Letter: Chalabi’s politics bothered Bush administration

Single Sign-On: You can use Facebook account to log in to LasVegasSun.com. (We will use your first and last name from your profile.)
Trusted Commenting: Facebook connected users automatically become trusted commenters.

Thursday, May 27, 2004 | 9:23 a.m.

Ahmed Chalabi has fallen from grace with the Bush administration. Seems Chalabi could read the writing on the walls of Baghdad that said, "Yankee, go home!" Never a popular puppet in Iraq, Chalabi figured anyone who takes up the cause of running out the American empire might just slip into power later.

Chalabi is accused of spying for Iran and providing bad intelligence on weapons of mass destruction. I don't know if he has been spying, but the neocons didn't need Chalabi to take the fall for the WMD. Everyone seems to be responsible for that failure except the president. Maybe it was also Chalabi who told Bush that Saddam was tied to al-Qaida.

Another accusation against Chalabi is that he is involved in bribery, embezzlement and general misuse of American tax dollars. The Bushies knew that Chalabi was a convicted felon when they handed him the keys to the Iraqi and the United States treasuries, so I think it is Chalabi's politics rather than his thievery that bothers Washington.

Chalabi didn't stay the course of the American privatization of Iraq. Besides, white collar crime hardly bothers those in the White House who are buddy-buddy with the likes of Enron CEOs.

JERRY BITTS