Ahmed Chalabi's excellent adventure

After years of being first respected, then reviled, and now resurrected in the eyes of the Bush administration, Chalabi still hasn't changed his favorite tune: send in the (U.S.) troops, and keep them there. "We are not out of the storm," Chalabi said in a speech. "We are not out of the danger zone."

Much the same might be said of Chalabi himself.

Chalabi is the subject of an FBI investigation into whether he gave away US intelligence to the Iranians, a charge he denies. And he is widely blamed by many people for providing false information about Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction to US intelligence officials and some members of the US media in the lead-up to the war.

Cox News reports he also made some of the same WMD charges to US cable news networks personally when he was known as the head of the Iraqi National Congress, an anti-Saddam Hussein government in exile, and much in favor with the neoconservative wing of the Bush administration.

"Saddam has advanced chemical weapons. He has advanced biological weapons," Chalabi told the Fox news network on August 5, 2002, as the Bush administration was planning for possible war. "Those are very, very dangerous weapons, and I think in his hands he is bound to use them in terrorist action very soon."

No such weapons were found, and, also like Bush, Chalabi won't say what he thinks happened to them, or whether he thinks they existed at all. "From our point of view," said Chalabi, "speculation is not beneficial."

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In an interview with Time magazine, Chalabi said the " serious part of the visit [to the US] was excellent." Chalabi talked with American officials about buying more weapons for Iraqi troops. He also said that his conviction of fraud several years ago in a Jordanian military court was a "false charge," and that the Iraqi people would trust him regardless, because "they know the record of Jordan being the hub of corruption on the basis of Saddam's illicit dealings." He also said Iraq doesn't need more US troops.

I think more troops in Iraq would make more casualties and would contribute very little to improving the security situation. I think the way to go forward is to arm the Iraqi army in a way that it can deal with the insurgency and the violence in a more professional way. The most important thing to do is revamp the intelligence collection.

When it comes to what happened before the war, Chalabi replied, "As for the fact that I deliberately misled the American government, this is an urban myth." The key word may be "deliberate," which implies Chalabi actually bothered to examine the credibility of his defectors or their claims. By most accounts, Chalabi did nothing before passing them along to his White House allies.

The allegation of giving US information to the Iranians is a much more serious charge. The Associated Press reported last Thursday that Rep. Christopher Shays (R) of Connecticut, the chairman of the House subcommittee on national security, said " he would not be surprised" if Chalabi had given information to the Iranians that "the US would prefer to be withheld."

After an hour long private meeting with Chalabi and other Iraqi officials, Rep. Christopher Shays said in an interview, "My take on it is he works overtime to have a relationship with whoever he can." As a result, Shays said, "I wouldn't be surprised if he told Iranians facts, issues, whatever, we did not want them to know in order to develop a relationship."

"I have no illusions, but I think he is extraordinarily intelligent and has a very clear assessment of the Middle East," said Shays, who heads the House Government Reform subcommittee on national security, emerging threats and international relations. Shays said he did not ask Chalabi whether Chalabi was an Iranian spy.

Voice of America reports that Chalabi has said he went to Tehran to " discuss bilateral relations."

The Kuwait News Agency reports that in an interview on CNN's "Late Edition," Chalabi said he has offered to appear before the Senate to answer questions about his prewar role.

In an editorial last week, The New York Times wrote that Chalabi, who "does not easily take no for an answer," also seems to have "no inhibitions about embarrassing his former friends with impolitic remarks, especially if they help him in next month's Iraqi elections." The Times said it was "disgraceful" to hand " this discredited schemer" the prestige of meeting with senior US officials, especially when his "disruptive influence" continued after the war.

After the invasion, he played a leading role in persuading US occupation authorities to issue a blanket decree against former Baath Party members, sweeping aside the lawyers, doctors, teachers and other professionals who had preserved their careers by joining the lower ranks of Saddam's party.

That exclusion helped cement the disastrous estrangement of the Sunni Arab middle class. Chalabi personally took charge of enforcing this purge, and he still resists efforts by the United States and less divisive Iraqi parties to rein it in for the sake of national unity.

Here are some of the stand-out moments that most struck our little group:

On the insurgency: "There is no communal strife in Iraq. Only individual acts of violence." On his relationship with Iran (the source of that FBI investigation): "completely transparent." On Ayatollah Sistani: "He has no interest in politics. It's the last thing on his mind." On the corruption that has plagued the US occupation of Iraq: "95% of the corruption is gone."

Also...
• US 'can't maintain Iraq troop levels' ( United Press International)
• Asterisks dot White House's Iraq argument ( Washingtonpost.com)
• How the Bush administration sold the Iraq War to American people ( MSNBC)
• Council of Foreign Relations report diagnoses Iraq's reconstruction ailments ( Daily Star, Lebanon)
• CIA allegedly hid evidence of detainee torture: report ( Agence France-Press)
• Feedback appreciated. E-mail Tom Regan .