Ahmed Chalabi

Ahmed Chalabi
أحمد الجلبي
Chalabi in 2003
Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq
In office
1 May 2005 – 20 May 2006
Prime MinisterIbrahim al-Jaafari
Preceded byRowsch Shaways
Succeeded byBarham Salih
Minister of Oil
In office
16 April 2005 – 1 January 2006
Prime MinisterIbrahim al-Jaafari
Preceded byBahr al-Ulloum
Succeeded byHussain al-Shahristani
President of the Governing Council of Iraq
In office
1 September 2003 – 30 September 2003
LeaderPaul Bremer
Preceded byIbrahim al-Jaafari (as prime minister)
Succeeded byAyad Allawi
Personal details
Born
Ahmed Abdel Hadi Chalabi

(1945-10-30)30 October 1945[1][2]
Kadhimiya, Kingdom of Iraq
Died3 November 2015(2015-11-03) (aged 70)
Kadhimiya, Iraq
Political partyIraqi National Congress
SpouseLeila Osseiran
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology
University of Chicago
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with unknown parameter "Children"
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with unknown parameter "Father"

Ahmed Abdel Hadi Chalabi[3] (Arabic: أحمد عبد الهادي الجلبي;‎ 30 October 1945 – 3 November 2015) was an Iraqi dissident politician and founder of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) who served as the President of the Governing Council of Iraq (37th Prime Minister of Iraq) and a Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq under Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

He was interim Minister of Oil in Iraq[4] in April–May 2005 and December 2005 – January 2006 and Deputy Prime Minister from May 2005 to May 2006. Chalabi failed to win a seat in parliament in the December 2005 elections, and when the new Iraqi cabinet was announced in May 2006, he was not given a post. Once dubbed the "George Washington of Iraq"[5] by American supporters, he was initially a CIA-backed operative,[6] who later fell out of favor, with US Special Forces raiding his private residence in Baghdad only one year after the invasion of Iraq.[7] He later came under investigation by several U.S. government agencies after switching his allegiances to become an instrument of pro-Iranian influence in Iraqi politics.[8][9]

In the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Iraqi National Congress (INC), with the assistance of lobbying powerhouse BKSH & Associates,[10] provided a major portion of the information on which the Office of Special Plans based its condemnation of the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, including reports of weapons of mass destruction and alleged ties to al-Qaeda. Most, if not all, of this information has turned out to be false and Chalabi has been called a fabricator.[11][12] Along with this, Chalabi also subsequently boasted, in an interview with the British Sunday Telegraph, about the impact that their faulty intelligence had on American policy.[13] These factors led to a falling-out between him and the U.S. government.[12] Furthermore, Chalabi was found guilty in the Petra Bank scandal in Jordan.

In January 2012, a French intelligence official stated that he believed Chalabi to be "acting on behalf of Iran".[14] In 2008, Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance Director Jay Garner also stated that he believed Chalabi was an Iranian agent.[15]

  1. ^ "Ahmed Chalabi and the "liberation" of Iraq". 30 April 2004.
  2. ^ "When the Firing Stops". Los Angeles Times. 7 April 2003.
  3. ^ Sometimes transcribed as Ahmad al-Jalabi.
  4. ^ "Chalabi Named Iraq Oil Minister". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  5. ^ The New Republic, "Are Foreign Rebel Leaders Duping The American Right, Again?", 11 August 2003
  6. ^ "The Iraqi Exile Who Helped Push the U.S. to War". Slate Magazine. 21 April 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  7. ^ Filkins, Dexter; Fisher, Ian (21 May 2004). "THE STRUGGLE FOR IRAQ: RANSACKING; IRAQIS AND G.I.'S RAID THE OFFICES OF AN EX-FAVORITE". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  8. ^ Isikoff, Michael (14 May 2008). "Iraq's Chalabi Loses Post Over Ties to Iran". Newsweek. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  9. ^ Chan, Sewell (3 November 2015). "Ahmad Chalabi, Iraqi Politician Who Pushed for U.S. Invasion, Dies at 71". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  10. ^ Adam Roston, Chalabi's Lobby The Nation 3 April 2008
  11. ^ "The Scribe". typepad.com. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  12. ^ a b Salaheddin, Sinan (3 November 2015). "Ahmed Chalabi: Politician who furnished Bush and Blair with the false information that led to the allied invasion of Iraq". www.independent.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  13. ^ Fairweather, Jack; La Guardia, Anton (19 February 2004). "Chalabi stands by faulty intelligence that toppled Saddam's regime". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  14. ^ Mekhennet, Souad (25 January 2012). "In Bahrain, Worries Grow of Violent Shiite-Sunni Confrontation". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  15. ^ "Bush's War: Part Two". Frontline. Season 26. Episode 6. 25 March 2008. PBS. WGBH. Transcript. Retrieved 18 April 2024. To this day, I think Chalabi worked both sides of the street. I think he was working with Iranians.