U.S. Troops, Iraqi Police Raid Chalabi's Home and HQ nytimes.com
[ Interestingly enough, there's breaking news on the Chalabi front. Perhaps he'll have to plant some more "news" with Judith Miller to set the story straight. ]
By REUTERS
Filed at 1:02 p.m. ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. troops and Iraqi police raided the home and party offices of Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi on Thursday, taking computers and private files from the man once considered Washington's top Iraq ally.
An Iraqi judge, Hassan Muathin, said the raid was carried out under an arrest warrant for several men wanted for stealing state-owned vehicles, but Chalabi accused U.S.-led authorities running Iraq of a ``targeted attack'' against him.
Squads of soldiers and police sealed off the neighborhood around the headquarters of the Iraqi National Congressand a nearby house used by Chalabi, removing computers, files, a copy of the Koran and other personal items, Chalabi said.
``I was asleep, I opened the door and police came into my home carrying pistols,'' a clearly furious Chalabi told reporters. ``They went through the rooms and I told them to get out, but they said they were slaves under orders.''
No one was arrested in the raid, which occurred only two days after U.S. officials said the Pentagon had cut off about $340,000 a month in funding to the INC -- payments that were made in part for intelligence gathered by the party.
STANDOFF WITH U.S.
Chalabi, a former exile who returned to Iraq after Saddam Hussein's overthrow and was viewed by some in Washington as a possible leader, said he believed the raid had been carried out because of his deepening standoff with U.S. authorities.
He has been at odds with Washington over a number of issues, including exactly how much power would be handed to Iraqis when the country regains sovereignty on July 1.
``Let my people go. Let my people be free. It is time for the Iraqi people to run their affairs,'' said Chalabi.
He accused Iraq's interior minister, a former member of the U.S-appointed Governing Council, of being behind the ``spurious warrant.''
U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said the Pentagon's decision to cut off funding was made in the light of the planned handover of power to Iraqis.
``We felt it was no longer appropriate for us to continue funding in that fashion,'' Wolfowitz told a U.S. Senate hearing.
U.S. officials have said they had doubts about the intelligence the INC provided and about whether Chalabi was motivated chiefly by a desire for power.
In the past few months, Chalabi has repeatedly crossed swords with U.S. authorities in Washington and Baghdad. On trips to the United States he has criticized U.S. policy in Iraq, seemingly in an effort to shore up support at home.
He has also drawn criticism from U.S.-led authorities in Iraq who have expressed concern he is trying to exercise too much influence over the political process in the build up to the handover of sovereignty.
Chalabi, who lived abroad in exile for more than four decades, was convicted in absentia of bank fraud in 1992 by a military court in Jordan, where he had founded a bank that failed. He says the charges were politically motivated.
The Pentagon flew him into Iraq with a group of followers after the U.S.-led invasion last year, giving him an opportunity to establish a political base.
But he has struggled to drum up support and surveys in Iraq have ranked him as one of the least liked politicians.
Chalabi has many critics in the U.S. government, notably at the CIA, which suspected his group may have been penetrated by Saddam's agents before the war and which questioned the intelligence information it provided. |
