LAST LAUGH:

King of Jordan to pardon Iraq's deputy PM over $300m bank fraud (Patrick Cockburn, 11 May 2005, Independent)

King Abdullah of Jordan has agreed to pardon Ahmed Chalabi, the controversial Iraqi political leader, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison for fraud after his bank collapsed with $300m in missing deposits in 1989. . .

The expected pardon, is the latest twist in the extraordinary career of Mr
Chalabi, now again in the ascendant as an important member of the Shia
coalition and the new Iraqi government. Only a year ago US soldiers raided
his house in Baghdad, put a gun to his head, arrested two of his supporters
and seized papers. He was accused of passing intelligence information to Iran.

Previously an ally of the neoconservatives and of the civilians in the
Pentagon whom he managed to convince of the need to topple Saddam Hussein,
Mr Chalabi sought new friends. He cultivated Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia
clergyman whose militia the US Army was trying to destroy. He became a
leader of one of the main factions in the United Iraqi Alliance, the Shia
coalition which triumphed in the election on 30 January. Again Mr Chalabi
has escaped not only political annihilation, but has emerged from a crisis
with his power enhanced.

One of the Administration's biggest mistakes in post-War Iraq was not using him effectively. Nice to see him make good though.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 11, 2005 11:22 PM