Is this for real? From Juan Cole:

I have it from insiders that in April, 2003, Jay Garner let it slip to some of his staff that his charge was to turn Iraq over to Ahmad Chalabi within six months. The staffers were shocked and some contacted the State Department to see if this was known there. It was not. So they blew the whistle on Bush with Colin Powell. I was told that Powell then made a coalition with Tony Blair and that the two of them went to Bush and got him to change his mind.

The plan to put Chalabi in charge of Iraq was frankly idiotic. Chalabi had no grass roots. . . It later came out that some[one] . . . had let it slip to him that the US had broken the Iranian diplomatic codes. Chalabi is chummy with Tehran and let his friends among the Ayatollahs know this tidbit. As a result, the US can no longer closely track the Iranian nuclear program.

Not to distract from the main point, but that's the kind of information that might be useful were one to be concerned about weapons of mass destruction in the hands of terrorists.

But, is it for real that Garner was under instructions to install Chalabi? Orders from Doug "Ahmad who?" Feith? Rumsfeld? Cheney? Hey Knight Ridder: get on it!

Posted by Laura at October 1, 2004 02:08 PM