In Iraq, key US ally falls from grace

In Iraq, Chalabi is so widely despised that people blame him for everything from kidnapping and assassinations to electrical outages. But he continued to wield influence with American authorities, in large part, through his long-standing relationship with the Pentagon.

But Chalabi began distancing himself from American powers long before Thursday's raid. On June 30, American authorities are slated to hand over power to an interim Iraqi government composed of highly respected technocrats who will shepherd the country through national elections scheduled for January 2005.

The interim government is being chosen by UN officials in consultation with US and British authorities and with the governing council itself. It is intended to include a wider array of groups than that of the 25 member council.

As plans for the transitional government progressed, Chalabi grew increasingly critical of US and UN authorities. In recent weeks, he began to press for an increased role for the political parties represented on the governing council, and began launching bitter attacks at UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.

"The dirty UN employees are double agents: they were spies for the Americans and also received bribes from the former regime," fumed a columnist in Al Mutamar, the INC's daily newspaper. Striking an anti-American note, the writer accused "Brahimi and his American masters" of trying to prevent Iraqi national elections.

Chalabi's objections were no surprise. As a political appointee viewed as illegitimate by most Iraqis, he stood to lose his influence once Brahimi's plan came into being.

Desperate to keep its place the US appointed government, Chalabi's party has accused the UN special envoy of everything from "impudence" to leading a "white coup" in conspiracy with the Jordanian government.

But in Baghdad, few were convinced by Chalabi's reincarnation from the Pentagon's man in Baghdad to Arab nationalist hero. "People see them as opportunistic attacks, in order to divert people's attention to events which took place long ago," says Saad Jawad, a professor of political science at Baghdad University. "Had he attacked something and provided something better, people would have accepted it."

In fact, Chalabi is so distrusted that immediately after the raid, a rumor circulated in Baghdad: The American authorities in a last ditch attempt to salvage their man's reputation had staged the raid to increase his stature among the people as an anti-American figure.

"I think that he will try to improve his popularity and tell the Iraqis 'Look, you have a nationalist leader now, and he's against the Americans. I don't think people are so naive as to accept it," says Professor Jawad.

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