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Condi Rice congratulates Chalabi for his appointment as acting oil minister

by US THAT out of touch
AHMAD Chalabi, the one-time Pentagon favourite who fell from grace in Washington amid accusations he gave US intelligence to Iran, has received a congratulatory call from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about his new Iraqi Cabinet posts.
US officials said Ms Rice called the secular Shiite politician yesterday to congratulate him on becoming deputy prime minister and acting oil minister in Iraq's first elected government since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Once seen by the Pentagon as a possible leader of Iraq, Mr Chalabi fell from favour because of incendiary statements about allowing Baathists back into Iraq's government. He also had a history of providing dubious intelligence and contacts with Iran that spooked Washington.

Mr Chalabi, who denied accusations he passed on US intelligence to Iran, has proved a durable figure in Iraq despite the Pentagon's decision last year to cut off some $US340,000 ($439,730.99) in monthly payments to his Iraqi National Congress (INC).

US forces and Iraqi police raided his offices and home in Baghdad to search for evidence of suspected "corruption" by INC members, although Mr Chalabi himself was not a target.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in addition to offering her congratulations, Ms Rice spoke to Mr Chalabi "to discuss some of the issues still facing the government, in terms of inclusiveness and filling the other positions, and also how we go forward in cooperation".

Iraq swore in a new government yesterday, but five ministries and two deputy prime minister posts were left unfilled, highlighting the difficulties faced in forming a leadership uniting Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15185516%255E1702,00.html

After Iraq’s new government failed to name a permanent oil minister Thursday, the coveted post was given on a temporary basis to Ahmed Chalabi, the repatriated former exile who admitted giving the Bush administration and members of the media false information about Saddam Hussein’s weapons programs before the 2003 invasion.

Chalabi, who was also named as a deputy prime minister by Ibrahim Al-Jaafari, the country’s new prime minister, told Reuters he might be oil minister for only a short time, but one of his aides suggested that political disagreements over the selection of permanent ministry leaders might leave Chalabi in the position indefinitely.

Chalabi, a financier by trade, has no experience in the oil industry. An unnamed Iraqi oil executive told Reuters, "Chalabi won't let go of the oil ministry that easily -- now that he's finally got what he wants."

Chalabi’s checkered past includes a 1992 conviction in absentia for fraud by a Jordanian military court. He denied the charges and fled the country. In the same decade, Chalabi established the Iraqi National Congress, an exile group funded by the US that advocated the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. He reportedly experienced a falling out with senior US officials last year. Though unpopular among most Iraqis, Chalabi has worked recently to win favor with newly influential Iraqi leaders and senior Shi’ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani.

http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=1759
by repost
If ANYONE should get the Nobel Peace Prize, it should be my favorite Puppet- Ahmed Chalabi. No, really- stop laughing. Ahmed Chalabi is the one Iraqi politician we can all agree on. Iraqi political debates were never pretty. Lately, they’ve been worse than ever. I think, to a certain degree, we don’t really know how to debate. Sometimes, a debate will begin over a subject both debating parties actually agree upon and then it will escalate into a full-blown yelling match. It never fails to happen with politics.

A debate will usually begin about two current parties or politicians- say Allawi and Jaffari. Someone will say something like, “Well it’s too bad Allawi didn’t win… Now we’re stuck with that Da’awachi Jaffari…” Someone else will answer with, “Oh please- Allawi is completely American. We’ll never have our independence if he gets power.” A few more words will be exchanged in a ‘debating’ tone of voice. The voices will get sharper and someone will drudge up accusations… In no time it turns into a full-scale political brawl with an underlying religious intonation. No one knows just how it happens- how that frightening thing that is an Iraqi political debate develops and escalates so quickly.

At some point there is silence. This is the point when both sides are convinced that the other one is completely inane and ridiculously intractable. It’s sort of a huffy silence, with rolling eyes and lips drawn into thin slits of scorn.

I’ve learned the best way to mediate these arguments is to let them develop into what they will. Let the yellers yell, the shouters shout and the name-calling and innuendos ensue. The important part is the end- how to allow the debating parties to part friends or relatives, or (at the very least) to make sure they do not part sworn enemies for life. It’s simple, no matter what their stand is, all you have to do is get a couple of words in towards the end. The huffy silence at the end of the debate must be subtly taken advantage of and the following words murmured as if the thought just occurred that moment:

“You know who’s really bad? Ahmed Chalabi. He’s such a lowlife and villain.”

Voila. Like magic the air clears, eyebrows are raised in agreement and all arguing parties suddenly unite to confirm this very valid opinion with nodding heads, somewhat strained laughter and charming anecdotes about his various press appearances and ridiculous sense of fasion. We’re all friends again, and family once more. We’re all lovey-dovey Iraqis who can agree nicely with each other. In short, we are at peace with each other and the world…

And that is why Ahmed Chalabi deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.

http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/03/1725963.php
WASHINGTON (AP) Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called members of the new Iraqi government, including Ahmad Chalabi, a former Pentagon favorite who has emerged from political exile to gain temporary control over his country's oil wealth.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher described Rice's call to Chalabi as nothing more than her paying respect to an Iraqi minister.

''We've always shown respect for all the members of the Iraqi government,'' Boucher said Wednesday.

He said she has spoken with Foreign Minister Hoshya Zebari as well as Chalabi on Tuesday.

Chalabi, a secular Shiite, lost favor last year with his supporters at the top of the Defense Department over accusations he leaked intelligence to Iran and supplied flawed evidence that Saddam Hussein was hoarding weapons of mass destruction. Such an arsenal, which turned out not to exist, was the primary reason President Bush led the 2003 invasion that overthrew the Iraqi president.

As acting oil minister, Chalabi has control over the world's second-largest reserves of oil. His nephew, Ali Abdel-Amir Allawi, is finance minister.

Chalabi also faces a suspended charge of counterfeiting for allegedly reproducing old Iraqi dinars that were removed from circulation after Saddam's fall. The Interior Ministry refused to follow up on the warrant, and Chalabi was not arrested.

In Jordan, Chalabi is wanted for a 1992 conviction in absentia of embezzlement, fraud and breach of trust after a bank he ran collapsed with about $300 million in missing deposits. Chalabi, who denied wrongdoing, was sentenced to 22 years in prison but has not served none.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/124/wash/Chalabi_among_the_new_Iraqi_mi:.shtml

Concerns over Iraq oil minister
From correspondents in Washington
April 29, 2005

IRAQ'S choice of Ahmad Chalabi as acting oil minister has raised concerns that he is not the best person for the job because he has little energy experience and was once convicted of bank fraud, US energy experts said today.

Oil is Iraq's chief source of revenue as the nation struggles to rebuild.

Iraq now produces about 1.9 million barrels of crude oil a day and will try to boost output as it slowly repairs and replaces obsolete technology.

"You are to some extent, from the perceptions of many Iraqis, putting a fox in charge of the henhouse," said Anthony Cordesman, referring to Mr Chalabi.

Mr Cordesman is a Middle East expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies based in Washington.

Mr Chalabi is taking over the ministry at a critical time. It must make decisions on which companies get preference for oil sales, which contracts are honoured and which will be be renegotiated. The ministry also faces frequent sabotage against its oil pipelines.

"(Chalabi) is going to make it extremely easy for people to make charges about corruption and raise questions on how the oil money is distributed," said Mr Cordesman.

In 1992, a Jordanian military court found Mr Chalabi guilty of bank fraud. He denied the charges, fled Jordan and filed a lawsuit in the United States accusing the Jordanian government of framing him.

Today, Mr Chalabi said he would be acting oil minister for "a short time" and would not make any abrupt changes. He was appointed by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

US experts said a long-term assignment for Mr Chalabi could rock Iraq's oil ministry and the country's vital oil revenue stream.

Iraq has an estimated 115 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and at least 110 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

"What the Iraqi oil sector needs right now is security, transparency and stability, and Chalabi does not have a reputation for bringing any of those," said energy consultant David Goldwyn. He dealt with international energy issues during the Clinton administration.

"There's certainly potential for mischief-making," Mr Goldwyn said, adding that other cabinet members will keep a close eye on Mr Chalabi to maximise Iraq's revenue from oil sales.

If Mr Chalabi gets a permanent job at the oil ministry, even as a deputy rather than the oil minister, it will signal that politics rules over engineering, said Daniel Sternoff, director of geopolitics at Medley Global Advisors.

"The oil technocrats and engineers will be extremely unhappy if Chalabi is named full-time (minister or deputy minister)," said Mr Sternoff.

"These are people who suffered under Saddam and his over-politicisation of the oil ministry, choosing politics over what is best for Iraq and its oil industry."

However, John Lichtblau, an energy analyst at the PIRA Energy Group in New York, said Mr Chalabi needs to rely on the ministry's experienced workers and can't afford to replace them with friends.

"It does not really matter with foreign companies who the oil minister is at this point, because Iraq remains an unsafe place to do business," Mr Lichtblau said.

"The main problem is not any government policy, but the insurgents that try to block (oil) exports," he said.

The high-profile oil ministry job may be especially attractive to Mr Chalabi who has expressed interest in other top government positions, Mr Cordesman said.

"It's one of the most powerful positions in Iraq," Mr Cordesman said.

"He has political ambitions."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15122315%255E1702,00.html
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