Birds of a feather...

So with whom did Laura Bush hang out the last State of the Union address? The White House tells us:

Special Guests of Mrs. Bush at the State of the Union

[...]

Dr. Ahmed Chalabi Iraqi Governing Council Member Dr. Chalabi is founder and head of the Iraqi National Congress (INC). He is also a mathematics professor and a businessman.

Photo evidence:

That's Chalabi directly behind Laura Bush.

•  asdf

  who's the man next to Lady McBush that appears to be the focus of the applause?

  by Trix on Thu May 20, 2004 at 07:41:19 PM PDT

  •  Is wish Chalabi had been recognized that night.

    That would've made a priceless photo, with everyone applauding and what not.

    by machopicasso on Thu May 20, 2004 at 07:45:23 PM PDT

  •  president of igc

    Dr. Adnan Pachachi, President of the Iraqi Governing Council

    by pyrrho on Thu May 20, 2004 at 07:57:50 PM PDT

  •  no one here but us Ficus...

    
    

    by the threat is democracy on Thu May 20, 2004 at 09:21:28 PM PDT

  •  Yeah right.

       And we're supposed to believe that this guy is now a double agent for Iran. They just want to dump AhMAD.

    by Almo on Fri May 21, 2004 at 12:28:03 AM PDT

    •  Or so the CIA wants us to think

      And we're supposed to believe that this guy is now a double agent for Iran.

      Right according to CBS

      Senior U.S. officials told 60 Minutes Correspondent Lesley Stahl that they have evidence Chalabi has been passing highly-classified U.S. intelligence to Iran.

      The evidence shows that Chalabi personally gave Iranian intelligence officers information so sensitive that if revealed it could, quote, "get Americans killed." The evidence is said to be "rock solid."

      Sources have told Stahl a high-level investigation is underway into who in the U.S. government gave Chalabi such sensitive information in the first place.

      So there are really two issues.  This sounds like it has to be the CIA that has found out from the Iran side both that the info came from Chalabi and that it included  things he should not have known.

      Sounds to me like more CIA revenge on the Pentagon civilians.

      But it might not be the real reason for the raid.   It still seems likely to me that the reason was a fear of a plot to take more power before June 30, and that the CIA sees the still-unexplained raid as an opportunity to drop this bomb aimed at both Chalabi and his pentagon supporters.

      by Fred in Vermont on Fri May 21, 2004 at 04:08:10 AM PDT

•  That is Adnan Pachachi as well...

  to Mrs. Bush's left.
  any of the assassainated IGC (sic) members in the photo??

  by susanp on Thu May 20, 2004 at 07:41:29 PM PDT

•  Is there

  such a thing as a slim conservative, if there is I must have missed that issue.
  Oh, thats why they are called fat cats. Sorry felines, I apologize!
  Peace!
  ABB&B!!!

  by PC on Thu May 20, 2004 at 07:43:12 PM PDT

•  Compassion!

  by praktike on Thu May 20, 2004 at 07:44:05 PM PDT

•  And the caption to that photo is:

  "No, please, no more applause. Just send cash instead".

  by wilfred on Thu May 20, 2004 at 07:44:39 PM PDT

  •  And send it we did:

    TPM says, Ahhh nothing like money well spent ...

    I donated to ePluribus Media; kindly join me: "I participate therefore I am...."

    by libby on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:03:55 PM PDT

•  talking point

  Sure he was there, but this was before he did anything bad.

  Insert sarcasm as necessary.

  by punishinglemur on Thu May 20, 2004 at 07:45:36 PM PDT

  •  tell it to the people's representatives next week

    U.S. Panel Vetting WMD Intelligence Starts with Iraq

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A commission set up by President Bush (news - web sites) will begin examining the quality of U.S. intelligence on weapons of mass destruction next week with a look at claims that triggered the war against Iraq (news - web sites), a spokesman said on Thursday.

    The bipartisan commission, headed by former Virginia governor and senator Charles Robb, a Democrat, and appeals court judge Laurence Silberman, a Republican, will compare prewar intelligence about weapons in Iraq with on-site investigations since then, which have so far failed to find evidence of a WMD program.

    McCain's on the panel, and the first briefings are May 26 and 27.  On the bright side, for BushCo:

    Unlike the hearings of the "9/11 Commission" probing the Sept. 11 attacks, the WMD panel's sessions will be closed to the public because so much of the material is classified and sensitive. The WMD commission has not yet decided if its final report, due at the end of March 2005, will be made public.

    Even so, there will be questions about the INC fundathon, just for starters.  And the answers may determine the nature and import of the leaks.
    

    by musing graze on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:16:40 PM PDT

•  That photo taken only 121 days ago

  I gotta believe all those hard drives they removed from his office had embarrassing stuff for ButchCo, not iranian info.

  After all, if he was suspected of being a iranian agent, would he be in Abu Grahb right now.

  by Al Rodgers on Thu May 20, 2004 at 07:51:59 PM PDT

  •  actually...

    After all, if he was suspected of being a iranian agent, would he be in Abu Grahb right now.

    he'd probably be held at the Baghdad International Airport prison. Abu Ghraib is where we keep the innocent people.

    by Trix on Thu May 20, 2004 at 07:54:56 PM PDT

•  heh

  just got some wingnut email CCd to me with some cheesy picture and the comment:

  "I hope no one forgets what we are trying to do in thath foran land. KEN"  (sic)

  HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA...  

  what's the capital of iraq, ken?
  where IS iraq, ken?
  sorry - central america doesn't mean kansas, ken.

  by professorhojo on Thu May 20, 2004 at 07:52:41 PM PDT

  •  what's the frequency Kenneth??!?

    by the threat is democracy on Thu May 20, 2004 at 07:53:51 PM PDT

    •  "Get out of the way, Emily"

      by Earl from Ohio on Thu May 20, 2004 at 07:55:21 PM PDT

      •  yeah but

        did you see her photo? she's kinda hot.

        by praktike on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:03:23 PM PDT

        •  In a scary neocon kind of way

          All the more for her to take her place in the lexicon.

          by Earl from Ohio on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:06:01 PM PDT

          •  Let's try that again...

            All the more reason for her to take a place in the lexicon.

            by Earl from Ohio on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:07:36 PM PDT

        •  link?

          n/t

          by Trix on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:13:05 PM PDT

          •  link

            link

            btw, it makes no sense to put n/t in the body of the message - put it in the title.

            by praktike on Thu May 20, 2004 at 09:17:04 PM PDT

•  Almost as much fun as...

  knowing who George the First was meeting with the night before the 9/11 attacks.

  [members of the bin Laden family and members of the Saudi royals on behalf of his employer, the Carlyle Group. After the attacks he arranged for all of them (across the country) to fly home-  when every other plane in North America was grounded.  CBC ran a documentary the other night. VERY scary.]

  by Earl from Ohio on Thu May 20, 2004 at 07:53:55 PM PDT

•  Go check out Hesiod.......

  for a little man on crook action.

  http://haloscan.com/tb/hesiod/108508388644426122

  by susanp on Thu May 20, 2004 at 07:53:59 PM PDT

•  you mean...

  these people knew each other!?!?

  just kidding.  

  I guess I have to back out of my theory that they were still planning on a Chalabi dictatorship over there.

  by pyrrho on Thu May 20, 2004 at 07:55:49 PM PDT

•  sorry.

  link BAD. picture GOOD.

  http://counterspin.blogspot.com/

  go to 2nd entry: "How the mighty have fallen."

  by susanp on Thu May 20, 2004 at 07:56:22 PM PDT

•  An expensive friend!

  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States paid Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress at least $33 million since March 2000, according to a congressional report made public on Thursday.

  The report by the Government Accounting Office, the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress, found $33 million in funds from the State Department and did not include any funds from the Pentagon or other U.S. agencies, a congressional source told Reuters.

  $33 million worth of lies. Amazing. The rest is here.
  

  by kimo on Thu May 20, 2004 at 07:58:43 PM PDT

•  He's Special, so special....(que chrissy hines)

  "According to a senior Administration official, not long ago in Washington, Cheney approached Powell, stuck a finger in his chest, and said, "If you hadn't opposed the I.N.C. and Chalabi, we wouldn't be in this mess.""

  WAR AFTER THE WAR
  by GEORGE PACKER
  What Washington doesn't see in Iraq.
  Issue of 11-24-2003

  http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?031124fa_fact1_d

  by Al Rodgers on Thu May 20, 2004 at 07:59:42 PM PDT

•  Chalabi is like some James Bond supervillian....

  Chalabi is definitely the smartest person in that elite group of people who had an influence on Iraq policy.

  He identified an ardent desire on the part of the Vulcan/Neocons to invade Iraq, and he made himself useful by providing whatever "evidence" was required to support the War Party.

  Once in Bagdhad he headed straight for Saddam's secret police files, unbelievably valuable.  That was the plan all along of course, and he knew right where to go.

  As he loses his grip in Iraq, he makes overtures to Iran... he knows quite well Iran will be the kingmaker when this is all over... the "Coalition" will pull out and Iraq will be the regional superpower.

  The smartest of all of them, that's for sure.

  by grytpype on Thu May 20, 2004 at 07:59:49 PM PDT

  •  Chalabi sheds his skin

    If the Vulcans really have tired of Chalabi it's at an opportune time for Chalabi. Iraqis with the stench of Bush on them won't hold onto power for long. They will be replaced by a master manipulator and chameleon who can blackmail politicians in Iraq and Washington.

    I can't think of anyone who has fooled and manipulated a President like Chalabi has. Machiavelli would be astonished.

    Kerry is no fool but tolerating Chalabi still seems better than civil war in Iraq.

    Would you bet against Chalabi running Iraq a year from now?  

    by Maynard G Krebs on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:14:04 PM PDT

  •  Should be "Iran would be..."

    Should be "Iran would be the regional superpower"

    by grytpype on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:56:51 PM PDT

•  So much for the Mayberry Machiavelli's

  They met their match.

  by Knut Wicksell on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:00:44 PM PDT

  •  The Bush boys have a habit...

    The Bush boys have a habit of getting ripped off by sneaky carpet merchants like Chalabi.  Remember Iran-Contra?  

    by grytpype on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:02:22 PM PDT

•  Andy Kaufman is alive

  And he has a blog!

  http://www.blogger.com/profile/3366024

  by praktike on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:02:04 PM PDT

  •  and this guy

    is psyched!

    http://www.andykaufmanlives.com/enrique

    by praktike on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:05:09 PM PDT

•  Question: Was Chalabi at the 2003 SOTU?

  You remember, the one with the 16 words...

  by crone on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:03:16 PM PDT

•  earlier on CNN

  I think Paula Zahn showed a photo of Bush & Chalibi....It was part of a montage.  Bush was wearing a blue shirt and yucking it up. Anyone else see it?  

  by Chance the gardener on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:05:28 PM PDT

  •  Yes, I saw it -

    I think there were three people in the photo but I can't remember who.

    I donated to ePluribus Media; kindly join me: "I participate therefore I am...."

    by libby on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:12:55 PM PDT

•  Where's Perle now ??

  From Frontline: July 10, 2003

  So why have you clung to Ahmad Chalabi? Why not just find somebody else that's acceptable to both sides?

  Perle: No one else has been proposed who's acceptable to both sides. The arguments against Chalabi have been without substance. He is far and away the most effective individual that we could have hoped would emerge in Iraq. No one was proposing that he be anointed in some sense, but simply that his advice and counsel would be valuable to us, and if he emerged in a leadership position, that would be highly desirable, from the point of view of the future of Iraq. He's a very capable guy.

  Describe him for me.

  Perle: He's quite brilliant. He is a Ph.D. in mathematics, with a background at the University of Chicago and MIT. He's a Shi'a, committed to secular democracy. He led the Iraqi National Congress, continues to lead the Iraqi National Congress, which was an umbrella group of organizations opposed to Saddam Hussein. He worked tirelessly to achieve Saddam's removal, and is the kind of modern liberal leader that we would hope to see; not only in Iraq, but throughout the Arab world.

  What's the controversy?

  Perle: The CIA doesn't like him, because they don't control him, and they only like people they control. Their view has always been that we should propagate a coup against Saddam; that we needed to find another strongman like Saddam, that the problem was Saddam and not the Ba'ath structure. So they were quite happy to find some other Ba'athists to replace Saddam. They went to extraordinary lengths attempting to do so. They organized coups that failed. People were killed.

  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/truth/interviews/perle.html
  

  by Al Rodgers on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:10:54 PM PDT

  •  Faith (Feith?) based logic

    n/t

    by susanp on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:17:23 PM PDT

•  aoeu

  I believe that is the DC mayor in the upper right, the one second from the right edge of the photo with the bow tie.

  by TealVeal on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:17:51 PM PDT

  •  Sucking Up for School Vouchers

    Yes, that's Mayor Anthony Williams sucking up for school vouchers for D. C.

    by eafredel on Fri May 21, 2004 at 06:52:32 AM PDT

•  I have a dream, a small but significant dream

  I hope that when Kerry wins, he will see the wisdom in embarrasing the neocons and effecting a small amount of individual justice by turning Chalabi over to Jordan to serve his sentence.

  by UofAZGrad on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:20:14 PM PDT

•  The guy's standing next to your wife

  at your State of the Union address and then 4months later you're cutting off his money, smashing up his office and putting out arrest warrents for his staff. This has gotta qualify as the flip of flops.

  by moon in the house of moe on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:23:11 PM PDT

•  RE:

  "He is also a mathematics professor and a businessman."

  And allegedly a bank-robber who bilked a Jordanian bank out of millions.

  Chalabi had one friend in Iraq, and yesterday that friend kicked his door in and put a gun to his head.  COuldn't have happend to a nicer fella ... .

  I see the photo of Chalabi at the SOTU, but what were Bush's words of praise for him during the speech?  

  Considering that everyone is on the take and graft is rampant in Iraq, I imagine this investigation and quite remarkable surpise ride is based on reasona aside from mere fraud or embezzlement.  What did Chalabi have on that hard-drive?  

  I guess Chalabi never learned the mafia maxim:
  "never go against the family."  

  by jg on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:34:57 PM PDT

  •  Not just allegedly

    Chalabi was convicted in absentia in Jordan.

    by KeithH on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:43:35 PM PDT

•  Now that Chalabi's officially a bad guy

  can we look forward to the president distancing himself from Laura Bush, since clearly she made an error in judgment in inviting Chalabi to the SOTU?

  by MissLaura on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:41:04 PM PDT

  •  Sorta like

    when she (cough cough) dropped the dog?

    by musing graze on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:45:14 PM PDT

•  Dude he's a math professor?

  I wonder what kind of math he teaches. Wouldn't that be something if the Emmanual Goldenstein of Iraq ended up teaching topology or complex analysis?

  by ARingMD2B on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:54:44 PM PDT

  •  Professor Moriarty

    Did Conan Doyle say what sorts of math Professor Moriarty practised?

    by lysias on Thu May 20, 2004 at 09:16:47 PM PDT

    •  I would put my money

      on economics since he's a "businessman." Ya never know though...

      by ARingMD2B on Thu May 20, 2004 at 10:32:00 PM PDT

•  Bush will top his father

  Nefver mind Noriega. Chalabi and Sadam cellmates!

  by moon in the house of moe on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:58:14 PM PDT

•  How can any Republican or

  Bush supporter not now say that Bush is an either an idiot or a liar?  

  by lapin on Thu May 20, 2004 at 09:04:19 PM PDT

•  two votes for Cockburn's account

  no my votes - two votes of guys a whole lot more hard-wired into what's going on than any of us are.  I happen to be friends with Col. David Hackworth (to answer the question, "how?", his wife is producing a movie I wrote), and Chuck Spinney, recently retired senior Pentagon analyst working in the Office of SecDef, erstwhile reformer and whistle-blower, who runs a very good website you ought to visit, "Defense in the National Interest" (www.dni.org) - he was one of "Colonel Boyd's boys."  You might have seen an interview Bill Moyers did with him last fall on NOW about his 30 years in the Pentagon.

  Both of these guys know the people who talk to the journalists who write the articles we read, and they both say that what Cockburn has in his article over at www.counterpunch.org about everybody's favorite Shia Scumbag is dead-on accurate.  Chalabi really was planning a coup, and there's a likelihood that everybody's favorite "Great American Patriots" may have been supporters of that - though it is not mentioned in the article.

  I just got through reading the article.  The history of the Chalabi family is definitely interesting - these shitheads go back to the great-grandfather.

  Read it - this time Cockburn's got "the real deal."

  by HollywierdLiberal on Thu May 20, 2004 at 09:09:44 PM PDT

•  haikus

  
  From the balcony
  Darling Laura smiles
  with fat scumbags

  State of the Union
  Chalabi smiles
  the Canary eaten

  Wolfie dreamed
  his oily dreams
  and got Ahmed Calabi

  by Rolfyboy6 on Thu May 20, 2004 at 09:18:39 PM PDT

•  Blowback

  This was the lead story on BBC World News tonight.  The anchor, Alistair Somebody, was practically laughing as he said "America's darling in Iraq was raided today..."

  While this guy is partially responsible for American and Iraqi deaths, I don't think he is officially a Blowback until his militia starts blowing up Americans.

  How could this war get worse?  We find out Sadr is on the CIA's payroll?  Ignored Kurds eye Turkey?

  by CountAsterisk on Thu May 20, 2004 at 09:45:07 PM PDT

•  Re: "Chalabi's directly behind Laura"

  Considering the size of her ass, half the balcony is "directly behind Laura Bush."

  by davybaby3 on Thu May 20, 2004 at 10:20:00 PM PDT

•  I Guess...

  ...what happens at the State of the Union, does NOT stay at the State of the Union.

  by CoolHandLuc on Fri May 21, 2004 at 12:51:32 AM PDT

•  chalibi's the little fat man?

  i thought he woulda looked at least a little bit tough...

  by scottesposito on Fri May 21, 2004 at 08:27:08 AM PDT

•  Chalabi Is Telling A Joke to the Air Force Officer

  Chalabi looks like he's telling a joke to the Air Force officer to his right..."...see, I've got more chins than the Chinatown phone book!"

  After a pause: "Yeah, Pachachi, soak up the applause while you can, you geezer...your octagenarian ass is mine after a year or so, buddy!"

  by betamaxguillotine on Fri May 21, 2004 at 09:44:52 AM PDT

•  has anyone else posted about this

  part of the NYT article on the Chalabi raid?

  __

  In the end,  the precise focus of the investigation was unclear.  American press aides made available to reporters two men they insisted be identified only as "senior coalition officials," neither of whom revealed in a half hour of questioning the specific charges against the suspects. One of the officials did allow that "broadly speaking" the charges related to fraud, kidnapping, torture and "associated matters."

  ___

  by zane on Fri May 21, 2004 at 11:45:08 AM PDT

•  It's All Clear to me Now (Romance Novel Version)

  Dubya and Condi Rice have a torrid forbidden love affair (as we know from Condi's slip of the tongue referring to W. as her "husband."  Laura finds out and retaliates by having an affair with that hunky Iraqi Chalabi, flaunting her illicit passion in her husband's face by inviting Chalabi to the State of the Union address.  Dubya, incensed by this betrayal, brings to bear all the power of the government to destroy his rival.

  Yes, it's so obvious.... ;)

  by DebtorsPrison on Fri May 21, 2004 at 06:23:00 PM PDT

•  Who is he looking at: Bush?

  Chalabi is the only person in the picture not plausibly gazing admiringly in the same direction as everone else.

  z

  by zans on Fri May 21, 2004 at 07:20:58 PM PDT

•  perle aka swine

  http://tinyurl.com/yt8qd

  "I think things are better than they appear to be in the daily press."

  by moeman on Sat May 22, 2004 at 11:03:52 AM PDT

  •  film noir at 11

    This time chalabi chimes in and it ain't pretty. Read the entire interview, capped off with an exclamation point of chalabi's last words.

    http://tinyurl.com/2ggcl

    Maybe ahmed could learn to use PowerPoint.

    by moeman on Sat May 22, 2004 at 11:31:24 AM PDT

•  Nice

  More good knowledge to know.

  by dopies on Fri Sep 03, 2004 at 11:42:24 PM PDT