blame the administration for believing its own story line," he continued, "to such a point that they weren't prepared to question the authenticity of what they were told."</snip>


The last story Miller wrote that I read was about Richard Foster/prescription drugs/threats hearing and she left out what I thought was key information.
Congressman Thomas knew the real numbers before the vote. Foster had contacted him about his being threatened of his job Foster told Thomas about the threats and why the $$ was higher. This was before the 3 hour 15min. vote in the House.
Thomas didn't let the congress know nor did he post pone the vote.
Congressman Rangel was in the hearing he caught Thomas and commented to Thomas about it, Thomas shut him down.

You know what caused Thomas to jam his self? He was excited about blaming Clinton. Thomas brought up how Foster had contacted him in 97' about threats from the Clinton WH and how he Thomas had helped him then but in his lust for blaming Clinton, Thomas spilt the beans he knew the numbers Foster wanted to report to the Congress!

[teryang]

14. The neo cons had to have someone trustworthy...

...another ruthless criminal, like themselves.