Open Letter to "Charlatan" Chalabi

Open Letter to "Charlatan" Chalabi
By David Swanson and Others, Nov 9, 2005

November 9, 2005

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi
Iraqi National Congress
c/o The Ritz-Carlton Georgetown
3100 South Street, NW
Washington, DC 20007

Dear Mr. Deputy Prime Minister:

We write to you as members of the 60 to 70 percent of Americans who believe that this war has been (in the words of the polling companies) a "mistake," or (in our own words) a criminal fraud. We resent the role you played in instigating it. We believe you owe an apology.

You owe an apology not to Judith Miller, whose career is ruined but who consciously chose to disgrace herself by working with you. Rather, you owe an apology to the families of the over 100,000 people who have died in this war, including over 2,000 U.S. soldiers.

Your misinformation campaign has been exposed:

n "Curveball" was a fraud and a brother of one of your top lieutenants.

n The 20 secret WMD sites didn't exist.

You should not only offer an apology, but you should offer to testify, under oath, in a Congressional committee, on the subjects of both pre-war claims and wartime spying.

Just last summer, the U.S. military raided your office in Baghdad after it learned you had passed sensitive intelligence to Iran. At the time, U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel (R., Neb.) said, "This is a very, very serious charge. There were a number of us who warned this administration about [Chalabi].... But the fact is, there were some in this administration, some in Congress who were quite taken with him."

Why would anyone distrust you, Mr. Chalabi? Let's list a few reasons:

n The CIA stopped working with you in the mid-1990s because they didn't think you were being honest.

n The U.S. government cut you off again last year, after paying you $33 million, because our military had decided to raid your office.

n The Los Angeles Times quotes sources who suspect you of feeding phony or tricked-up sources and documents to the spies of eight nations.

n Seven of your aides in Iraq are wanted on charges of blackmail, fraud and other crimes.

n You've been convicted of embezzlement and sentenced in absentia to 22 years of prison with hard labor in Jordan.

n In August of 2004, Iraq issued a warrant for your arrest on charges of counterfeiting.

U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein (D., Cal.) said of you: "I think he's a charlatan. I think he's a manipulator. I don't believe he's a man that you can trust. I think we made a horrendous mistake in providing him with tens of millions of dollars and enabling him to build a corps of infiltrators, allegedly to give us intelligence, which in many cases was deeply flawed."

Mr. Chalabi, when you were peddling bogus reasons to launch this catastrophic war, you said "'I am not seeking any positions - my job will end with the liberation of Iraq from Saddam's rule." That quote is from the BBC, which added this commentary: "However, for the Arab media, Mr. Chalabi was the epitome of an American stooge, a man who sold his soul to the devil."

So you have no desire to rule, and the people you would be ruling consider you a stooge of the U.S. And yet, here you are in Washington, apparently to ask for U.S. support to become ruler of Iraq.

Should we laugh or cry, Mr. Chalabi, that you are here at the American Enterprise Institute speaking on the topic of "An Insider's View: Democratic Politics at Work in Iraq." Is democracy now something only for insiders?

Democracy, to us, is something controlled by the people. The people of the United States demand an apology, a confession, and the return of all the money we've spent on you.

Sincerely,
Ann Wright, Career US Diplomat who resigned in protest of the war;
Malachy Kilbride,DC Anti-War Network;
Gene Bruskin, Coconvenor, US Labor Against the War;
David Swanson,Washington Director of Democrats.com, Co-Founder of AfterDowning Street;
Gael Murphy, Co-Founder of CODE PINK;
Mike Hersh, Chairperson, Montgomery County Progressive Alliance, Maryland State Coordinator, Progressive Democrats of America, Organizer, Democracy for America / Maryland;
Sarah Browning, Coordinator, DC Poets Against the War;
J.E. McNeil, Executive Director of Center on Conscience and War;
Kevin Zeese, Director, Democracy Rising;
Barbara Cummings, peace activist,San Diego,CA;
Jeff Norman, Executive Director,U.S. Tour of Duty;
William Rivers Pitt, Author;
Tim Carpenter, Director, Progressive Democrats of America;
Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder of Global Exchange;
Paul Kawika Martin, Organizing and Political Director, Peace Action;
Bill Moyer, Director of Back Bone Campaign;
Joe Libertelli, National Advisory Board Member, Progressive Democrats of America;
Mike Ferner,Co-Chair, Veterans For Peace Impeachment Committee;
John Bonifaz, Co-Founder of After Downing Street, and constitutional attorney;
Cindy Sheehan, Co-Founder of Gold Star Families for Peace;
Shay Lohman, peace activist, Washington, D.C.;
Karen Bradley, mom and activist,Washington, D.C.;
Richard Bell, longtime activist, Washington,D.C.;
Ray McGovern, U.S. Army veteran and retired 27-year CIA analyst;
Travis Morales, Organizer for The World Can't Wait;
Jeff Cohen, Author;
Larry Johnson, Former CIA Officer;
Bob Fertik, President of Democrats.com;
Eric Hamburg, Producer, "Nixon", the movie;
Brad Friedman, co-founder VelvetRevolution.us, managing editor BradBlog.com;

ADD YOUR SIGNATURE AT www.afterdowningstreet.org/chalabi

DISHONORING THE DEAD AT THE AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE

Group Hosts Major Misleader of American People on Iraq - (Quotes, Facts and Background on Chalabi following)

WASHINGTON, DC -- A broad coalition of organizations opposed to the war in Iraq will be demonstrating from 2PM to 4PM on Wednesday, November 9th against the appearance of Ahmed Chalabi at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

As an Iraqi exile before the war, Chalabi was one of the principal sources of intelligence about Iraq and its alleged weapons of mass destruction for neoconservatives and journalists (especially Judith Miller of the New York Times). But Chalabi's own record is highly questionable, including a sentence in absentia by a Jordanian court to 22 years in prison for bank fraud, and accusations that he has been acting as a double agent for the Iranian government.

"We know now that President Bush relied on Ahmed Chalabi in putting together the web of lies that this president used to take us to war," said David Swanson, Co-Founder of After Downing Street. "The American Enterprise Institute, which says in its mission statement that it is 'dedicated to preserving and strengthening the foundations of freedom,' should be ashamed of hosting a man whose lies have done so much to weaken those foundations."

"We're here today at AEI to remind the American people that President Bush backed Ahmed Chalabi for puppet leader in Iraq. We should not in fact be seeking to impose any leader on a sovereign people," said Gael Murphy, Co-Founder of CODE PINK. "The blood of more than 2,000 dead Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis cries out against working with this architect of deceit and death. In a country truly dedicated to justice and freedom, our leaders should be arresting Ahmed Chalabi, not feasting with him."

WHAT: Peaceful Nonviolent Protest of Ahmed Chalabi in Washington, D.C.

WHERE: Outside the American Enterprise Institute, where Chalabi will be speaking on "An Insider's View: Democratic Politics at Work in Iraq." 1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. (Farragut North).

WHEN: 2-4 pm ET, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2005

Participating: Working Assets, UFPJ, Code Pink, DC Anti-War Network (DAWN), DC Poets Against the War, Progressive Democrats of America, Montgomery County Progressive Alliance and local Maryland DFA chapters, World Can't Wait, Democracy Rising, Global Exchange, After Downing Street, and Democrats.com.

###

Quotes about Ahmed Chalabi from Sens. Hagel (R) Neb. and Feinstein (D) Cal.:

CNN LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER Aired May 23, 2004 - 12:00 ET
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0405/23/le.00.html

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R), NEBRASKA: Well, he's a very clever fellow. He's very smart. He understands power politics as well as anybody in this country. But I think what we have here is a guy who has a record, like we all do, and that record has not turned out very well. Trouble has followed him everywhere he's been, and we have had a clear understanding of that record. There were a number of us who warned this administration about him. People in the State Department, others who dealt with him, King Abdullah of Jordan.

BLITZER: You personally had concerns about him?

HAGEL: I had big concerns about him.

BLITZER: You told the administration, be careful about this guy?

HAGEL: Yes, I did, as well as others. This relationship began not in the Bush administration, but in the Clinton administration, with Mr. Chalabi. But the fact is, there were some in this administration, some in Congress who were quite taken with him and what he had to say. And we are now where we are, in a very, very difficult, uncomfortable situation. I think listening to him blame Brahimi and blame Bremer and blame Bob Blackwell says it all. This guy does that. He makes a life out of that.

[H]e's taken tens of millions of dollars, taxpayers' dollars that we can't account for most of it. That's why the State Department had to cut off some of that funding. And then it was transferred to DOD. The vice president's office, the secretary of defense's office were great supporters of him. So now we find ourselves, I think, in a very predictable situation. When you deal with people like this, Wolf, you're going to always have this kind of an outcome and a result.

BLITZER: Senator Feinstein, I want you to weigh in as well. What do you think?

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: I think he's a charlatan. I think he's a manipulator. I don't believe he's a man that you can trust. I think we made a horrendous mistake in providing him with tens of millions of dollars and enabling him to build a corps of infiltrators, allegedly to give us intelligence, which in many cases was deeply flawed. And, I mean, this is a man who was convicted of bank fraud in Jordan, of more than 10 counts, who left, went to Iraq, began this. I think he has tremendous personal motives for his own empowerment. And I think the fact that we fell victim to these manipulations is unfortunate. I think both Senator Hagel and I should ask that the Intelligence Committee really have a report from our intelligence agencies as to whether that is correct or not. I have no way of knowing at this time.

HAGEL: [A]s Senator Feinstein has just noted, there is no way the Senate Intelligence Committee is not going to be in this. We are in it now. And we'll have to be in it. This is a very, very serious charge. What other charges may be out there that we're still not aware of is yet unknown. [I]t is as serious as it gets. And what is again so ironic, he was on our payroll. He was on our payroll for years. He was, up until just recently, probably a week ago, the Defense Department was paying the INC $340,000 a month. Some of us on the committee asked about that, were concerned about that, not just recently, but over the last few years. So, when you talk about...

FEINSTEIN: [T]here was a lot of misleading and there's no question but the United States was misled. We were misled on weapons of mass destruction. We were misled on the number of troops that could go in. We were misled on the occupation.

Quick Facts on Ahmed Chalabi:

"[In 1977, Chalabi] was sentenced in absentia by a Jordanian court to 22 years in prison." - The BBC

Washington officials suspect that "Chalabi had all along been duping the Americans by spying for the Iranians." - The BBC

"U.S. officials say that electronic intercepts of discussions between Iranian leaders indicate that Chalabi and his entourage told Iranian contacts about American political plans in Iraq. There are also indications that Chalabi has provided details of U.S. security operations." - Newsweek

"According to one U.S. government source, some of the information Chalabi turned over to Iran could 'get people killed.'" - Newsweek

"Administration officials say Chalabi may be working both sides in an effort to solidify his own power and block the advancement of rival Iraqis."- Newsweek

Chalabi sat "behind First Lady Laura Bush during this year's State of the Union speech." - The Nation

"[F]or the Arab media, Mr Chalabi was the epitome of an American stooge, a man who sold his soul to the devil." - The BBC

Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska called allegations of Chalabi's collaboration with Iran "[A] very, very serious charge. There were a number of us who warned this administration about [Chalabi].... But the fact is, there were some in this administration, some in Congress who were quite taken with him." - The Nation

The Bush Administration paid Chalabi "more than $33 million in taxpayer money" over a four-year period during which he "was the key window into Iraq for the White House, as well as top reporters such as the New York Times's Judith Miller." - The Nation

"The CIA had stopped using Chalabi as a source in the mid-1990s after his political organization of exiles was accused of deception and incompetence." - The Nation

"Chalabi was shamelessly resurrected inside the Beltway by neoconservatives, including Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith and other Bush officials...." - The Nation

"Mr Chalabi was also blamed for advising the Provisional Coalition Authority to dissolve the Iraqi army and the Baath party - two decisions that were criticised by many as responsible for the breakdown in law and order and alienating large sectors of Iraqi society." - The BBC

"At least seven Chalabi aides are wanted on charges of blackmail, fraud and other crimes [because] Bush political appointees in charge of Iraq allowed Chalabi to run wild. Chalabi and his family and cronies have been granted control over Iraq's banking system and the crucial de-Baathification process...." - The Nation

More Background on Chalabi:

The BBC:
"Profile: Ahmed Chalabi," the BBC, April 28, 2005: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2925785.stm
"Chalabi left Iraq in 1956 and lived mainly in the US and London, except for a period in the mid-1990s when he tried to organise an uprising in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq. The venture ended in failure with hundreds of deaths. Soon after, the INC was routed from northern Iraq after Saddam Hussein's troops overran its base in Irbil. A number of party officials were executed and others - including Mr Chalabi - fled the country."

"Petra Bank, which became a leading private bank in [Jordan], collapsed in 1990 amid allegations of financial impropriety by Mr Chalabi. Two years later, he was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced in absentia by a Jordanian court to 22 years in prison with hard labour."

Chalabi "discounted the possibility he would take a role in any future government. 'I am not seeking any positions - my job will end with the liberation of Iraq from Saddam's rule,' he said before the start of the US-led war. He did not attend the first US-brokered meeting of Iraqi representatives to start shaping a future government of the country, sending a representative instead. However, for the Arab media, Mr Chalabi was the epitome of an American stooge, a man who sold his soul to the devil."

In mid-May, "American officials announced then that the monthly payment of more than $300,000 to Mr Chalabi's party, the Iraqi National Congress, was to be stopped."

"Monitoring Media Reports," The BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/not_in_website/syndication/monitoring/media_reports/2291649.stm
"[Chalabi] was sentenced in absentia by a Jordanian court to 22 years in prison with hard labour for bank fraud after the 1990 collapse of Petra Bank, which he had founded in 1977."

"In May 2004, Mr Chalabi's home and offices were raided. He denounced the raid, which he said was carried out by American agents and Iraqi police, as politically motivated."

"There were whispers from Washington that Mr Chalabi had all along been duping the Americans by spying for the Iranians."

"[H]e and his organisation were one of the sources for intelligence about Iraq's weapons of destruction capability that is now widely viewed as faulty."

"In August 2004, Mr Chalabi and his nephew Salem Chalabi had arrest warrants issued against them while they were outside Iraq. The charges against Ahmed Chalabi relate to alleged counterfeiting activities. He denies the charges."

Newsweek:
Mark Hosenball, "Intelligence: A Double Game," Newsweek, May 10, 2005: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4881157/
"Has Chalabi given 'sensitive' information on U.S. interests to Iran? He denies it, but the White House is wary."

"Ahmad Chalabi, the longtime Pentagon favorite to become leader of a free Iraq, has never made a secret of his close ties to Iran. Before the U.S. invasion of Baghdad, Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress maintained a $36,000-a-month branch office in Tehran - funded by U.S. taxpayers."

"INC representatives, including Chalabi himself, paid regular visits to the Iranian capital. Since the war, Chalabi's contacts with Iran may have intensified: a Chalabi aide says that since December, he has met with most of Iran's top leaders, including supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his top national-security aide, Hassan Rowhani."

"But U.S. intelligence agencies have recently raised concerns that Chalabi has become too close to Iran's theocratic rulers. NEWSWEEK has learned that top Bush administration officials have been briefed on intelligence indicating that Chalabi and some of his top aides have supplied Iran with sensitive information on the American occupation in Iraq."

"According to one U.S. government source, some of the information Chalabi turned over to Iran could 'get people killed.' (A Chalabi aide calls the allegations "absolutely false.") Why would Chalabi risk his cozy ties to Washington by cuddling up to Iran's fundamentalist rulers? Administration officials say Chalabi may be working both sides in an effort to solidify his own power and block the advancement of rival Iraqis."

The Nation:
Robert Scheer, "Chalabi's Long, Costly Charade," The Nation (posted online) May 25, 2004: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20040607/scheer0525
"Can it get any more bizarre? Only a few weeks before Washington's long-promised hand-over of the keys to Iraq, we discover that the lackey the Pentagon only recently had in mind to manage this very valuable property for the United States is suspected by us of being a world-class con artist and, worse, a spy for America's enemies in Iran."

"Nobody is speaking on the record yet, but US intelligence officials are making it clear to a variety of preeminent news sources that Ahmad Chalabi, a longtime darling of the neoconservatives who dragged the U.S. into this war, not only fed Western intelligence sources false information about Saddam Hussein's Iraq but is accused of having passed on US secrets to Iran, possibly through his security and intelligence chief, who is now a fugitive."

"'This is a very, very serious charge,' Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska said on Sunday, noting that his Senate Intelligence Committee will be investigating it. 'There were a number of us who warned this administration about [Chalabi].... But the fact is, there were some in this administration, some in Congress who were quite taken with him.'"

"We might start investigating which Bush official arranged for this hustler - already on the lam for a decade from major banking fraud convictions in Jordan - to sit behind First Lady Laura Bush during this year's State of the Union speech. Was the Secret Service watching her purse?"

"Too harsh? Not by a long shot. The CIA had stopped using Chalabi as a source in the mid-1990s after his political organization of exiles was accused of deception and incompetence. However, over the last four years, Chalabi was shamelessly resurrected inside the Beltway by neoconservatives, including Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith and other Bush officials who were leading the campaign to invade Iraq."

"Granted more than $33 million in taxpayer money over that four-year period - funding that was cut off only days before Iraqi police backed by US troops raided his home and office last week - Chalabi was the key window into Iraq for the White House, as well as top reporters such as the New York Times's Judith Miller. She mined him for a long string of now-discredited front-page scoops on Iraq's much-touted weapons of mass destruction."

"Chalabi is now suspected of having 'gamed' the intelligence agencies of eight nations using phony or tricked-up sources and documents, according to intelligence sources cited in the Los Angeles Times."

"Yet even as post-invasion searches and interrogations proved Chalabi's hoary claims completely wrong, and even as Chalabi continued his longtime practice of cozying up to the ayatollahs in Iran during frequent visits to Tehran, the Bush political appointees in charge of Iraq allowed Chalabi to run wild. Chalabi and his family and cronies have been granted control over Iraq's banking system and the crucial de-Baathification process, as well as the upcoming trial of Saddam Hussein. The result? At least seven Chalabi aides are wanted on charges of blackmail, fraud and other crimes."

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