Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Frum & Perle: Eleven

AETE pp 37-8, more whining about State Department. Plus, lies about Chalabi:

In 1944, we took care to let French troops enter Paris before U.S. or British forces. We should have shown equal tact in 2003. The INC offered us troops willing to fight and security forces ready to keep order. We rebuffed the offer, in large part because the State Department and the CIA disliked Ahmed Chalabi, the INC's leader, and because the INC terrified the Saudis and therefore terrified those in our government who wished to placate the Saudis.

The State Department/CIA argument that Chalabi had no following in Iraq was wholly disingenuous.

[...]
No, it was not the lack of support among Iraqis that led to bureaucratic disparagement of Ahmad Chalabi; the sad truth is that for the pettiest reasons neither State nor the CIA liked Chalabi, despite his tireless and remarkably effective effort to organize and encourage opposition to Saddam's regime. [... T]hey didn't like the fact that he was not a puppet they could easily control.

posted by RETARDO MONTALBAN @ 5:34 PM