weh weh weh

[prickvixen]

There was a very brief blurb on the Haaretz English website about Ahmed Chalabi having provided information to Iran which could 'get Americans killed,' thus this raid on his home, presumably. It's since scrolled off (it can be found here), and there seems to be no full article expanding upon this.

What's amusing is that Chalabi has been talking about how America is in trouble if this is how it treats its friends, 'friends' being him. Whether or not he understands that he was in fact a tool we used to put a legitimate face upon the invasion will depend on the size of his ego, I suppose... I gather it's substantial. When he figures it out, he'll join only the rest of the earth in realization of his position.

I also like his attitude of violation, because the cops came in and busted up this place he'd had handed to him several months ago. But Ahmed Chalabi might want to recall what happened to our 'friend' Ngo Dinh Diem once we decided he was not sufficiently servile...

Comments

[postrodent.livejournal.com]

I'd love to know the full story here. He's not just a tool -- although he's a complete tool, all right from what I read -- he was the guy that sold the neocon crowd on the obvious fantasy of a democratic, pro-Israel Iraq. Making them even bigger tools than he was, because they believed their own wet dreams.

[prickvixen.livejournal.com]

Well... at the risk of entering paranoid fantasy, I do know that Israel has dreaded the idea of an alliance between Iran and the Iraqi Shiite population. In fact, this is why Hussein went to war against Iran, because he felt Iran was agitating his own oppressed majority, and was partly the reason we supported him in that and other endeavors, and why we insisted on keeping him in power after Gulf War #1. (The other reason being, of course, that they poked us in the eye by taking our embassy staff hostage for a year, after we'd subjected them to the Shah and his secret police for about 25 years... we couldn't have that.)

Anyway, if you think the prospect of a fundamentalist Shiite belt comprised of Syria, Iraq and Iran worries us, you can imagine it worries the hell out of Israel. They consider Lebanon and Hizbollah to be puppets of Syria, and are certain Hamas and Islamic Jihad are being funded by Iran... the last thing Israel wants is for them to be able to easily link up physically, and they're sure a Shiite Iraq would facilitate this. Even an Iraq broken up into ethnic states would create this problem.

So to get to the paranoid part, it's possible that any overtures by Chalabi towards Iran would be interpreted as helping this terrible state of affairs to come about. An alliance with Iran can only mean that the terrorists win, since everyone out there who isn't in our pocket is by definition a terrorist or potential terrorist. They might not suspect Chalabi of consciously working towards this-- maybe the big dope has no idea why we've been intervening in the region all this time --but maybe they think he'll blunder into this huge geopolitical disaster Israel and the US have feared.

The Shiites remain a problem for US planning, the same problem they were when we were pals with Saddam Hussein, but it's kind of like holding back the sea; they're a clear majority in Iraq, and furthermore they were the very people getting shafted by Hussein, so it's difficult for us to marginalize them and still have our claims of interest in democracy have a shred of credibility.

[postrodent.livejournal.com]

This is a very interesting analysis I hadn't quite put together on my own, and I feel a little dumb for it. :) So, in essence, a Shiite alliance encompassing Iraq, Iran and Syria is a sufficiently real possibility that Chalabi thinks they're a better horse to back (or a stronger fish to, leechlike, attach himself to) than the Coalition? Can't fault his reasoning there, I suppose. I'd be shitting myself too if I was Israel and I watched this coming about. I've felt for some time now that Israel had both walked and been pushed into a downward spiral that could only end in its destruction; this looks like the pieces falling together. Who knows what could happen, especially if the Shiite bloc acquires nuclear weapons. Nice job bringing peace and democracy to the Middle East, guys!

[prickvixen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he could figure a Shiite takeover is inevitable, or he might just want to make sure that they're on good terms with Iran should the Shiites not take over, to avoid the kind of thing that Saddam Hussein was worried about when he invaded Iran.

[prickvixen.livejournal.com]

It's made CNN, by the way:

Chalabi suspected of giving U.S. secrets to Iran

[obonicus.livejournal.com]

I'd be more worried about what Israel does if it DOES feel its existence is truly threatened. According to popular account they have nuclear weapons, and they ARE crazy enough to use them. Masada complex and all that.

[turbinerocks.livejournal.com]

What's a little fraud and embezzlement among potential world leaders?

http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=514

It's amazing our government would trust this guy to fetch doughnuts, let alone be our argument for going into Iraq.

[postrodent.livejournal.com]

Word. The *only* explanation is that the neocon coterie was wilfully, hands-over-the-eyes blind to Chalabi's shortcomings. This is why the American empire is going down the tubes: those who would advance its interests made the fatal mistake of mistaking their own hype for reality.

[dv-girl.livejournal.com]

If you really want to get excited, go to 'news.google.com' and use these keywords to search: chalabi pentagon month

That's right. We've been paying this guy $335,000 A MONTH for all his valuable services.

Isn't THAT special?

[prickvixen.livejournal.com]

I heard it was closer to $340,000. :)