[NYTr] Chalabi back in action in Iraq

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[He's been Bush's fair-haired boy, then a major power-broker, 
then called an Iranian agent, then a corrupt scoundrel; now he's back,
despite the drumbeats for war with Iran. And it's not the first time,
either, that he's represented himself as a unifying force for various
factions in Iraq trying to rebuild infrastructure and restore services.
The Bush regime is even asking their major players do re-runs of
re-runs in its headless chicken floundering. -NY Transfer]

McClatchy via Info Clearing House - Oct 28, 2007
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/20893.html

Chalabi back in action in Iraq

By Nancy A. Youssef
McClatchy Newspapers

BAGHDAD — Ahmad Chalabi, the controversial, ubiquitous Iraqi politician
and one-time Bush administration favorite, has re-emerged as a central
figure in the latest U.S. strategy for Iraq.

His latest job: To press Iraq's central government to use early
security gains from the surge to deliver better electricity, health,
education and local security services to Baghdad neighborhoods. That's
the next phase of the surge plan. Until now, the U.S. military, various
militias, insurgents and some U.S. backed groups have provided those
services without great success.

That the U.S. and Iraqi officials are again turning to Chalabi, this
time to restore life to Baghdad neighborhoods, speaks to his resiliency
in this nascent government. It's also, some say, his latest effort to
promote himself as a true national advocate for everyday Iraqis.

Chalabi, in the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003,
provided White House and Pentagon officials and journalists with a
stream of bogus or exaggerated intelligence about Iraq's weapons
programs and ties to terrorism. He also suggested that he'd lead Iraq
to make peace with Israel and welcome permanent U.S. military bases,
which could apply pressure to Iran and Syria.

But Chalabi's proven a resilient politician since then and Iraqis yearn
for someone who can make the government help them. In sermons in the
holy Shiite city of Najaf and in Sunni newspapers alike, Iraqis here
often reject their central government, saying it has done nothing for
them since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Instead, the
government's critics say, local tribal leaders and residents
rejuvenated neighborhoods by pushing fighters out and securing the
streets.

U.S. officials maintain that it's up to the central government to
provide Iraqis with longer-term stability. Iraqis agree, especially
when it comes to services beyond the capability of neighborhood
councils, such as providing electricity, bringing doctors back into
neighborhoods, establishing and paying a police force and building a
school system, Traditionally, Iraq's central government delivered these
services.

"The key is going to be getting the concerned local citizens — and all
the citizens — feeling that this government is reconnected with them,"
Gen. David Petraeus, the top military commander here, said Saturday.
Chalabi "agrees with that."

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki named Chalabi as
head of the services committee, a consortium of eight service
ministries and two Baghdad municipal posts, that is tasked with
bringing services to Baghdad, the heart of the surge plan.

Chalabi "is an important part of the process," said Col. Steven Boylan,
Petraeus' spokesman. "He has a lot of energy."

Unless the government steps in, U.S. military commanders stationed in
small outposts throughout Baghdad fear their rebuilding programs and
other efforts to weaken one-time al Qaida and militia bastions will
collapse as soon as troops leave. If that happens, those groups will
dominate the neighborhoods again, they say.

Lt. Col. Ken Adgie, of National Park, N.J., commander of the 1st
Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment out of Fort Stewart, Ga., is in
charge of securing Arab Jabour, a southern Sunni Baghdad neighborhood
long under al Qaida control.

With no U.S. or Iraqi forces in this almost exclusively Sunni
neighborhood since the fall of Saddam's regime, al Qaida controlled it,
in part, by rationing food and electricity to the residents.

Adgie's troops now are building a health care facility, securing water
supplies and working with local concerned residents to secure the
area's main street, which is lined with a handful of mud shack stores.

"Right now, it's a Band-Aid. ...But boy it would be nice if we got the
government's help," Adgie said. "We refuse to let al Qaida creep back
in. ...You can't let up. It's slow constant pressure."

So far, the central government has not been effective. On Saturday,
Petraeus traveled to Arab Jabour with Chalabi, their first trip
together to a Baghdad neighborhood since Chalabi's new posting. During
the trip, Col. Terry Ferrell, 2nd brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division
described where he wants to see a new health care facility. Chalabi
chimed in: "Where is the Health Ministry in this?"

"That's your job," Petraeus replied.

And as Chalabi tried to assure the residents of Arab Jabour that the
government would help, they told him they had heard it before. So far,
the vice president, the governor of Baghdad and a top Iraqi police
commander have traveled to Arab Jabour promising to deliver 200 police
officers. None have shown up.

"We made life better here, not the government," said Abdul Raziq al
Jabouri, a newly-named security officer in Arab Jabour. "If we had
waited for the government we would have been gone by now. We are not
waiting. We don't expect anything."

So Chalabi has his work cut out for him.

Iraqi politicians have used service ministries to promote themselves
before, and some suspect that Chalabi took this post to reach a
populace that rejected him in the 2006 election when he won no official
seats in the government..

Since the fall of Saddam's regime, Chalabi has held several jobs
including deputy prime minister, head of the de-Baathification
committee and chairman of several investigative committees.

"I think Ahmad is trying to come back through this committee. But the
reality is that there has been no action," said Mithal Alusi, a secular
member of the parliament. "We Iraqi don't accept this."

But Chalabi's supporters reject that, saying he is the best suited to
work with several ministries. And Hussein al Shaheen, a Chalabi
advisor, said the government chose him because "everyone knows he can
do it."

As he met with residents of Arab Jabour concerned about security and
basic services, however, it was Chalabi the historian speaking, not
Chalabi the ombudsman.

He reminded them that Alexander the Great once traveled through their
neighborhood and that, at one point, 600,000 people lived in the area.

"We have a doctor among us," one resident remarked politely.

Minutes later, another muttered: "He cannot help us."

McClatchy Newspapers 2007