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11/09/2005:
"Tehran Backing Chalabi as Iraq's Next PM"
Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi deputy prime minister and leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) party, has won the conditional support of the Iranian leadership for his decision to contest the elections independently of the "Unified Iraqi Coalition." Senior officials in Tehran have also expressed their support for Chalabi as the prime minister after the Iraqi elections to be held in mid-December if he wins enough seats in parliament that qualifies him to compete with the other likely leading candidates former Prime Minister Dr. Iyad Allawi, incumbent Prime Minister Dr. Ibrahim al-Jafari, and Adel Abdul Mahdi, the prominent leader in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution (SCIRI) and vice president.aawsat.com
Washington elite bring Chalabi in from the cold
Ahmed Chalabi comes in from the cold today, arriving in Washington to meet senior Bush administration officials for the first time in two years - despite lingering allegations that the Iraqi politician provided bogus pre-war intelligence, and a continuing investigation into whether he passed US secrets to Iran.
The investigation began 17 months ago, after US intelligence officials alleged that he or his aides had informed Tehran that Washington had broken Iran's spy codes. Iraqi forces, backed by US troops, raided Mr Chalabi's offices in May last year, and the Baghdad authorities issued an arrest warrant for his security chief, Araz Habib, accusing him of being an Iranian agent.
Mr Chalabi and his organisation, the Iraqi National Congress, denied all the charges and claimed that the CIA was out to smear him. At the time Condoleezza Rice, then national security adviser, promised a criminal investigation into the charges, but it appears to have made little progress. Mr Chalabi, now Iraq's deputy prime minister, has offered to give evidence, but, his lawyer has said, the FBI failed to respond; nor have his closest supporters in the Pentagon been questioned. After a few months as a fugitive, Mr Habib is reported to have returned to Baghdad.
Okay so the Iranian government (or elements of it) and the neocons are in alignment. Surprise surprise.