Chalabi returns to the scene of the crime? What’s up with that?
Though his personal electoral base is limited he has forged links with fellow Shi’ite groups, including nationalist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, and there is speculation he will put himself forward as prime minister, as he did after January’s ballot.I hope Fitzgerald hands him a subpoena.Some U.S. officials have played down speculation, however, that the trip to Washington indicates an American willingness to promote Chalabi in that role.
“We’ve invited him to the U.S. I wouldn’t read more into it than that,” one official in Baghdad told reporters last week, pointing out Chalabi’s major operational role in handling Iraq’s budget and his position as coordinator of the oil industry.
“We have operational interests to discuss with the man and we’re going to do that,” the official said.