June 14, 2004

MAKE THAT "CREDITED":

Discredited Iraqi ally regroups: Ahmed Chalabi is trying to build a Shiite power base in the wake of a US raid. (Dan Murphy, 6/15/04, CS Monitor)

[T]he man whose British-installed Hashemite family, which was exiled in 1958 by a nationalist coup, may be using his falling out with the United States to gain credibility in Iraq as an independent.

"What the Americans have done earned me a medal from the Iraqi people," he said in an interview with Al Arabiya television in Dubai. "It invalidated everything that had been said about me being with the Americans."

People close to Chalabi say he's trying to build a new power base, primarily among Shiite religious figures and politicians, as his key to survival in the emerging Iraqi political order.


Couldn't they slow this process down just a bit so it's not quite so transparent that we created artificial distance in order to rehabilitate him in the eyes of his countrymen?

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 14, 2004 6:22 PM
Comments

Orrin:
You are giving the Iraqi populace too much credit. The attention span of Americans is only weeks; can you expect more of the Iraqi's?

Posted by: jd watson at June 15, 2004 5:54 AM

I doubt the Iraqis will be paying much attention to us in a few weeks. Our attention span towards ourselves is infinite.

Posted by: oj at June 15, 2004 7:37 AM

He's not Hashemite, he's Shia, he's been excised from the ruling political structure, the same
cynical tact, they took with Sayyid Tayib, the
Iraqi Shia,as opposed to Faisal; hope the result
is not the same

Posted by: narciso at June 15, 2004 10:15 AM

OJ, how can you say that the LeCarre spy fantasy not work as a model for intelligence gathering (true), but insist that a similar bad spy movie novel tactic is behind this?

Posted by: Chris Durnell at June 15, 2004 2:41 PM

Chris:

We know Chalabi is close to folks in the Iranian government. We know he's close to folks in our government. We know that the returning exiles are fairly unpopular in Iraq. Someone is suddenly making a big deal about his ties to Iran and even he says it's helping him restore his credibility with his fellow Iraqis.

I have no problem with accepting that this could all be a confluence of coincidence, but it works out awfully well for all concerned.

Posted by: oj at June 15, 2004 3:15 PM
« DOES HE REALLY REPRESENT THEM AT THEIR BEST?: | Main | KNOWING YOUR ALLIES (AND YOUR ENEMIES): »