Evidence of Iranian document forgery, passed by Chalabi to frame Saddam

[BurtWorm]

The following story is one of many in Andrew Cockburn's excellent report at Counterpunch, "The Truth About Ahmed Chalabi." It's well worth reading the entire, lengthy piece which is full of interesting nuggets about the neocon's favorite conman.

(Aside: One piece I picked up was why Chalabi pronounces his name as he does, considering there's no "SH" or "Tsch" in Iraqi Arabic. It's because he grew up in Lebanon, where Ch is pronounced "sh" a la francaise. His name is, thus, pronounced "SHAH-la-bee.")

For anyone who isn't following the story closely, the CIA is now charging that Chalabi was used by the Iranians to dupe the US into getting rid of their arch enemy Saddam so they wouldn't have to. Their goal was to have an Iran-friendly Shia government installed in Baghdad. If you see what Chalabi has been up to, this is a reasonable conclusion.


http://www.counterpunch.org/chalabi05202004.html

Early in 1995, an "Action Team" of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency descended on the offices of the Iraqi nuclear program in Baghdad. They had with them a 20 page document that apparently originated from inside "Group 4," the department that had been responsible for designing the Iraqi bomb. The stationary, page numbering, and stamps all appeared authentic, according to one senior member of the Iraqi bomb team. "It was a 'progress report,'" he recalls, "about 20 pages, on the work in Group 4 departments on the results of their continued work after 1991. It referred to results of experiments on the casting of the hemispheres (ie the bomb core of enriched uranium) with some crude diagrams." As evidence that Iraq was successfully pursuing a nuclear bomb in defiance of sanctions and the inspectors, it was damning.

The document was almost faultless, but not quite. The scientists noticed that some of the technical descriptions used terms that would only be used by an Iranian. "Most notable," says one scientist, "was the use of the term 'dome'--'Qubba' in Iranian, instead of 'hemisphere'--'Nisuf Kura' in Arabic." In other words, the document had to have been originally written in Farsi by an Iranian scientist and then translated into Arabic.

Tom Killeen, of the Iraq Nuclear Verification Office at IAEA headquarters in Vienna, confirms this account of the incident. "After a thorough investigation the documents were determined not to be authentic and the matter was closed."

Asked how the IAEA obtained the document in the first place, Killeen replied "Khidir Hamza." Hamza was the former member of the Iraqi weapons team who briefly headed the bomb design group before being relegated to a sinecure posting (his effectiveness as a nuclear engineer was limited by his pathological fear of radioactivity and consequent refusal to enter any building where experiments were underway.) In 1994 he made his way to Ahmed Chalabi's headquarters in Iraqi Kurdistan, and eventually arrived in Washington. where he carved out a career based on an imaginative claim to have been "Saddam's Bombmaker."

[Justice]

1. This Is Good Info, Thanks.

[dudeness]

2. your thoughts please burtworm..

it would seem this attack on the favoured son (chalabi) stems from the CIA and the state department..this would indicate that the hawks in the pentagon are out of favour in the WH..the fact that a UN envoy has been given the task of selecting the provisional government and that chalabi has been relegated to the bench indicates a huge power shift in the WH..now that the UN is back in the fold can only confirm the electoral damage done to Bush may be terminal and any sort of resolution to the debacle in iraq has been handed over to Powell and co ..whom did in fact warn Bush of an impending quagmire..more to come ..no doubt..

[BurtWorm]

3. You've summed up pretty much what does seem to be going on, dudeness.

It seems pretty clear that the neocons are on the outs. This seems even to include Rumsfeld, suprisingly, considering that he apparently--or so he said--was unaware that a raid on Chalabi's home had been authorized. As one blogger who was cited on another thread put it, this is a huge, groaning sign that the chain of command, which should have passed from Rumsfeld down, considering his forces were used in the raid, was broken somehow. A big change is taking place. Something really big may be about to happen, like a total collapse of Bushism. Maybe. I shouldn't get my hopes up too high, but Chalabi *is* New Iraq to the neocons. He's the reason we're there. He gave us the justification to go in. He was supposed to be installed by now, the neocons are still saying. But now he could become a sort of lightning rod for the anti-neocons--the realists, like Powell--to ascend.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

4. and what of Cheney?

you guys make it seem like Bush is a mere puppet, with forces greater than he working unseen.
Where is the seat of power here?

[BurtWorm]

5. You know, that's a puzzle.

I do believe Bush is a puppet, and I used to think Cheney was the puppetmaster when it came to the actual work of the administration. Now I'm not so sure. According to Woodward, Cheney seems kind of like a single-minded fool, someone who actually believed that al Qaeda and Saddam were in cahoots on 9-11. Then again, why believe Woodward?

What really seems to be happening is Iraq writ small: the administration is a loosely held together assemblage of warring cliques. No one's completely in charge. Or rather, now Rove might be in charge, now Cheney, now someone else trying to pick up the pieces the others dropped and broke. And the thing holding them all together is the mission of keeping Bush jr. thinking he's the boss.

[dudeness]

8. agreed burtworm..

"What really seems to be happening is Iraq writ small: the administration is a loosely held together assemblage of warring cliques"..100% correct burtworm..these cliques extend to the intelligence community ..the military..the oil lobby..the markets.bush is walking a tightrope on this issue..i believe the intel community will not wear the flak for this disaster and that may fall to rumsfeld..heads will roll no doubt..the military also has ways to undermine and we will see this emerge as they go into self protection mode..the markets will not tolerate further military conflict (invasions) and this will lead to direct confrontation with the hawks in the pentagon..


these are the thoughts of the author only and have no substantive basis..

[BurtWorm]

11. There's also a key rift between civilians at DOD and the military

According to one blogger cited elsewhere (forgive me for being too lazy to look it up, but it was the basis for a poll with 10 questions in GD earlier this evening) that rift may explain how Chalabi got himself "investigated" by US troops last week without Rumsfeld knowing about it. Did the CIA and field commanders hook up behind Rummie's back?

[dudeness]

15. i would think so..

blame is being allocated for this mess..and the military and powell will not wear any of the outcomes..

[NewYorkerfromMass]

10. It's highly likely that it is Poppy Bush and his circle

Poppy is more deeply ingrained into the network than his dim son.
He is after all, described as the head of the "crime family" by many.
It is that whole circle of Reagan admin. rejects, and Cheney et al have their hooks in for the long haul.

[BurtWorm]

14. I keep asking this question tonight:

Did you read Robert Parry at http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/052504.html ?

[NewYorkerfromMass]

20. Good article- this quote stands out:

“Neither Scowcroft nor Bush senior wanted to injure the son’s self-confidence,”....
Oh- so that's why so many had to die in Iraq? Why our nation's reputation had to be trashed? so Bush jr. could get proper therapy?

anyway... I don't know what to make of the future portents, other than that Bush is going down, and there is major upheaval at the very top of the power pyramid- whoever they may be.

[dudeness]

6. yes..NYfM...

I have always thought Bush has been a handpuppet for greater powers..particularily those that have funded his political ascention..bush will need to deliver for the oil oligarchs in the US..it now seems doubtful he can do this without international support..this places Europe and Russia back in the frame when the oil booty is divided up..it seem the Euros have out flanked bush and the US tax payer is picking up the tab..

[BeFree]

7. Chalabi worked for Iran?

Seems like Chalabi got all of his info from Iran which he then fed to the US. That info was then used by * to make the case for the invasion.

Let us restate that: * used info from Iran - via Chalabi - to make the case for the invasion.

Iran supplied Chalabi with false info with the express purpose of getting * to invade Iraq - Iran's neighbor and enemy. They succeded. Iran used * as a puppet to do the job Iran couldn't do alone. Iran got * to use the American military for it's own ends.

Once the US has left Iraq, Iran is sure to fill the void. We've been had.

[dudeness]

9. i do not believe so..

chalabi is the fall guy ...the excuse of links to iran is but a smokescreen of the failures of the US policy..

[BeFree]

12. Excuse? No way

Ya think the guy who was the favorite for taking over Iraq is now being tarred by * as a bad guy is something * is doing? No way. * is getting tarred too. The simple fact that Chalabi works for Iran is as damning for * as it is for anyone. You can't see that?

[dudeness]

13. I can see it..BeFree..

i just do not buy it..early posts have pointed to the internal conflict between the hawks and the state dept..this is real ..chalabi was a pentagon man..he is being discredited by the CIA..the neo-cons still support him..(as of last night anyway)..and believe he should of taken over the country earlier..this is now a battle betweens ideologes in the US and chalabi is a casualty..

[BurtWorm]

16. I can see how you'd come to that conclusion.

But I wouldn't feel sorry for Chalabi. It is possible he got played by Iran, as NewYorkerfromMass suggested in Will's thread. But I think it's quite possible that the CIA has something on him and the raid was to stop him from getting something on a lot of other people (oil-for-food program, you know).

[dudeness]

17. no sympathy here..burtworm..

the chalabis were/are one of the 5 richest families in Iraq..going back to colonial british days ..he saw a grab for power and blew it..politics overtook him..

[BeFree]

18. Let's try it this way, dudeness

It doesn't matter who is spilling the beans, the simple fact is that Chalabi was a double agent. The fact that he played the * cabal for millions of dollars and to get * to do Iran's work is all we need to know.

The US has been conned, and the Republicans representing us were the ones who were conned. They need to be impeached. They need to quit or be fired. They are a miserable failure.

[dudeness]

19. you are right..BeFree

it does not matter which path we take..as long as we end up at the same destination..bush must resign..

[BurtWorm]

21. Kick