Zerwürfnis zwischen Irak-Krieg-Antreiber und Bush

--- Die Liebe zwischen Washington und Achmed Tschalabi ist erloschen. Tschalabi wanderte unter Saddam Hussein aus dem Irak in die USA aus und wurde dort zu einem Hauptbefürworter des Entmachtungskriegs gegen den Bagdader Diktator. Doch nun, wo es im Irak mit der Demokratisierung einfach nicht voran geht, finden Bush und der Ex-Exil-Iraker nicht mehr zueinander. So hat das US-Militär nun sogar das Büro des ehemaligen Geistesgenossen durchsucht. Die New York Times erklärt einige Hintergründe: The intelligence about unconventional weapons that his Iraqi National Congress helped feed to senior Bush administration officials and data-starved intelligence analysts — evidence that created the urgency behind the march toward war — was already crumbling. Intelligence officials now argue some of it was fabricated. The much-discussed, much-denied effort by Pentagon officials to install him as Iraq's leader had already faded. By Thursday morning, when his home and office were raided by the Iraqi police and American troops seeking evidence of fraud, embezzlement and kidnapping by members of his Iraqi National Congress — and perhaps an explanation of his dealings with Iranian intelligence — Mr. Chalabi was already engaged in open political warfare with the Bush administration. Now he says that with the liberation of Iraq, the United States should get out of the way. "My message is let my people go, let my people be free," he said, clearly angry that his bedroom had been invaded and that his computers and papers had been confiscated. "We are grateful to President Bush for liberating Iraq, but it is time for the Iraqi people to run their affairs." Mehr dazu in Spiegel Online und in Telepolis.

Update: In der Blogosphäre wird derweil gemunkelt, dass Tschalabi nur als "ordentlicher", weil mit den USA streitender Iraker aufgebaut und danach als heimliche Puppe Washingtons das Land führen soll.