INC fugitives on the run . . . in DC? A couple weekends ago, at a nearby party in DC, INC spokesman Entifad Qanbar, dapper in a navy suit, sat on a stone hedge huddling next to Christopher Hitchens, deep in conversation. I took the opportunity when Hitchens went inside to corner Qanbar for a few minutes' discussion of the fate of his colleague Ahmad Chalabi. In a follow up phone interview the next day, Qanbar politely reiterated the party line to me -- the charges of espionage and corruption against Chalabi and INC senior leadership were all a smear campaign perpetrated by George Tenet and the CIA, and Chalabi and INC leaders were willing to submit to a US Congressional investigation that would sort out the matter, he said. In a short interview on the day the New York Times published the explosive details of the espionage charges against Chalabi, I asked Qanbar if perhaps he was just not aware of what Chalabi or others in the INC might have done.

Qanbar: It’s all nonsense; it’s all not true. The INC never passed any information to the Iranians. The INC has no access to any confidential information in the US. And it is not our practice as the INC to pass information regarding the national security of the US or any other country to any other country. This is a smear campaign by the CIA and George Tenet against the INC. And we are ready to come to the US and stand for a Congressional investigation to find out the truth.

LKR: Is it possible that you just would not be aware if there was someone who was engaged in espionage in the INC?

Qanbar: No, we are very much aware of our intelligence work. We know exactly what to do.The premise that someone went to Iranians and gave secret information about the Iranians communications code being broken and then sent a message with the same broken code is nonsense. I don’t think a five year old would believe it.

Now it's getting clearer why Qanbar and Chalabi and their friends would prefer that such an investigation take place States-side. Today, the Washington Post's gossip columnist Richard Leiby reports that Qanbar has recently been notified that he himself is wanted as a material witness in the Iraqi investigation, while the INC's long time American advisor Francis Brooke and INC financial advisor Margaret "Peggy" Bartel, are the subject of Iraqi arrest warrants, alleged to have obstructed the Iraqi investigation. [Peggy Bartel's letter of outrage at what she witnessed during the US-Iraqi raid on Chalabi's compound was sent out to friends of Laurie Mylroie at the urging of Office of Special Plans veteran and Chalabi supporter Harold Rhode.] All the fugitives are on the lam, of course, right here in D.C. and Alexandria, VA. [All the fugitives, that is, except for INC intel chief -- and Brooke and Bartel business partner, Aras Habib Karim, who is reported to be on the lam in Iran. Who knew Tehran would turn out to be such a neocon safe haven?]. Leiby reports:

Times are tough for Washington supporters of Ahmed Chalabi, the suave exile whom neocons once touted to run Iraq. The latest fallout since Chalabi turned radioactive amid allegations that his group disclosed secrets to Iran: Two of Chalabi's U.S. aides told us they are facing arrest warrants in Iraq that allege obstruction of justice, and a third is being sought for questioning there as a material witness.

Francis Brooke, a veteran Washington political strategist for Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, said he and Margaret Bartel of Alexandria, who handled the party's books, learned of the obstruction charges in recent days after returning from Iraq. Entifahd Qanbar, an Iraqi American spokesman for the INC, said Saturday he'd received a court summons as a witness but, "it doesn't mention what type of charge." He added, "Until I find out that I'll receive due process I'm not going to turn myself in."

All three say they've done nothing wrong, but Chalabi loyalists have seen their star fall precipitously since Iraqi police, with the help of American troops and contractors, raided his headquarters last month. The United States has poured $40 million into the INC over the years, and Brooke said its $342,000-a-month subsidy will expire this month.

Brooke, 42, was part of the vanguard that pushed the Iraq Liberation Act through Congress in the Clinton administration. He wants to return to Iraq to answer the allegations, which stem from his conduct during the raid. "I did do a lot of yelling until I found the commanding officer, but that's all," he said. "I am a polite person to policemen."

Bartel, 52, told us: "I didn't do anything except ask where the warrant was. I didn't prevent them from doing anything. I did want to see what the legal basis was for the search and seizure. They were taking property that was bought by the U.S. government" for Chalabi.

"It's a political vendetta," Brooke told us, attributing the allegations to American occupation officials who have turned against Chalabi, who has not been charged with any offenses.

"Why in the hell am I under arrest instead of being given the chance to do the work that I have done better than any human being over the past decade? Good golly, what a waste of time," said the onetime beer industry rep, pouring himself the second Red Hook of the morning in the Georgetown townhouse that has served as an INC base since 1996.

Brooke is president and Bartel is director of Boxwood Inc., a Virginia corporation that Brooke said received Pentagon funds for Chalabi's party. Another director is Aras Karim Habib, who served as the Iraqi National Congress's intelligence chief and is now a fugitive from an Iraqi arrest warrant. (Several press reports say the CIA has long considered him a paid agent for Iranian intelligence; he has denied it.)...

Now this is truly explosive: Francis Brooke and Peggy Bartel are actually partners in a VA business with Aras Habib Karim who almost no one disputes is a long time paid Iranian intelligence agent?

This is needless to say quite interesting. More on Boxwood, Brooke, Bartel and their Pentagon-funded business relationship with Aras Habib Karim soon. Who initiated their working relationship? Who else might be serving as directors in Boxwood? How does Boxwood fit in with the constellation of companies and lobbying groups working for the INC? How does it fit in with the Rhode-Feith-Perle Mylroie crowd (if at all)? How will the inevitable leaking of more details of the INC espionage allegations affect Chalabi's American supporters, and those who shared offices and payrolls with them in Iraq, and indeed, in Washington? How will Bartel and Brooke's being the apparent subject of arrest warrants in the Iraqi investigation of INC corruption, extortion and kidnapping, affect the FBI and CIA counterintelligence investigations of senior INC leaders passing the most highly sensitive US intelligence to Iran espionage?

In other words, how long will Washington remain a safe haven for Chalabi's and Karim's friends and business associates?

Posted by Laura at June 13, 2004 09:56 AM