[Mb-civic] Iraq Issues Arrest Warrants for Chalabi, Nephew

[Michael Butler]

EDITOR'S NOTE | This story applies the premise that 'Iraq' is seeking the
arrest. In the sense that most Iraqis might agree that Chalabi has committed
crimes against Iraq, that might well be true. However, this action is being
taken by a U.S.-appointed, U.S.-militarily-backed interim-at-best
governmental entity. Chalabi, for the record, was heavily backed by the Bush
administration. He also had access to all top Bush administration officials.
In addition, Chalabi is accused of spying for Iran as he held court in the
Pentagon. The nephew, Salem Chalabi was going to be in charge of trying
Saddam Hussein in an 'Iraqi' court of law. We strongly urge our readers to
read between the lines on this one. -- ma.

Also see below:     
Chalabi from Iran: 'Charges Politically Motivated'    €

     Go to Original

    Iraq Issues Arrest Warrants for Chalabi, Nephew
    By Jamie Tarabay
    The Associated Press

     Sunday 08 August 2004

     Baghdad - Iraq has issued an arrest warrant for Ahmad Chalabi, a former
governing council member, on counterfeiting charges and another for Salem
Chalabi, the head of Iraq's special tribunal, on murder charges, Iraq's
chief investigating judge said Sunday.

     The warrant was a new sign of the fall of Ahmad Chalabi from the
centers of power. Chalabi, a longtime exile opposition leader, had been a
favorite of many in the Pentagon but fell out with the Americans in the
weeks before the U.S. occgupation ended in June.

     His nephew, Salem Chalabi, heads the tribunal that is due to try Saddam
on war crimes charges.

     "They should be arrested and then questioned and then we will evaluate
the evidence, and then if there is enough evidence, they will be sent to
trial," said Judge Zuhair al-Maliky.

     The warrants, issued Saturday, accused Ahmad Chalabi of counterfeiting
old Iraqi dinars - which had been removed from circulation following the
fall of Saddam's regime last year, he said.

     Ahmad Chalabi appeared to have been hiding the counterfeit money amid
other old money and changing it into new dinars in the street, he said.

     Police found the counterfeit money along with old dinars in Ahmad
Chalabi's house during a May raid, he said.

     Salem Chalabi was named as a suspect in the June killing of the Haithem
Fadhil, director general of the finance ministry.

     Both men were reportedly out of the country Sunday.

     Haidar al-Moussawi, Ahmad Chalabi's spokesman, said members of his
Iraqi National Congress had heard of the arrest warrants only through the
media.

     "Such a warrant has been issued, but no one called any of the accused
or gave them a chance before issuing the arrest warrant," he said.

     "These are very bad indications about the state of justice and law in
the new Iraq," he said.

     If convicted, Salem Chalabi could face the death penalty, which was
restored on Sunday, al-Maliky said. Any sentence for Ahmad Chalabi would be
determined by the trial judges, he said.

     Ahmad Chalabi was a senior member of the Governing Council, which ran
Iraq from the fall of Saddam until the end of the U.S. occupation. But he
fell out with the Americans, and allegations surfaced that he supplied
Iranians with classified U.S. intelligence on American monitoring of Iranian
communications.

   

    Go to Original 

    Iraq Issues Warrants for Chalabis
    By BBC News

     Sunday 08 August 2004

     An Iraqi judge says he has issued two arrest warrants for former
Governing Council member Ahmed Chalabi and his nephew, Salem.

     Ahmed Chalabi is wanted in connection with financial charges, Judge
Zuhair al-Maliki said.

     He said Salem Chalabi, the head of the tribunal trying Saddam Hussein,
is sought on suspicion of murder.

     Both men, who are out of the country, denied the charges and said they
were politically motivated.

     Ahmed Chalabi was once the Pentagon's favoured candidate to lead Iraq,
but he fell from favour amid allegations of links to Iranian hardliners and
concerns that he provided faulty intelligence in the run-up to the war.

     He said he had not been informed directly, but had heard of the
warrants through the media.

     "I'm now mobilised on all fronts to rebuff all these charges," he told
CNN from the Iranian capital, Tehran.

     Judge Maliki told Radio Sawa the warrant was issued against Ahmed
Chalabi in connection with counterfeiting money.

     "He is the prime suspect," he said.

     "They should be arrested and then questioned and then we will evaluate
the evidence, and then if there is enough evidence, they will be sent to
trial," he added.

     Fall from grace
    Analysts say the warrant is a new sign of Ahmed Chalabi's fall from the
centre of power.

     After decades in exile, Mr Chalabi was one of the first Iraqis to be
flown by the Pentagon to Iraq during the 2003 invasion, supposedly to allow
him to consolidate his political base in the country.

     But the relationship soured during the occupation and jockeying for
power that followed the US overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

     In May, US troops and Iraqi police raided Mr Chalabi's home and the
headquarters of his party, the Iraqi National Congress, in Baghdad.

     American officials announced then that the monthly payment of more than
$300,000 to the Iraqi National Congress was to be stopped.

  

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