Chalabi Emerges In Damascus On Peace Quest

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nysun.com/article/45092?page_no=1

A little-noticed visit by Ahmad Chalabi to Syria is igniting speculation that the former Iraqi exile leader is emerging as a key channel between Damascus and Washington.

After a weekend meeting with the Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, Mr. Chalabi announced that Syria and Iraq would formally open their respective embassies in Damascus and Baghdad on Monday. An American diplomat said yesterday that Mr. Chalabi also was gauging the interest of the Assad regime in a limited rapprochement with America.

Mr. Chalabi regularly consults with the American ambassador to Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad. On Saturday, Mr. Chalabi told reporters that Syria and Iraq were considering joint patrols along the porous border they share.

While Mr. Chalabi's opposition organization had offices in Damascus throughout the 1990s, he had not visited Syria since before the war. Mr. Chalabi's weekend visit is also notable because Syria has helped fund and supply the Sunni insurgency in Iraq. In some ways, it also reflects new political realities following the Iraq war, including a military and intelligence alliance between Syria and Iran, whose ruling mullahs often consult Mr. Chalabi on Iraq.

If Mr. Chalabi, who fell from power this spring with the ascendance of Prime Minister al-Maliki, plays a role in helping implement America's new strategy in Iraq, he may be aiding in the dissolution of the Shiite political coalition he helped form in 2004. The White House is pressing Mr. Maliki to cut out a key pillar of that Shiite bloc, Moqtada al-Sadr, whose militia has carried out killings of Sunni civilians. As early as May 2003, Mr. Chalabi advocated for coalition forces and the Iraqi government to reach out to the popular junior cleric.

[acmavm]

1. This guy just will not go away. What next?

[exlrrp]

2. Next: the investigations

Chalabi's name will figure prominently when the investigation starts as to who gave Bush all thhe phony "WMD" info. Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress gave 6 "defectors" to the US--al of them were phony but Bushco swallowed it hook line and center. This is where the Nigerian yellocake myth came from, for instance.

[KoKo]

3. Is Chalabi still campaigning to be the new Saddam of Iraq? Maybe

he can find that nephew that escaped and make him the PM or Iraq or maybe the "Defense Minister" would be a more appropriate role for the Nephew. Sheesh...why isn't Chalabi in jail...? nevermind...I know the answer.