Turning the Page: ‘The Man
Who Pushed America to War’
The number of published books chronicling the invasion of Iraq and the continuing war could probably fill a few bookcases at your local Barnes & Noble.
But the full story of one key player, Ahmad Chalabi, has yet to be told.
The legendary conman and disgraced war cheerleader gets his due in Aram Roston’s “The Man Who Pushed America to War: The Extraordinary Life, Adventures and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi.”
- One of his key backers has been John McCain, who was one of the first patrons of Chalabi’s grand-sounding International Committee for a Free Iraq when it was founded in 1991. McCain was Chalabi’s favored candidate in the 2000 election since Chalabi knew that he would be able to free up the $97 million in military aid plus millions pushed through in Congress and earmarked for Chalabi’s exile group, the Iraqi National Congress, but held up by the Clinton State Department.
- Chalabi’s family runs much of Iraq’s economy: his grandnephew Hussein al-Uzri heads up the Trade Bank of Iraq, through which all Iraqi government purchases are made. That’s despite the fact that his only banking experience was handling software for ATM machines.
The day after Chalabi was confirmed as deputy prime minister, the bank signed a agreement with the family company, Card Tech, to provide card processing services for a range of Visa cards. The company was eventually sold to American company Total System Services for $54 million in July 2006.
Nephew Ali Allawi has an important role at the Trade Ministry and another nephew, Salem Chalabi, helped organize the prosecution of Saddam Hussein.
- Before and after the invasion, Chalabi met with Gen. Ahmed Frouzanda, a top Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force general, who was wanted by U.S. military and counterterrorism officials who considered him a “murderer of Americans.” Around the time of their spring 2004 meeting, the NSC learned that Tehran had been warned its codes had been broken, a high-level breach of U.S. intelligence. When the FBI tried to set up an interview with Chalabi, it never happened.
- Chalabi helped arrange meetings with the Iraqi oil minister for American oilmen like Bush fundraiser Albert Huddleston. Chalabi “fawned over the Texan,” taking him out and presenting him with gifts like a lavish crystal sculpture of an Iraqi reed house which had to be shipped back to his home in Texas.
Another businessman helped by Chalabi was defense contractor Dale Stoffel, who was set to make millions by selling military scrap iron from Saddam’s armed forces. His luck changed when his middleman stiffed him, Stoffer threatened to expose the corrupt deal on Capitol Hill and ended up with a few bullets in his head along the banks of the Tigris.
And then there was Wayne Drizin, who did business with Chalabi in the 80s. The failed brothel owner, who was convicted of wire fraud for a scheme involving shares in a company that claimed it had a cure for AIDS in 2003, tried but failed to use his connections to Chalabi to sell homeland security technology to the government.
- Chalabi misled a team of reporters from ABC News and British publications by arranging interviews with “Saddam’s Mistress,” Parisoula Lampsos, who peddled countless lies about a meeting between Hussein and Osama Bin Laden for over $50,000.
- Chalabi narrowly avoided taking American Flight 77, the flight which crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11. He was scheduled to fly on September 10 but the gate was closed and he was told that he had missed his flight. Only through his powers of persuasion did Chalabi convince the attendant to let him on the flight.
March 8th, 2008 06:46
[…] Chalabi/McCain connection New biography of shadowy Iraq figure Chalabi recalls ties to McCain Ahmed Chalabi, former deputy prime minister of Iraq, is the subject of a new biography that reportedly reveals some shocking new examples of Chalabi’s scandalous role in US foreign policy. Considered by some to be a neo-con "darling," Chalabi is best known for his role in pushing questionable evidence in the run-up to the US invasion of Iraq, including since-debunked claims dealing with biological weapons laboratories from the Iraqi defector code-named "Curveball." RAW STORY has covered other events in Chalabi’s colorful past as war cheerleader, including his re-entry into US policy-making in 2006 when it was reported that he had taken over a role as broker between the US Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, and Iranian officials. In early 2007, RAW STORY also reported that Chalabi was moving into a new role as part of the so-called "surge" in Iraq. Among the revelations disclosed in the biography by Emmy award-winning journalist Aram Roston, The Man Who Pushed America to War: The Extraordinary Life, Adventures and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi, are that Chalabi "helped arrange meetings with the Iraqi oil minister for American oilmen like Bush fundraiser Albert Huddleston." Chalabi also reportedly "misled a team of reporters from ABC News and British publications by arranging interviews with ‘Saddam’s Mistress,’ Parisoula Lampsos, who peddled countless lies about a meeting between Hussein and Osama Bin Laden" and was initially backed by Sen. John McCain, "one of the first patrons of Chalabi’s grand-sounding International Committee for a Free Iraq when it was founded in 1991." Regarding McCain, Roston adds that he was "Chalabi’s favored candidate in the 2000 election since Chalabi knew that he would be able to free up the $97 million in military aid plus millions pushed through in Congress and earmarked for Chalabi’s exile group, the Iraqi National Congress." The funds were held up, however, by the Clinton administration’s State Department, Roston writes. More on the Chalabi biography can be read at this link. But will anyone even care? __________________ Julia Rose - she’s twice as cute! […]
March 8th, 2008 14:58
From someone on the inside of this whole Stoffel/Iraq mystery, it is too bad Aram got it wrong. If he did his research carefully and was as close to Stoffel as he has said repeatedly he was, he would have know there was a connection between Stoffel and the arrest of Chalabi in May of 2004, which would have precluded any Chalabi support.
If you are connected with Aram, pass on my e-mail…I would be glad to set him straight.
March 9th, 2008 09:21
[…] A new book by Aram Roston reveals that Chalabi supported John McCain (R-AZ) for president in 2000, believing that the senator would be the most receptive to his agenda. Muckraked reports: One of his key backers has been John McCain, who was one of the first patrons of Chalabi’s grand-sounding International Committee for a Free Iraq when it was founded in 1991. McCain was Chalabi’s favored candidate in the 2000 election since Chalabi knew that he would be able to free up the $97 million in military aid plus millions pushed through in Congress and earmarked for Chalabi’s exile group, the Iraqi National Congress, but held up by the Clinton State Department. […]
March 10th, 2008 06:00
[…] Muckraked: The number of published books chronicling the invasion of Iraq and the continuing war could probably fill a few bookcases at your local Barnes & Noble. […]
March 10th, 2008 10:05
[…] Turning the Page: ‘The Man Who Pushed America to War’ (Muckraked!) [T]he full story of one key player [in the Iraq War], Ahmad Chalabi, has yet to be told. The legendary conman and disgraced war cheerleader gets his due in Aram Roston’s “The Man Who Pushed America to War: The Extraordinary Life, Adventures and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi.” Among the revelations: - One of his key backers has been John McCain, who was one of the first patrons of Chalabi’s grand-sounding International Committee for a Free Iraq when it was founded in 1991. [Emphasis added.] […]
March 10th, 2008 12:12
Chalabi is quite the self-serving scumbag. Did anyone else catch him claiming to Frontline he had proof of Iraq’s WMD or something like that to stop that line of questioning, only he couldn’t provide it there, it was back at his office, and then refused their follow-up calls? He’s not even a good con man.
As vile as Chalabi was and is, and as much as Doug Feith and many of the other neocons loved him, I think it’s important to remember that Chalabi didn’t cause them to push us to war. His BS “intel” was the excuse, not the reason. The Bush administration hasn’t been bright nor competent, true, but neither have they ever acted in good faith.
March 11th, 2008 09:48
[…] In 1998, McCain pressured the Clinton administration to give Chalabi funding, and once called him “a patriot who has the best interests of his country at heart.” In fact, McCain was Chalabi’s “favored candidate in the 2000 election.” […]
March 11th, 2008 14:46
[…] In 1998, McCain pressured the Clinton administration to give Chalabi funding, and once called him “a patriot who has the best interests of his country at heart.” In fact, McCain was Chalabi’s “favored candidate in the 2000 election.” […]
March 11th, 2008 18:17
[…] In 1998, McCain pressured the Clinton administration to give Chalabi funding, and once called him “a patriot who has the best interests of his country at heart.” In fact, McCain was Chalabi’s “favored candidate in the 2000 election.” […]