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November 3, 2015

Ahmed Chalabi, Iraqi Politician Who Helped Push U.S. to War, Dies at 71 
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Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi, who played a key role in pushing for the
2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, has died at the age of 71. Chalabi was the
former head of the Iraqi National Congress, a CIA-funded Iraqi exile
group that helped drum up pre-war claims that Saddam Hussein was
developing weapons of mass destruction and had links to al-Qaeda.
Chalabi provided bogus intelligence to the Bush administration, U.S.
lawmakers and journalists. As recently as last year, Chalabi was seen as
a possible candidate for Iraqi prime minister. During a visit to New
York in 2005, he denied his role in the Iraq War.

Ahmed Chalabi: "The fact that I perpetuated a case for war based on
weapons of mass destruction is an urban myth which is not rooted in
reality, and it continues to have a life of its own, despite the very
serious investigations that were conducted by bipartisan bodies of the
United States government, such as the Senate Intelligence Committee."

Ahmed Chalabi provided the Iraqi sources to journalists and
congressmembers who said Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass
destruction and had links to al-Qaeda, all of which turned out to be
false. Former advisers have said they raised major doubts about those
sources but were ignored. Ahmed Chalabi died today at his home in
Baghdad of a heart attack. He was 71.

 

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