Fury as US opens arms to Chalabi

Correspondents in Washington
November 11, 2005

IRAQI Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi was welcomed yesterday by a US administration that once shunned him, sparking denunciations by Iraq war critics who blame him for discredited intelligence on weapons of mass destruction.

His striking political comeback in Washington had him meeting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who heads a State Department once fiercely sceptical of claims by his group of Iraqi exiles on Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons programs.

"I am very pleased by the warm reception that I received . . . it is always more important to look to the future than the past," said Mr Chalabi, who was rejected after once being the darling ofBush administration neo-conservatives.

He is due to meet Vice-President Dick Cheney today, and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Treasury Secretary John Snow next week.

Mr Chalabi pushed for the visit ahead of Iraqi elections next month. But it seems to have come at an inopportune time for President George W.Bush, fuelling a growing US debate over Mr Bush's conduct of the Iraq war.

US officials insisted they were treating Mr Chalabi like any other Iraqi elected leader and that they were eager not to influence the December 15 elections.

His visit sparked fury among opposition Democrats, who accuse the former exile of fabricating intelligence to dupe the US into invading Iraq in 2003.

They called yesterday for answers to claims he had passed sensitive US encryption codes to Washington's arch foe, Iran.

"Mr Chalabi should be sitting down with FBI investigators, rather than meeting with cabinet secretaries," wrote senators Ted Kennedy, Patrick Leahy and Richard Durbin in a letter to the Attorney-General, Alberto Gonzales. At a news conference, Mr Chalabi denied having given Iran information that had compromised US security. He said he had offered last year to be questioned by the US, and added: "I am prepared to go to the Senate and respond to questions."
At the same time, Mr Chalabi refused to apologise for advising the Bush administration that Saddam had arsenals of weapons of mass destruction.

"We are sorry for every American life that was lost in Iraq," he said. "As for deliberately misleading, this is an urban myth."

In a 45-minute speech at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, Mr Chalabi sketched a hopeful scenario for Iraq's economy, including a vast surge in oil production and eradication of corruption.

However, he said the rebuilding of Iraq's security force was going slowly and that US and other troops should remain. He gave no timetable. AEI, a think tank with close ties to the administration, has been Mr Chalabi's political ally, backing his campaign to persuade the US to oust Saddam's regime.

A broadly grinning Mr Chalabi was introduced by AEI president Christopher DeMuth, who hailed him as a courageous democratic reformer "defamed" by unnamed US government agencies.

Seventeen months ago, Dr Rice, then national security adviser, promised a full criminal inquiry into allegations about Mr Chalabi having passed US secrets to Iran.

But while an FBI spokesman said an investigation was under way, Mr Chalabi said he was unaware of any probe.

Reuters, AFP, AP

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