Endgame for US Occupation in Iraq?

May 20,2004 | TM - This is it, endgame for the US occupation of Iraq. Growing up watching so many gangster movies in the US I have come to expect that the criminals always end up fighting one another in the end. They fight over the money they stole from the bank or they wrestle over the power gained in some takeover scheme. This is what I am reminded of as I read today's headline from Iraq today.

U.S. Soldiers Raid Chalabi's Home in Iraq

American soldiers surrounded the compound and armed Americans in civilian clothes and flak jackets were seen milling about. They wanted to search the house for wanted officials in Chalabi's party, the Iraqi National Congress. An Iraqi judge issued several warrants and would make details public later.

Chalabi said at a news conference that American soldiers burst into his bedroom carrying pistols.
"I am America's best friend in Iraq," Chalabi said. "If the CPA finds it necessary to direct an armed attack against my home, you can see the state of relations between the CPA and the Iraqi people."

The Iraqi politician launched a bitter attack on his former U.S. mentors and on Iraq complaining about U.S. plans to retain control of Iraqi security forces and maintain widespread influence over political institutions after the June 30 transfer of power from the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority to an Iraqi interim administration. What was the reaction of his handlers?

Pentagon halts payments to Chalabi's INC group

"The Pentagon has halted its monthly payments of 340,000 dollars to Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress group", Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said.

The story went on to say, Chalabi has long been viewed with distrust by the CIA and the State Department, but was closely aligned with hawks in the Pentagon, which flew him and 10,000 INC militia into southern Iraq during the US invasion of Iraq last April.

"There has been some very valuable intelligence that's been gathered through that process that's been very important for our forces, but we will seek to obtain that in the future through normal intelligence channels," Wolfowitz said.

Chalabi was the source intelligence for the Bush administrations belief that there were WMDs in Iraq. Saddam's mobile bio-weapons labs and several other key pieces of intelligence were confirmed by Chalabi intel. He was also the bedrock behind the famous Powell UN slide show that claimed Saddam had massive amounts of bio and chemical weapons. Now Chalabi needs a new alibi as it is plain to see that he is on the outs with the US.

The criminals waging an illegal war are now turning on each other, if this were Hollywood it is the end of the movie. Is peace and liberty for Iraq the twist ending?

Tivana