Sunday, August 08, 2004
So .. um .. the Iraqi puppet government has issued a warrant for the arrest of Ahmed Chalabi on counterfeiting charges and for the arrest of Salem Chalabi, chief kangaroo of the kangaroo court trying Saddam Hussein, on a murder rap. Here's a link to the AP's account:
Who knows what's really going on here ... maybe it's a frame-up, or at least a politically motivated action, designed to take out a viable opponent of New Iraq's current regime. Afterall, Ahmed has been quite successful in recent weeks in reinventing himself as a Shi'ite populist; He's been kissing up to Sadr, and Riverbend, for instance, mentions a rumor that Chalabi accompanied the ailing Sistani to London. But one would think that Allawi and "the American embassy" would have other priorities right now than worrying about Chalabi's political power given that large swaths of the country are in open revolt.
"They should be arrested and then questioned and then we will evaluate the evidence, and then if there is enough evidence, they will be sent to trial," said Judge Zuhair al-Maliky.
The warrants, issued Saturday, accused Ahmad Chalabi of counterfeiting old Iraqi dinars - which had been removed from circulation following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime last year, he said.
Ahmad Chalabi appeared to have been hiding the counterfeit money amid other old money and changing it into new dinars in the street, he said.
Police found the counterfeit money along with old dinars in Ahmad Chalabi's house during a May raid, he said.
Salem Chalabi, Ahmad Chalabi's nephew and the head of the tribunal trying Saddam, was named as a suspect in the June murder of the Haithem Fadhil, director general of the finance ministry.
Who knows what's really going on here ... maybe it's a frame-up, or at least a politically motivated action, designed to take out a viable opponent of New Iraq's current regime. Afterall, Ahmed has been quite successful in recent weeks in reinventing himself as a Shi'ite populist; He's been kissing up to Sadr, and Riverbend, for instance, mentions a rumor that Chalabi accompanied the ailing Sistani to London. But one would think that Allawi and "the American embassy" would have other priorities right now than worrying about Chalabi's political power given that large swaths of the country are in open revolt.
