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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (58815)	8/8/2004 5:10:12 PM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793608

Iraq Seeks Arrest of Prominent Politicians 45 minutes ago By JAMIE TARABAY, Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq (news - web sites) has issued an arrest warrant for Ahmad Chalabi, a former governing council member, on counterfeiting charges and another for Salem Chalabi, the head of Iraq's special tribunal, on murder charges, Iraq's chief investigating judge said Sunday. AP Photo AP Photo Slideshow: Iraq The warrant was a new sign of the fall of Ahmad Chalabi from the centers of power. Chalabi, a longtime exile opposition leader, had been a favorite of many in the Pentagon (news - web sites) but fell out with the Americans in the weeks before the U.S. occgupation ended in June. His nephew, Salem Chalabi, heads the tribunal that is due to try Saddam on war crimes charges. "They should be arrested and then questioned and then we will evaluate the evidence, and then if there is enough evidence, they will be sent to trial," said Judge Zuhair al-Maliky. The warrants, issued Saturday, accused Ahmad Chalabi of counterfeiting old Iraqi dinars — which had been removed from circulation following the fall of Saddam's regime last year, he said. Ahmad Chalabi appeared to have been hiding the counterfeit money amid other old money and changing it into new dinars in the street, he said. Police found the counterfeit money along with old dinars in Ahmad Chalabi's house during a May raid, he said. Salem Chalabi was named as a suspect in the June killing of the Haithem Fadhil, director general of the finance ministry. Both men were reportedly out of the country Sunday. Haidar al-Moussawi, Ahmad Chalabi's spokesman, said members of his Iraqi National Congress had heard of the arrest warrants only through the media. "Such a warrant has been issued, but no one called any of the accused or gave them a chance before issuing the arrest warrant," he said. "These are very bad indications about the state of justice and law in the new Iraq," he said. If convicted, Salem Chalabi could face the death penalty, which was restored on Sunday, al-Maliky said. Any sentence for Ahmad Chalabi would be determined by the trial judges, he said. Ahmad Chalabi was a senior member of the Governing Council, which ran Iraq from the fall of Saddam until the end of the U.S. occupation. But he fell out with the Americans, and allegations surfaced that he supplied Iranians with classified U.S. intelligence on American monitoring of Iranian communications.