by Brendan Lalor
During the lead-up to war and the more intense phase of post-war searching for the phantom WMDs, Ahmed Chalabi was the point-man for the Administration on Iraq — the man who funneled phoney “intelligence” (from Iran) and led the New York Times‘ “stenographer,” Judith Miller on goose-chases in the desert. To get an idea of just how connected Chalabi is with Administration officials, take a look at the photo gallery.
Now that Chalabi has fallen on hard times, it looks like the CIA-linked Iyad Allawi may be the Administration’s new candidate to fill those shoes. Signs are that he may be willing, like Chalabi, to manipulate the truth for political purposes. He is, as the Independent reports, “the person through whom the controversial claim was channelled that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction could be operational in 45 minutes.” It remains to be seen how Allawi’s links to the CIA will go over with the Iraqi public.
