Good one for Max- On Chalabi

[mburbank]

Excellent article and thanks.

I forget how long ago the New Yorker did a profile on Chalabi, and I think there was a sixty minutes piece quite some while back. Suffice it to say that whatever esteem Christopher Hitchen might hold him in, The possability that Chalabi might be a power hungry con man has been around quite some time.

W. has filed him directly next to Ken Lay, under "P" for people I may have met or heard of but really don't know at all.

Here are the points this article makes me think about.

1.) "If you believe it’s enough that the dictator’s gone, you ought to thank Chalabi."

I agree. So why is this administration hanging tis guy out to dry, especially as it makes the current 'sovereign' regime in Iraq look even more puppet-like than usual? What is he being punished for if Bush and now Kerry both think this war was justified with or without WMD? I think it's ungracious.

2.) I also think it unwise. Want to bet that the flow of information from W's Whitehouse to Chalabi was two way street? Want to bet that Chalabi some of the closets Rumsfled keeps his skeletons in? Sure he's discredited, but an old fox like Chalabi may well keep some proof around as insurance. Is this really man we want to drive into the hands of the Iranians? Or is this yet another example of W's shoot before you think policy making?

3.) Whatever else you think of him, Chalabi is certainly a fascinating character, maybe the only person on earth to re-invent himself more times than Madona. His ultimate goal all along has been power in Iraq. Want to bet he gets there?