# DIA says Iran used INC to get US in Iraq? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 22, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481 "2004-05-22T04:25:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481/1 "2004-05-22T04:25:16Z")
Be honest, who’d saw this twist coming? I don’t klnow if this is going to stand the tests of time or not. So far there’s not much about it. But it’s pretty wild if true. **[Agency: Chalabi group was front for Iran](http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-uschal0522,0,340595.story?coll=ny-top-span-headlines)** _BY KNUT ROYCE WASHINGTON BUREAU May 21, 2004, 7:29 PM EDT_ The Defense Intelligence Agency has concluded that a U.S.-funded arm of Ahmed Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress has been used for years by Iranian intelligence to pass disinformation to the United States and to collect highly sensitive American secrets, according to intelligence sources. “Iranian intelligence has been manipulating the United States through Chalabi by furnishing through his Information Collection Program information to provoke the United States into getting rid of Saddam Hussein,” said an intelligence source Friday who was briefed on the Defense Intelligence Agency’s conclusions, which were based on a review of thousands of internal documents. An _ **administration** _ official confirmed that “highly classified information had been provided [to the Iranians] through that channel.” Patrick Lang, former director of the intelligence agency’s Middle East branch, said he had been told by colleagues in the intelligence community that Chalabi’s U.S.-funded program to provide information about weapons of mass destruction and insurgents was effectively an Iranian intelligence operation. [Aras Karim Habib](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46417-2004May21.html) The inquiries are focusing on allegations of corruption, kidnapping and robbery, and on a U.S. suspicion that one of Chalabi’s closest advisers is a paid agent of the Iranian intelligence service, according to U.S., INC and Iraqi police officials. The adviser, Aras Habib, has a long working relationship with the Defense Intelligence Agency and is now a fugitive. ©\* 2004 The Washington Post Company\* Apparently, this shit’s rolling up hill toward Chalabi too. [Ahmad Chalabi’s Fall From Grace](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/20/iraq/main618637.shtml) _May 21, 2004_ Meanwhile, Stahl reports that “grave concerns” about the true nature of Chalabi’s relationship with Iran started after the U.S. obtained “undeniable intelligence” that Chalabi met with a senior Iranian intelligence, a “nefarious figure from the dark side of the regime - an individual with a direct hand in covert operations directed against the United States.” \*©MMIV, CBS Broadcasting Inc \* ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481/2 "2004-05-22T04:26:39Z")
that should read: **DIA says Iran used INC to get US in Iraq?** ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481/3 "2004-05-22T04:34:01Z")
**[Chalabi suspected of giving U.S. secrets to Iran](http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/21/iraq.chalabi/)** \*Friday, May 21, 2004 Posted: 9:57 PM EDT (0157 GMT) Harris Whitbeck and David Ensor \* WASHINGTON (CNN) – U.S. intelligence officials on Friday said Ahmed Chalabi, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council with ties to senior Pentagon officials, gave intelligence secrets to Iran so closely held in the U.S. government that only “a handful” of senior officials know them. Meanwhile, government sources said the FBI is investigating who may have passed on the classified information to Chalabi. _© 2004 Cable News Network_ ---
**Author:** ![Zagadka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zagadka/32/7272_2.png) [@Zagadka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zagadka)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481/4 "2004-05-22T04:40:55Z")
Did I know that Chalabi was a no good, corrupt, scheming asshole? Well, yea. Did I expect him to be working for **Iran**? Nope, didn’t see that coming, though it makes sense - Chalabi gets Saddam out, gets power, Iran gets a friend in Iraq and gets rid of Saddam, and none of them lose a man doing it. Makes sense, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481/5 "2004-05-22T04:46:58Z")
**[Chalabi suspected of giving U.S. secrets to Iran](http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/21/iraq.chalabi/)** \*Friday, May 21, 2004 Posted: 9:57 PM EDT (0157 GMT) Harris Whitbeck and David Ensor \* WASHINGTON (CNN) – U.S. intelligence officials on Friday said Ahmed Chalabi, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council with ties to senior Pentagon officials, gave intelligence secrets to Iran so closely held in the U.S. government that only “a handful” of senior officials know them. Meanwhile, government sources said the FBI is investigating who may have passed on the classified information to Chalabi. _© 2004 Cable News Network_ [Chalabi dumped over alleged Iran links](http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/world/story/0,4386,252204,00.html) _MAY 22, 2004 SAT_ Administration officials believe his intelligence chief - named in an arrest warrant issued during a raid on Mr Chalabi’s home and offices on Thursday - is an Iranian spy. Intelligence chief Aras Karim Habib, 47, is a Shi’ite Kurd who ran a programme for the INC which the Pentagon funded to gather Saddam Hussein-era documents and provide informants until it abruptly dropped its support this month. The Information Collection Programme had been receiving funding of US$340,000 (S$582,600) a month since October 2002. _© The Straits Times_ **[Chalabi aide is suspected spy](http://www.nynewsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wochal213812290may21,0,7818446.story?coll=ny-worldnews-headlines)** Intelligence chief believed to be working for Iran ran a program that had its funding from the Pentagon abruptly cut off this month _By Knut Royce STAFF WRITER; Tom Brune of the Washington bureau contributed to this story. May 21, 2004, 12:00 AM EDT_ A U.S. intelligence source said 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. Karim, according to a 2001 article in the respected Intelligence Newsletter, had been selected by Washington to help prepare for the overthrow of Hussein. He is the son of the former secretary-general of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan. Shortly after the Ayatollah Komeinei assumed power in Iran, Karim began espousing fundamentalist Shia ideas and fled Iraq to take refuge in Iran. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481/6 "2004-05-22T04:55:37Z")
It will really be something if its true. Can you imagine if it comes out that the administration was manipulated into a war in Iraq party by dis-information and manipulated intellegence provided by Iran? Holy fucking hell! Of course, its WAY to early to be going there (seems pretty solid though so far). We don’t know if any of this is true. Even if partly true, we don’t know exactly how much disinformation was passed to the US through Chalabi, and how much information went the other way. Still and all, it calls into question the judgement of those who would trust such a guy with vital intellegence as well as with power…and believe the information he sent back. Didn’t they ever check this guy out deeply before?? Makes sense though from Iran’s perspective though, doesn’t it? They couldn’t get rid of Saddam and Iraq in years of bloody fighting. It must be some quite delicious irony that the US took care of Iraq and Saddam for them (if its true). Of course, were I Iran I’m not sure I’d be too comfortable with an American Army on my doorstep…not when I’m crossing the line with things like nuclear development and such. It might turn around and bite them on the ass someday… -XT ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481/7 "2004-05-22T04:57:43Z")
Some more about the INC’ ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481/8 "2004-05-22T05:09:11Z")
Some more about the INC’s ICP: [Pentagon cuts off INC intel funds](http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040518-025622-7112r) _By Pamela Hess UPI Pentagon Correspondent Published 5/18/2004 3:12 PM_ Government officials tell UPI there is no doubt that since the war ended the ICP has proven extremely valuable. ICP members – who generally speak Arabic as their first language – conduct a large portion of interviews of Iraqi prisoners that have yielded actionable intelligence about Iraqi insurgents fighting U.S. troops. Approximately one-fifth of the verbal debriefings of sources in Iraq are carried out by the ICP, say administration officials and military documents. “The INC/ICP provided the entire personnel list for the Iraqi Intelligence Service,” a government official told UPI. “There’s enough data that puts to rest the lie this program is not productive.” _Copyright © 2001-2004 United Press International_ _[cribbed from here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=4807543post4807543)_ Despite having been presented with the PCTEG’s info, Tenet remains skeptical of a signifigant relationship bewteen aQ and Hussein. Pease note there was no need for the PCTEG to act as a “conduit” to the “[intelligence community](http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/facttell/intelligence_community.html)” for the INC’s ICP. Also note that **the ICP had direct access to the ears of certain administration officials.** **[Officials: U.S. still paying millions to group that provided false Iraqi intelligence](http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/8010341.htm) _Feb. 21, 2004_** …Pentagon…$3 million [to] $4 million _this year_ for the Information Collection Program of the Iraqi National Congress, or INC, led by [Ahmed Chalabi](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3326581#post3326581)… INC’s Information Collection Program…“designed to collect, analyze and disseminate information” from inside Iraq, according to a letter the group sent… the Senate Appropriations Committee. The letter… said \*\* the information went directly to “U.S. government recipients” who included William Luti, a senior official in Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld’s office, and John Hannah, \*\* a top national security aide to Cheney. …[DIA] has concluded…that defectors turned over by the INC provided little worthwhile information, and that at least one of them…was a fabricator. …INC-supplied information…[in]…Bush administration’s arguments for war… charges… Saddam was concealing illicit arms stockpiles and was supporting al-Qaida. “To call all of it (INC intelligence) useless is too negative,” said the defense official… “We are heroes in error,” [said] Chalabi…“As far as we’re concerned we’ve been entirely successful. That tyrant Saddam is gone and the Americans are in Baghdad. _What was said before is not important._ The Bush administration is looking for a scapegoat. We’re ready to fall on our swords if he wants.” ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481/9 "2004-05-22T05:35:46Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > It will really be something if its true. Can you imagine if it comes out that the administration was manipulated into a war in Iraq party by dis-information and manipulated intellegence provided by Iran? Mind-boggling as that is, add on the DIA confirming the charges. I don’t know if I’m exactly prepared for such a surreal world. There’ve been rumors about Chalabi and Iran and intel for a bit now, apparently. > [@xtisme](#): > > Still and all, it calls into question the judgement of those who would trust such a guy with vital intellegence as well as with power…and believe the information he sent back. Didn’t they ever check this guy out deeply before?? State Dept and CIA gave him a pass after working with him. Chalabi was unable to account for millions of US taxpayer’s money, despite the fact that we even hired an accountanting team for him. Chalabi got cut-off. Then the Pentagon picked up the responsibility for INC funding. Still, one has to wonder given the trust that was shown to those other turncoats like Woodward and O’neill. > [@xtisme](#): > > Makes sense though from Iran’s perspective though, doesn’t it? They couldn’t get rid of Saddam and Iraq in years of bloody fighting. It must be some quite delicious irony that the US took care of Iraq and Saddam for them (if its true). Of course, were I Iran I’m not sure I’d be too comfortable with an American Army on my doorstep…not when I’m crossing the line with things like nuclear development and such. It might turn around and bite them on the ass someday… > -XT You must admit that we’re not quite ready to storm Tehran, though. If Iran were responsible for the INC fed lines abou the garlands and candy greetings in Baghdad for the US troops… **[Rethinking the Chalabi Connection](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5016031/site/newsweek/)** Why the Pentagon cut off funding to the Iraqi National Congress _WEB EXCLUSIVE Newsweek Updated: 12:55 p.m. ET May 20, 2004_ _ **Bush administration officials** _ say the latest intelligence indicates he may have been supplying the Iranians with information on U.S. security operations in Iraq that could “get people killed.” _ **Senior White House aides** _ have been briefed on this information, officials said. _© 2004 Newsweek, Inc._ ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481/10 "2004-05-22T05:54:52Z")
I wonder if Chalabi and Iran are to blame for the double-posts. 😃 [The CNN story says](http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/21/iraq.chalabi/index.html) “While Chalabi was a close adviser to the Pentagon, he was regarded as divisive and untrustworthy by the U.S. State Department.” And [the AP](http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CHALABI?SITE=APWEB&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT) adds that describes the CIA as “long suspicious of information provided by Chalabi’s group.” This makes it sound to me like some members of the administration trusted him and some didn’t. I wonder what this will do about the gulf that supposedly exists between the Pentagon and State Dept. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481/11 "2004-05-22T06:48:04Z")
**[Iraqi Doctor, Once on C.I.A.'s Payroll, Fights to Stay in U.S.](http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:gKLXqaj46OIJ:nucnews.net/nucnews/2000nn/0004nn/000411nn.htm+aras+%22iraqi+National+Congress%22+&hl=en)** _April 11, **2000** [http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/world/iraq-us-doctor.html](http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/world/iraq-us-doctor.html)_ Much of the questioning during the morning session today focused on Dr. Ali’s relationship with his cousin, Aras, whom American officials maintained in documents had a connection with Iranian intelligence agents and was, in part, the basis for the government’s decision to hold him as a security threat. One F.B.I. counterintelligence agent, John Peterson, acknowledged under cross-examination this morning that the relationship may have meant little. \*\*[Signs evident U.S. is changing Iraq policy](http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:wcLu2m2TjScJ:www.khilafah.com/home/category.php%3FDocumentID%3D1082%26TagID%3D2+aras+%22iraqi+National+Congress%22+&hl=en) \*\* _uploaded 24 **Feb 2001** UPI_ Aras Kareem – a man previously considered so dangerous in U.S. intelligence circles that his cousin, Ali Karim, who sought asylum was detained in a California jail in part because of his association with him – arrived last week in Washington for a series of meetings with the Defense Security Cooperation Agency on tactical training. “If the U.S. government is conferring with [Aras Kareem] it is certainly a change in view from when they imprisoned poor Dr. Ali because he was his cousin,” said former director of central intelligence James Woolsey, who was as lead attorney instrumental in helping Ali Karim and other Iraqis from the CIA operation attain freedom. But Kareem’s Pentagon meetings also show\*\* the U.S. government has begun implementing a plan to use the much-maligned INC in a strategy to foment revolution in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq\*\*. Warren Marik, the CIA case officer assigned to the INC between 1993 and 1996 \ …said it was in this period that Kareem increasingly became alienated from CIA operatives in the region. Eventually, [the CIA] …used Kareem’s open meetings with Iranian officials against him – tarring him as someone too close to the Mullahs in Tehran. **[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Iran Report](http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:frjFqEdCwPkJ:www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iran/2001/42-051101.html+aras+%22iraqi+National+Congress%22+&hl=en)** _5 November **2001** , Volume 4, Number 42_ “Al-Watan al-Arabi” reported on 26 October that the Jordanian leadership suspects that Tehran, Ankara, and Washington are up to something involving Iraq and Afghanistan, but that this started well before the current crisis in the region. The daily described a November 2000 meeting in Berlin that was attended by mid-level officials from Washington, Tehran, Islamabad, Ankara, and Moscow. Most of the Iranian participants came from the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ intelligence unit. The Iraqi aspect of these discussions – as well as separate Iran-U.S. discussions – focused on the future role of the Tehran-based Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and its chairman, Ayatollah Baqir al-Hakim. Tehran called on Washington to cease its support for the Iraqi National Congress under Ahmad Chalabi. Washington supposedly responded to this request positively, and Mohammad Hadi and Ahmad al-Bayyati of the SCIRI have been in close contact with the Americans. “Al-Watan al-Arabi” reported that Washington at the time suggested a 44-year old Shia Kurd named Aras Karim as an opposition leader that all sides might accept _Copyright © 2002. RFE/RL_ \*\*[Chalabi’s forces enter Baghdad](http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:BSomdTV9lasJ:www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php%3Ft%3D6356%26highlight%3D+aras+%22iraqi+National+Congress%22+&hl=en) \*\* Sharon Behn and Paul Martin THE WASHINGTON TIMES - Published April 17, 2003 “I cannot wait to find the grave of my first cousin, who Saddam’s men murdered in public 13 years ago,” declared an emotional Aras Kareem, **leader of the about 700-strong Free Iraqi Forces.** > [@SimonX](#): > > [A few thoughts about some of those Free Iraqi Forces, the INC’s militia, and where they are today.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=256284) \*\*[THE POWER-BROKERS](http://www.veteransforpeace.org/The_power_brokers_041303.htm) \*\* _Sunday Herald - 13 April 2003_ Other Iraqis involved in a future government – at the behest of Wolfowitz – include INC members Salem Chalabi (Chalabi’s nephew) and Aras Habib. Habib’s cousin, Dr Ali Yassin Karim, a former medic with the CIA, was nearly kicked out of the agency but was saved by the CIA’s James Woolsey. **[’Nazi’ files incriminate top Iraqis](http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:Wu1LcEf6LAUJ:www.nohra.ca/magazine/news/nazifiles.htm+aras+%22iraqi+National+Congress%22+&hl=en)** _THE SUNDAY TIMES (London) April 20, 2003 Marie Colvin, Baghdad_ Chalabi’s discovery of the files followed work by an underground network begun in 2000 and called the Information Collection Program, run by Aras Karim. The capture of the archives is part of what Chalabi believes must be Iraq’s next step: de-Ba’athification, which he likens to the denazification of Germany after the second world war. **[In denial: the big cards in Saddam’s pack](In denial: the big cards in Saddam’s pack)** \*Marie Colvin, Baghdad May 04, 2003 \* Aras Karim, head of the INC’s effort to capture leading members of Saddam’s ruling Ba’ath party, was exasperated. He had brought in al-Tikriti but gained little information that would help in his quest for Saddam. **[Chronicle of a war foretold: on the move with Ahmad Chalabi, the man who would be king](http://articles.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1111/is_1838_307/ai_105367408)** _Harper’s Magazine, July, 2003 by Charles Glass THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2003, NORTHERN IRAQ VIA TEHERAN, IRAN_ Chalabi’s chief of operations, a young Kurd named Aras Karim, tells us what the border protocol will be. **[INC Intel Program](http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:_l1vo1m7osoJ:www.mail-archive.com/sam11%40erols.com/msg00254.html+aras+%22iraqi+National+Congress%22+&hl=en)** \*From: \*_Laurie Mylroie \*\* Subject: INC Intel Program, NY Sun Date: Mon, 01 Mar 2004 15:58:15 -0800 The New York Sun March 1, 2004, p. 1_ Since December, the ICP is turning into what may be the intelligence service for a sovereign Iraq, tentatively being dubbed either the Iraqi Military Intelligence Request or the Iraqi Security Service. Under the leadership of longtime INC spy chief, Aras Habib Karem, the organization has expanded its ranks to include intelligence operatives from the two major Kurdish parties, the INA and Sciri. Mr. Karem is an acting deputy at the Ministry of Interior, but his post has yet to be approved by L. Paul Bremer. In its intelligence service capacity, the ICP has screened applicants to the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, a 4,000-strong Iraqi unit trained by the 1st Armored Division that has led to the disruption of terror cells. The Iraqi commander of the new battalion,Ya’arub al-Hashimi, was a Major under the INC’s old armed militia. The CIA station in Baghdad this month has started talks with the INC on taking over responsibility for the program from the DIA, according to American and ICP officials. One ICP official told the Sun last week, “The CIA has expressed an interest in the program and taking it over. We are now discussing it.” \*\*[Crime and Politics](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5024660/site/newsweek/) \*\* Why did U.S. and Iraqi forces raid Ahmad Chalabi’s home? The real reason was a widening trail of corruption that has little to do with his political agenda _WEB EXCLUSIVE By Michael Hirsh Newsweek Updated: 5:58 p.m. ET May 20, 2004_ [The Central Criminal Court of Iraq] …is also investigating whether INC officials, including Chalabi and his intelligence chief, Aras Habib, misused the Baath Party files they seized upon being helped into Iraq early by the U.S. military. Chalabi ultimately became head of the De-Baathification Committee, and U.S. officials believe that some Iraqis have been threatened with blackmail by being identified as Baath Party members if they declined to do the INC’s bidding, the CPA official said. “Just recently we learned of a situation where a senior official in the Ministry of Science and Technology refused to sign off on a contract brought in by the INC. He felt it was overpriced or that there was something else wrong with it. Because he refused, the minister and the De-Baathification Committee included his name on the list [of Baath Party] members, and they sent a letter saying you’re a Baathist and you’ll be eliminated.” The official also said about 1 billion dinars allocated for de-Baathification has mysteriously disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![borax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/838e76/32.png) [@borax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/borax)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481/12 "2004-05-22T07:34:41Z")
Jumpin Jesus on a pogo stick! This would be big news. BIG news. But for now, all we have is an “intelligence source” and an incredibly ironic storyline that seems to piece recent discoveries together. Is it just me or is everything coming out of Iraq sounding increasingly more surreal? ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481/13 "2004-05-22T07:39:22Z")
In the battle against the Axis of Evil, the Axis of Stupid in Washington doesn’t seem to be doing too well. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481/14 "2004-05-22T07:47:21Z")
Am I the only one who thinks this is so much GWB CYA BS? “Oh, the Iraq fiasco wasn’t due to the stupidity of the neocons in the White House, they were just innocent victims of a scheme by that _super-genius undercover mastermind_ Chalibi!” :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Publius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@Publius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Publius)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481/15 "2004-05-22T07:49:23Z")
Richard Sorge, eat your heart out. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481/16 "2004-05-22T08:05:51Z")
**[The Radicalization of James Woolsey](http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:bY6QFQoHprwJ:www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/wools.htm+aras+chalabi&hl=en)** He was the head of the C.I.A. He worked on security issues under presidents from Nixon to Bush. He was the consummate Washington player. Then he took a pro bono case against the government, and he has never been the same. \*By ANDREW COCKBURN July 23, 2000 \* Now, in cross-examination by Woolsey and his fellow counsel, it emerged that all along, in the background, the C.I.A. had been pulling the strings. F.B.I. agents testified that Ali had been targeted because his cousin, Aras, the resistance commander in northern Iraq, was deemed by the C.I.A. to be on the Iranian payroll. Former colleagues of Aras’s, including his leader, Ahmad Chalabi, and Warren Marik, a former agency case officer who had worked closely with him, testified eloquently and convincingly that the charges were groundless. \*\*[Articles of Med Intelligence](http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://medintelligence.free.fr/arirak.htm&prev=/search%3Fq%3Daras%2Bchalabi%26num%3D100%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26newwindow%3D1%26c2coff%3D1%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN%26scoring%3Dd) \*\* Iraq 1999 - 2001 _March 16, 2001_ But it is not all! the Pentagon chose Aras Karim to control the action on the ground - the organization of a vast rising and insurrection, only that - instead of Ahmed Chalabi, the foal of the CIA, which admittedly hardly showed effectiveness in the control of the opposition to the mode of Baghdad. There would be nothing to repeat there - Aras Karim is a true professional - if this last were not Kurdish Iraqi, converted with the Shiism after the seizure of power in Teheran by the ayatollah Komeyni. Constrained to exile itself, it engages in Pasdarans then, after the first war of the Gulf, it joined in Kurdistan Massoud Barzani, leader of the PDK, which sends it in its services of information. It is there that it binds with the power station of langley and Turkish MIT. _( [if you read French](http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:J0xF9SJpvdAJ:medintelligence.free.fr/arirak.htm+aras+chalabi&hl=en) )_ **[Ahmed Chalabi, exiled returned to court the Bedouins](http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://irak.figaro.net/enjeux/20030411.FIG0756.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Daras%2Bchalabi%26num%3D100%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26newwindow%3D1%26c2coff%3D1%26safe%3Doff%26scoring%3Dd)** The banker with the sulfurous reputation has the support of the United States _Nasiriyya: of our special correspondent Philippe Gélie [April 12, 2003]_ With the assistance of the Americans, who misent on this banker with the reputation sulfurous but acquired with their cause, it could deploy 600 men-at-arms in Nasiriyya and 400 others in Kurdistan. All carry to their handle the escutcheon of the FIF, initials of the “free Combatants of Iraq”, army of the shade since ten years. The FIF started yesterday for the first time to patrol with the American special forces in the area of Ur, fatherland of Abraham, on the edges of Euphrate. “We excavate the houses and the cars, and we warn the baasists that, if they are not held quiet, we will stop them”, explains **colonel Aras Habib Karim** , ordering “free Combatants” _( [if you read French](http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:6GJGRA_zElUJ:irak.figaro.net/enjeux/20030411.FIG0756.html+aras+chalabi&hl=en) )_ ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481/17 "2004-05-22T08:07:42Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Am I the only one who thinks this is so much GWB CYA BS? “Oh, the Iraq fiasco wasn’t due to the stupidity of the neocons in the White House, they were just innocent victims of a scheme by that _super-genius undercover mastermind_ Chalibi!” :dubious: Not much C in that CYA ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481/18 "2004-05-22T08:18:55Z")
> [@SimonX](#): > > that should read: > > **DIA says Iran used INC to get US in Iraq?** Maybe a Wandering Mod’ll fix it? > [@borax](#): > > Is it just me or is everything coming out of Iraq sounding increasingly more surreal? Nothing quite as bizarre as the Mousaoui-Berg connection, yet. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481/19 "2004-05-22T13:30:23Z")
It would be easy to overestimate the importance of this. Just talking out of my Nixon, you understand, but it would appear that most of the disinformation had to do with Saddam’s nuclear threat, and there was an ample supply of contradictory data. Besides, it’s not like we need to believe that GeeDubya’s decision to go to war had anything to do with a perceived threat, real or imagined. He was going to war regardless, the Iranians needn’t have bothered. But if it were true that the Iranians cooked this shit up and served it, we should most likely begin surrender negotiations at the earliest. We need George Smiley, and all we got is Smilin’ George. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481/20 "2004-05-22T16:17:39Z")
Don’t forget that they invented chess in Iran (okay, Persia, but same diff). Looks like we’ve been mated. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dia-says-iran-used-inc-to-get-us-in-iraq/246481.md?page=2)