Richard Perle is back: Grooming the next Ahmad Chalabi

[sabra]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-weisman28nov28,0,102455.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

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The exiting guest was Farid Ghadry, an exiled Syrian dissident who, like Perle, believes it's past time to replace Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. Ghadry, who heads a Washington-based group called the Syrian Reform Party, hopes to be the man in charge one day in Damascus. When I met him, he had already been granted audiences with David Wurmser, Vice President Dick Cheney's top Middle East advisor and Perle protege, and with Cheney's daughter, Elizabeth, who headed the State Department's Iran-Syria desk from 2005 until last June. I asked Wurmser about Ghadry. Was he another Ahmad Chalabi, the checkered Iraqi exile whom the United States backed as a Saddam Hussein replacement in Iraq?

"He's not asking for money, and we're not advocating money for him," Wurmser told me. "As for him wanting power, sure, he probably has an agenda. But it doesn't matter. This is where you go back to the Soviet Union, because it's the same question that we always work with, from Lech Walesa to Vaclav Havel: 'Did they have an understanding of the malady and danger posed by the totalitarian regime in their country?' "

The scenario of the U.S. backing exiles to aid in "democratizing" Middle Eastern countries is so appealing to Perle, Wurmser and their like-minded friends that they continue to pursue it despite past failures. Perle, of course, was the most prominent and aggressive advocate of Chalabi, dubbed the "Jay Gatsby of Iraq" for his social life and financial scandals, as the leader of a new Iraq. That effort collapsed when the Iraqi people, finally given a chance to vote in January 2005, did not award Chalabi's party a single seat in the new parliament.

...

Which brings us back to America's Middle East wannabe heroes. Take Ghadry, an American-educated Arab with a passion for technology start-ups as well as saving Syria. Unfortunately for Perle, Ghadry is seen in many quarters as a front man for Israel. Not only is he a dues-paying member of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful Israeli lobby in Washington, but a recent column on his website, titled "Why I Admire Israel," seems to play right into the hands of those who believe the Bush administration's obsession with regime change in the Middle East is really all about protecting Israel. Did Perle, the savviest of Washington power players, believe that Ghadry's tub-thumping for Tel Aviv would make him more popular in Syria?

"No," Perle replied. "I don't. But he's his own man. I don't always understand what he's doing and why he's doing it."

[AlertLurker]

1. Wurmser: "sure, he probably has an agenda. But it doesn't matter."

PNAC MFing Askhole. Same for his rotten wife, "Mistranslating Meyrav."

[peacetalksforall]

2. A dues paying member of AIPAC - what a gift to the neo-cons.

Perle and Cheney support any English speaking exile. Dealing with these exiles shortcuts the process that would be required if they went out and studied to find a better person. Since the U.S. is not very good at Arabic - (we seem we get taken - a sarcastic sneer at ObL tape translations). Since we're not good at Arabic and don't have a lot of friends in that world except for Sunnis (and Shites as they buy and do our bidding for cash) and since we are partners with Israel - and like to make hay while there is still monety to be earned and stolen - we'll go for exiles. So double win with this guy - Syrian AIPAC member and willing to be a lapdog.

Another Perle (and Ledeen) strike?

Clever Syrian - joined AIPAC - perhaps the son of the Shah of Iran should do that. Or do they have someone else in mind for Iran?

[spanone]

3. well, no one was held accountable for Chalabi