Investigators to inquire into Chalabi’s use of US money
* United States administration bans Shia newspaper
WASHINGTON: The investigative branch of the US Congress is looking into whether Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmad Chalabi broke the law in using US money to attempt to sway US opinion in favour of ousting Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, Newsweek reports in its Monday issue.
At issue are tens of thousands of dollars Chalabi and his group received in 2001 and 2002.
Chalabi agreed in writing to use State Department-supplied funds to “implement a public information campaign to communicate with Iraqis inside and outside of Iraq and also to promulgate its message to the international community at large”, according to Newsweek. But the terms “strictly exclude” activities that are “associated with, or that could appear to be associated with, attempting to influence the policies of the United States government or Congress or propagandising the American people”.
Yet the INC itself told Congress in 2002 that there were more than 100 news stories published between October 2001 and May 2002 containing information collected by INC informants – informants who had their expenses paid with State Department money, the magazine said.
These included articles on Saddam’s links to terrorism, links to the September 11, 2001, attacks, and his alleged banned biological, nuclear and chemical programmes, the magazine reports.
Chalabi representatives insist that the money was spent legally.
The State Department cut off INC funding in mid-2002 because of costs that were “inadequately” accounted for, according to Newsweek, and in September 2002 the Defence Intelligence Agency began funding the INC defector programme. The inquiry was requested by Massachusetts Senator John Kerry – the presumptive Democratic candidate in the November presidential election – and Michigan Senator Carl Levin, ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, both critics of President George W Bush.
In another development, Iraq’s US-led administration shut down a newspaper that is a mouthpiece for radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, accusing it of publishing articles that incite violence against American troops. Ali Yasseri, editor of the weekly al-Hawza newspaper, said dozens of US troops padlocked the newspaper’s offices after ordering staff to leave.
“They told us they would arrest us if we did not leave. They said our articles incite people against America,” Yasseri told Reuters outside the newspaper offices. US soldiers handed him a letter from US civil administrator Paul Bremer, citing a breach of an order issued last year that bans incitement to violence.
“These false articles not only mislead readers but constitute a real threat of violence against coalition forces and Iraqi citizens who cooperate with the coalition in the reconstruction of Iraq,” a letter signed by Bremer said.
The letter referred to a series of articles it said had incited hatred, including an editorial entitled “Bremer follows the steps of Saddam”. “This is a violation of our rights,” Yasseri said.
Hundreds of Shias later gathered in Baghdad to protest against the ban on the newspaper.
Last July, the US-led administration closed down another newspaper for inciting violence. The Arabic-language satellite television news channels Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya have also faced sanctions from the administration and the Iraqi Governing Council for allegedly violating the law.
Sadr, a young and radical Shia cleric, has often spoken out against the US occupation, in contrast to many other Shia groups that have sought to work with occupying forces.
dailytimes.com.pk
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