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Chalabi protests over 'Ba'ath-led' raid on his offices
By Fiona Symon
Published: May 20 2004 16:10 | Last Updated: May 20 2004 16:10
Relations between the Coalition Provisional Authority and its erstwhile ally Ahmad Chalabi plunged to an all-time low on Thursday after US troops raided his house and offices in
Baghdad.
After the raid in which US soldiers, backed by Iraqi police removed computers, files and other equipment, Mr Chalabi, a prominent member of the US-appointed Governing Council, pronounced that his relations with the CPA were "non-existent".
The Iraqi National Congress leader told a news conference that the raid had been led by an ex-Ba'ath party member, and that the raid had been engineered by Ba'athists "who now control the police".
Mr Chalabi, who heads a council committee purging the administration of the upper ranks of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party, has been criticised for spearheading a policy that has excluded Sunni Muslims from senior positions.
These critcisms led the US in April to announce an overhaul of the "de-Ba'athification" policy to allow some former members join an interim government being put together by the United Nations.
An incandescent Mr Chalabi said he believed the raid on his offices was politically motivated, because the CPA was unhappy with his calls for greater independence to be given to the Iraqi government and for a fraud investigation to be carried out into the UN's oil for food deal.
Mr Chalabi said the documents seized related to the UN's oil-for-food programme. Responding to these charges, Dan Senor, a CPA spokesman said that it was an "Iraqi-initiated and Iraqi-led investigation".
Paul Bremer, head of the CPA has authority for referring any case to central criminal court, but would only become involved "after a serious and thorough investigation run by the Iraqis" said Mr Senor.
Mr Senor added that if Mr Chalabi had information that a senior Baath official, with "blood on his hands" had been allowed into the police, the CPA would be happy to receive that information.
US officials said on Tuesday the Pentagon had cut off about $340,000 a month in funding to Chalabi's INC party - payments that were made in part for intelligence gathered by the INC.
Paul Wolfowitz, deputy defense secretary, said the decision "was made in light of the process of transferring sovereignty to the Iraqi people".
Although the INC had provided useful information, "We felt it was no longer appropriate for us to continue funding in that fashion," he told a US Senate hearing.
The controversial ex-banker campaigned for years from exile against the regime of Saddam Hussein and was once touted as a possible Iraqi leader after the removal of the regime.
But he is now not expected to win a senior role in the caretaker government that takes office in July.
As his influence has waned Mr Chalabi has openly clashed with Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations envoy who is selecting the new government.
Western officials do not rule out the possibility that other INC officials might be picked as ministers, however.
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