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05/21/2004 Archived Entry: "Chalabi aide suspected"

Posted by steve @ 02:28 PM EST [Link]

THAT EXPLAINS THAT: One of the Ahmad Chalabi's home was raided this week is because Ameircan officials believe his intelligence chief is an Iranian spy.

Intelligence chief Aras Karim Habib, 47, is a Shia Kurd who ran a program for Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress which the Pentagon funded to gather Saddam Hussein-era documents and provide informants until it abruptly dropped its support this month. The Information Collection Program had received $340,000 a month since October 2002.

A U.S. intelligence source said that information about Karim's activities came in part from a detainee at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaida fighters are being held.

Another source with access to sensitive intelligence and who was interviewed separately confirmed that the United States had developed information leading the government to believe that "this guy is an agent of the Iranians."

Read on.

[Update - 2:34pm] Ummm, okay, according to Fox News Chalabi himself is suspected of spying for the Iranians.

U.S. officials believe they have "rock solid" evidence that Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi, once a darling of the American government, passed secrets to Iran, Fox News has learned.

"There is no need for an investigation because we're quite certain he did it," one senior Bush administration official said.

The official first described the evidence against Chalabi as "pretty solid" and then characterized it as "rock solid."