WHEN CHALABI COMES MARCHING HOME AGAIN, HURRAH:

Iraqi Opponent Says He's Leaving Iran to Plan Takeover (ELAINE SCIOLINO, January 28, 2003, NY Times)

Ahmed Chalabi, an Iraqi opposition leader, announced today that he intends to travel to Iraq shortly to meet other opposition leaders and plan a provisional government to replace the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Mr. Chalabi, who heads the Iraqi National Congress, the main Iraqi umbrella opposition group, told a news conference here that he was going into Iraq despite objections from some members of the Bush administration but with the blessing of the White House. [...]

"We hope to go to our country in northern Iraqi Kurdistan to have consultations with the leaders over there," Mr. Chalabi said. "And we expect we can come up with a coalition leadership council, which will be empowered to establish a coalition provisional government at the appropriate moment so that the government will lead the process of liberation and would also assume control of the administration of Iraq."

Mr. Chalabi, wearing a suit and tie in a country where ties are still suspect for being too Western, seemed to revel in his surroundings. He welcomed a reporter to his headquarters and said the villa had been "paid for by the State Department."

Mr. Chalabi's comfort in inviting journalists to his American-financed headquarters in Iran and announcing plans to cross into Iraq underscored how confident he feels about the support of his Iranian hosts.

Maybe someone should tell the dovish Colin Powell that his State Department has been planning regime change without his knowledge... Posted by Orrin Judd at January 28, 2003 9:16 AM