Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi who pushed Bush to invade Iraq dies
Reuters ^ | 11/03/2015 | Y STEPHEN KALIN AND SAIF HAMEED

Posted on 11/03/2015 3:39:47 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Ahmed Chalabi, the smooth-talking Iraqi politician who pushed Washington to invade Iraq in 2003 with discredited information on Saddam Hussein's military capabilities, died on Tuesday of an apparent heart attack.

Haitham al-Jabouri, secretary of parliament's financial panel that Chalabi had chaired, said attendants had found him dead in his bed in his Baghdad home. A news flash on Iraqi state television said the cause was a heart attack.

A secular Shi'ite, Chalabi rose to prominence as leader of the then-exiled Iraqi National Congress, which played a major role in encouraging the U.S. administration of former President George W. Bush to invade Iraq and oust Saddam.

"There are some people who will remember him in a good way, and there are others, to be honest, do not like and did not want his politics," said former prime minister Ayad Allawi.

"But regardless, Iraq lost a man who had an important contribution, important commitments towards the nation and he tried to offer what he could to this country."

Chalabi, born in 1944 into a wealthy Baghdad family, returned to Iraq shortly after Saddam's fall, the culmination of years of work abroad pressing and charming Washington to oust the man who ruled Iraq with an iron fist for decades.

He ultimately succeeded by persuading the United States that Saddam Hussein had links to al Qaeda and possessed weapons of mass destruction in the wake of the September 11 attacks, claims that later proved unfounded.

After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, he could often be seen in Baghdad flanked by dozens of bodyguards as he forged ties with political figures and powerful clerics.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: ahmedchalabi; bush; chalabi; iraq; sadamhussein

1 posted on 11/03/2015 3:39:47 AM PST by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Rot in hell.


2 posted on 11/03/2015 3:40:57 AM PST by nonliberal (Sent from a payphone in a whorehouse in Mexico.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Good, I’m glad he’s dead, the only sad thing is that it didn’t happen 15 years ago before Chalabi lied us into a needless war for his personal gain, the fools in the national security apparatus believed him, and we lost 4,400 of our best and bravest young men and women, countless others maimed for life, and trillions spent for what?


3 posted on 11/03/2015 3:44:53 AM PST by laconic (M)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: laconic

As time goes on, it gets easier and easier to envision a scenario where Chalabi was basically an Iranian agent collaborating with the U.S. government to eliminate Iran’s neighboring strongman.


4 posted on 11/03/2015 3:57:53 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("It doesn't work for me. I gotta have more cowbell!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child

I think you hit it right on target; Chalabi got the Americans to spend our best in life and treasure to overthrow the major impediment in Iraq (Saddam, bad as he was) to Iranian dominance of the Persian Gulf, then basically turn over what’s left to the thieves, liars and murderous mountebanks in Tehran while personally profiting from the whole disaster he orchestrated based on lies, deceit and a few frontmen doing his bidding in the West.


5 posted on 11/03/2015 4:07:53 AM PST by laconic (M)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

He was supposed to have been the first post-Saddam president of Iraq, since he was a buddy of Wolfowitz and his DoD cabal. Problem was when he marched off that U.S. transport plane in his black fatigues and small security cohort., nobody in Iraq wanted him because he was a crook and a coward.


6 posted on 11/03/2015 4:22:07 AM PST by Timber Rattler ("To hold a pen is to be at war." --Voltaire)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Died of a heart attack.

I would not be disappointed to hear that the paramedics took a coffee break on the way to get him.


7 posted on 11/03/2015 4:46:12 AM PST by Vermont Lt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Is this the guy who had his 14 year-old daughter tearfully lie to Congress that she had seen Iraqi soldiers come in to the hospital to take babies out of incubators?


8 posted on 11/03/2015 4:48:26 AM PST by Mr. K (If it is HilLIARy -vs- Jeb! then I am writing-in Palin/Cruz)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: laconic

This


9 posted on 11/03/2015 5:04:32 AM PST by silverleaf (Age takes a toll: Please have exact change)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Saddam Hussein had repeatedly broken the peace agreement of the Gulf War.

Even Kerry and Clinton were advocating war against Saddam in 1998.

Will Sidney Blumenthal get this headline regarding our war against Libya when Sid dies???

Who’s the money man behind Sid’s lobbying? How much of it did Hillary get?


10 posted on 11/03/2015 5:06:47 AM PST by a fool in paradise (Will Hillary's testimony on Benghazi be under oath? Baseball players were tried for perjury.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Timber Rattler
"nobody in Iraq wanted him because he was a crook and a coward."

He didn't control DC which is why he is not solely to blame. Plenty of people inside the beltway at the time were looking for an excuse--similar to what we've been seeing with Syria. He, "Curveball" and others told them what they wanted to hear and they ignored warnings from our Intelligence people about their credibility. All of them are just as much to blame.

11 posted on 11/03/2015 5:16:10 AM PST by mikey_hates_everything
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Mr. K

If I remember right, that was the Kuwaiti ambassador’s daughter.


12 posted on 11/03/2015 6:28:32 AM PST by M1903A1 ("We shed all that is good and virtuous for that which is shoddy and sleazy... and call it progress")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: laconic
Good, I’m glad he’s dead, the only sad thing is that it didn’t happen 15 years ago before Chalabi lied us into a needless war for his personal gain, the fools in the national security apparatus believed him, and we lost 4,400 of our best and bravest young men and women, countless others maimed for life, and trillions spent for what?

A good con artists knows that the 'mark' has to also wants to be fooled - to believe in the end result if not the process.

13 posted on 11/03/2015 7:16:20 AM PST by Trumpinator (You are all fired!!! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

No single entity pushed the U.S. into the 2003 invasion. A low grade shooting war was waged from the end of the first Gulf War until the second Gulf War in the form of no-fly zones where shots were exchanged between Iraq and coalition (U.S.-U.K.-France) on a weekly basis. This included regular air strikes on Iraqi air defense targets. The Clinton Administration carried out two extensive bombing campaigns against strategic targets in Iraq including the homes of government officials. During the Clinton Administration the National Security Council shifted the strategy in Iraqi from containment to regime change. The NSC and the Pentagon also drew the general scheme for what would be Operation Enduring Freedom.

The constant instability in the Gulf region created in part by Iraqi/Coalition hostilities, UN sanctions against Iraq, and threats by Saddam against all his neighbors, led to a build up of U.S. military assets in the region. This led to escalating terrorist attacks on U.S. targets: 1993 World Trade Center; 1996 Kohbar Towers; bombings of the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. In addition al Qaeda attempted to blow up Seattle’s Space Needle in 2000 and to simultaneously blow up 13 airliners in 1995. These operations were directed by Saudis protesting the U.S. military presence on Islamic soil.

The thinking at the time was that a continued U.S. military footprint in the region would become ultimately untenable. But withdrawal from the region would collapse the sanctions and unleash Saddam to accelerate his WMD programs and attack his neighbors or at least intimidate them into complying with his extortion. At the time Iraq was allowing small groups of terrorists a sanctuary where they could train and Saddam was paying $25,000 bounties to the families of suicide bombers who attack Israeli targets.

Bush didn’t destabilize the Middle East because he inherited a region that was already unstable.

For anyone who might have read this far, I am not defending Bush. But the conditions that existed in 2001-2003 and the decisions they shaped cannot be put on a bumper sticker.


14 posted on 11/03/2015 9:06:49 AM PST by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mr. K
Wrong war. Wrong liar.

Good thing we learned our lesson. On to Damascus! /sarc

15 posted on 11/03/2015 9:40:58 AM PST by Forgotten Amendments (Nessie ... Sasquatch ... The Free Syrian Army ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

“He ultimately succeeded by persuading the United States that Saddam Hussein had links to al Qaeda and possessed weapons of mass destruction in the wake of the September 11 attacks, claims that later proved unfounded.”

That statement is simply not true. There were/are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to this very day. People are worried that ISIS may get their hands on them. Plenty of stories about them in the last couple of years.


16 posted on 11/03/2015 9:58:25 AM PST by Parley Baer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson