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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Why has De-Baathification reform failed?

Buried deep in the Damien Cave NYTimes article on failing benchmarks,
Sunnis supported the overhaul, and Shiites and Kurds were expected to fall in line after the Shiite prime minister and the Kurdish president announced the plan on March 26.

But the law was stymied by Ahmad Chalabi, who headed Iraq’s de-Baathification commission. Mr. Chalabi, the former Pentagon protégé, relies on the commission for an official role in Iraq’s government. Having just renovated a spacious office in the Green Zone, he has strongly opposed any effort to weaken his position or the country’s policy on former Baathists.

According to a senior official with the commission, Mr. Chalabi and members of his organization sabotaged the American-backed plan by rallying opposition among Shiite government officials in southern Iraq, then taking their complaints to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most powerful Shiite cleric.

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4 Comments:

  • Chalabi really is an insidious, malignant cancer, isn't he...

    By Blogger -epm, at 12:35 PM  

  • Yes, he is.

    And the DoD guys thought they could set him up and control him.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 1:53 PM  

  • "He may be a thug, but he's our thug."

    I trap we've fallen into time and time again. Like back in the '80s, there was this guy named Saddam....

    By Blogger -epm, at 10:18 AM  

  • Or a guy named Bin Laden....

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 10:55 AM  

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