THE CHALABI CHARADE
NY Post Editorial
May 22, 2004 -- Thursday's raid by U.S. and Iraqi agents on the home of Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmed Chalabi was troubling - not least because the Coalition Provisional Authority and the White House both insist they weren't involved.
After all, shouldn't President Bush, not to mention CPA chief Paul Bremer, have known in advance about such a high-profile mission - particularly if U.S. forces took part?
Yet the White House says it never sanctioned the raid, and Bremer's spokesman, Dan Senor, claims his boss didn't know about it until afterward.
If that's true, then America's control over key events in Iraq (now the central theater in the War on Terror) is in serious doubt. And if not - if Bremer or Washington did approve the raid - then why?
Speculation is rampant.
Chalabi says the raid was politically motivated retaliation for his complaints that the June 30 transition won't give the Iraqis sufficient autonomy and for his upfront role in pushing the Governing Council's probe of the U.N. Oil-for-Food scandal.
Bremer has started his own probe into the Oil-for-Food scandal - which many suspect may be meant to limit the scandal's damage and protect the United Nations, which Washington thinks it needs in Iraq.
Others charge that Chalabi has become too close to Iran - that he even passed sensitive intelligence to the mullahs, endangering American lives.
That last must certainly be investigated. If it's true, he deserves the full weight of U.S. justice.
But how would Chalabi gain access to such intelligence? And just what is "too close" to Tehran, given that America (and every other key player) maintains some channels to the Islamic Republic?
If these reasons seem implausible, then what really motivated the raid?
There's speculation on that, too:
* Bremer wanted Oil-for-Food documents in Chalabi's possession. Papers, computers and other material were indeed carted from his home Thursday.
* The State Department and CIA have long bitterly opposed Chalabi, and are actively trying to discredit him.
(Ironically, the raid may have boosted his standing in Iraq by establishing his independence from Washington.)
The truth here remains a mystery. But if the White House is trying to destroy Chalabi, it better have some darn good reasons - because someone as Westernized and pro-American as him is hard to find in Iraq.
And if it isn't behind the raid, then the problem may be bigger still.
NEW YORK POST |
