Iraq Council Head (Chalabi) Shifts to Position at Odds with U.S.

[kskiska]

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 22 — Ahmad Chalabi, the president of Iraq's interim government, is in New York this week to press alternatives to the Bush administration's occupation policy in postwar Iraq, he and his aides say. In the process, he may complete a personal transformation from protégé of Pentagon conservatives to Iraqi nationalist with a loud, independent voice.

In an interview today in New York, Mr. Chalabi professed gratitude to the Bush administration for toppling Saddam Hussein's government, but his specific proposals were directly at odds with the policies Washington is pursuing in Baghdad and at the United Nations. He demanded that the Iraqi Governing Council be given at least partial control of the powerful finance and security ministries, and rejected the idea of more foreign troops coming to Iraq.

Mr. Chalabi's strategy, he says, is to get from the United Nations General Assembly sovereign status for the unelected 25-member Governing Council. This move to lobby other nations for a swift transfer of some sovereignty is going down poorly in Washington, according to the Iraqi leader's aides.

Mr. Chalabi has sent representatives to France and Germany to discuss putting Iraqis back in charge under a new United Nations mandate that would end American control of the occupation, even if American troops remain in Iraq. His aides say he also plans to tell the Senate that the United Nations could save billions of dollars on Iraq's reconstruction by allowing an Iraqi administration to handle it.

more…
http://nytimes.com/2003/09/23/international/middleeast/23CHAL.html?hp

[markses]

1. Memo To Chalabi

Pretend you are defying us in order to better set up the "independence" (I know - har har!) of the Council.

Best,
Paul Bremer

:eyes:

[tooncesj0nes]

5. funny-

I was just thnking te other day 'what if this 'defiance' by the governing council is just window dressing to make them seem more legit in the eyes of the Iraqui people?"..nice to know I am not alone in that line of thinking...

[jenk]

2. CHALABI!

"Yes, I am Ahmed Chalabi, Supreme Commander in chief of the Iraqi People's Republic of Iraqia. Yes, the Iraqi's love me, watch as they greet me with bullets and feces.

[MisterP]

3. bahahaha!

(kick)

[NNN0LHI]

4. "Supreme Commander in chief of the Iraqi People's Republic of Iraqia"

That is just so hilarious. I can't stop laughing. Some freeper called into C-Span the other morning and called the Iraqis, Iraqians. What a morAn.

Don

[Jack Rabbit]

6. Chalabi is a fugitive from justice

When we send Bush to The Hague, let's not forget to send Chalabi to Jordan, where he was convicted of bank fraud and embezzlement.

[AnnabelLee]

7. Alternatively, if Chalabi doesn't toe the bushco line,

he could find himself back in Jordan anyway.

[stickdog]

8. Why do neocons always use the oldest cons? (NT)

[FlemingsGhost]

9. Ri-iiiiiiight. This wouldn't have anything to do with...

the fact that it's open season on Governing Council members, would it?