McCain's Buddy, Ahmad Chalabi - You're Fired (Again) .....

Is Iraqi double-dealer Ahmad Chalabi gone for good? Don't bet on it.

NEWSWEEK - Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball

Ahmed Chalabi, the one-time Pentagon favorite to lead a post-Saddam Iraq, has been removed from a top Iraqi government post over his continued contacts with suspected Iranian operatives, according to U.S. officials.

Only last fall, Chalabi had resurrected his turbulent political career when the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, with backing from U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus, named him to head a committee charged with restoring essential services, including electricity and public safety, to Iraqi communities. "He was going to be the guy to turn the lights on in Baghdad," said a former U.S. intelligence official who has closely followed developments in Iraq. (The official, like others quoted in this story, spoke on condition of anonymity about internal government deliberations.)

But three U.S. government officials told NEWSWEEK that Maliki's government recently forced Chalabi out of his new job over an issue that has long clouded his reputation--his murky ties to Iran, including leaders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the country's internal security force. The Bush administration has accused the IRGC and its paramilitary spinoff, the Quds Force, of training and arming pro-Iranian renegade militias that are attacking U.S. and Iraqi troops.


The White House and State Department press offices referred all inquiries about the latest Chalabi controversy to the Iraqi government. Tahseen al-Sheikhli, an Iraq government spokesman for security operations in Baghdad, said "I cannot confirm or deny" the removal of Chalabi. Mohammed al-Mousawi, a Chalabi spokesman in Baghdad, told NEWSWEEK's Christian Caryl: "This information is completely wrong. Ahmed Chalabi and the INC [Iraqi National Congress, Chalabi's political organization] haven't been informed by the Iraqi government or the American troops about this issue." John Markham, a U.S. lawyer who represents Chalabi, said he was unaware of Chalabi's removal from his Baghdad position.

(Update: Markham e-mailed NEWSWEEK on Friday saying Chalabi "has not been dimissed from any board and that in fact today he went to a meeting of the services committee at the Prime Minister's office.")

He strongly disputed that there was anything improper about his client's dealings with Iranian officials. "I know he is extremely dedicated to his country," Markham told NEWSWEEK. "Most Iraqi leaders have relationships with various people in Iran and his are like everybody else's."..........


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McCain Becomes Latest To Feel Chalabi's Burn

Huffington Post - Sam Stein

By now, Americans are accustomed to getting burned by Ahmad Chalabi. The Iraqi exile turned political official was instrumental in greasing the wheels for George W. Bush's war efforts only to be disavowed for leaking sensitive information to Iran. Numerous journalists, meanwhile, worked with Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress for stories on weapons of mass destruction (see: Miller, Judith) only to discover that the information they were being fed was monumentally bogus.

Now, Sen. John McCain - a longtime Chalabi advocate with many ties to the man - finds himself on the receiving end of this bamboozlement..........