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It is simple. His loyalties lie with the Iraqi people

His loyalties lie with himself. That much is clear.

It is quite simple to understand that the U.S. needed to distance themselves from this man and his organization.

Chalabi may be able to distance himself from his organization, and he is welcome to try.

He is also welcome to continue to position himself to make a run at president of Iraq, if they allow him to.

At least it will not appear that he is connected in any way to the U.S.

All this negative intelligence is interesting, but the split was going to happen regardless. he just made it much easier to do so, over the objections of some power players in Washington.

Best of luck to him, and I would stay away from Jordanian airlines.

If his loyalties lay with himself, he could have shifted with the winds over the decades. He could have been a pliant agent of Jordan - or of us - or of Iran. He could have signed off on any of a dozen sell outs. He could have done what a Kissenger or a Baker told him to do. He could have done whatever we told him now, and never showed the slightest hint of independence. Nobody would have touched his payments. Instead, he has been sold out by every player on the board at one time or another. Some of them, 3-4 times over. And he is still standing. And still calling for Iraqi democracy and independence, whether he leads anything or not. Cynicism is the region's disease. They are drowning in it. So are half the analysts. As for distancing, the only thing happening there is the agencies are distancing themselves from the past actions and policies of the Bush administration, by calling the entire war a mistake we got suckered into. Think that will stick to Chalabi rather than to W? Then you are dreaming. It is a mistake. Just incidentally, it also tells all the Iraqi democrats to never trust or rely on us.