[DJ Taylor]

The article is twelve pages long and could be a good inside look at Mid East politics. I don't know enough about the subject to determine whether it's fair and balanced or not, but to me, this is the thesis paragraph finally found on page eleven:

"He (Chalabi)was, in the end, a parlor politician, someone from the world of his father or grandfather, or maybe of Victorian England: a brilliant negotiator and schemer who might settle a country’s problems over a cup of tea. But in Iraq, by late 2005, real power was no longer held by the parlor men, or by politicians at all. It was held by people like Moktada al-Sadr, populist leaders with a militia and a mass following in the street."

[maine-iac7]

Chalabi maintains, was in failing to step out of the way after Hussein’s downfall and let the Iraqis take charge. The Iraqis, not the Americans, should have been allowed to take over immediately —

Okaaaym then.

I guess that spells out why Chalabi was sidelined. Egad. (Whew)