Ahmed Chalabi, the ruthless political mercenary is in Washington to meet with Bush administration officials. Chalabi has at different times, been accused of lying to the US about pre- Iraq war intelligence, post-war situation in Iraq, defrauding the Jordanian government (who has an arrest warrant against him) and even forgery. He was the main source for the now discredited Judy Miller of the NYT, whose lurid reports on Saddam’s chemical weapons may have hastened the rush to war in Iraq. Chalabi is a world class opportunist who plays all sides of the field with the single minded goal of personal enrichment and empowerment. Very recently, when his relations with the US showed some cracks, he was suspected of spying for Iran against the United States. But this corrupt and dangerous man with more lives than a cat, rehabilitates himself time and again with the Bush administration. Makes you wonder what hold he might have over Bush & Co. Not all our politicians are taken in by Chalabi’s charms. Some Democrats, representatives John Conyers, Jim McDermott and Robert Wexler among them, wrote the following open letter to Chalabi, questioning his motives, methods and chutzpah.
Yesterday Leiter Reports had a telling post, Bush vs Chavez, round 23 on the treatment meted out to President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela by the Bush administration. Chavez has been called a fly in the ointment and a demagogue and his departure or demise will be welcomed by the Bush administration. Chavez is doing well by his own people, the poor and the dispossessed of Venezuela and he is popular with the common citizens of Latin America. But he is an unabashed socialist, which in our government’s eyes is a crime worse than lying, murder and cold hearted manipulation of the world.
All governments choose friends and enemies for political expediency. But the contrast in the nature and deeds of the above two men and our treatment of each, go beyond garden variety Realpolitik or the choice between free market capitalism and socialism. It reflects on the character of this administration – its own unsavory instincts and predilections. It is important to ask the leaders who have given Chalabi a place at their table, if all vestiges of decency, honesty and sense of fair play in their minds have been obliterated by selfishness, stupidity and utter hypocrisy.
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