Sunday, August 8, 2004
This certainly is a strange story. How the mighty have fallen. Why would a guy like Chalabi, who until fairly recently was on Uncle Sam's teat, and certainly must have enough connections not to need to want for money - why would he stoop to counterfeiting dinars? Stranger things have happened, I suppose.
CNN.com - Judge: Warrants issued for Chalabi and nephew
The warrant was a new sign of the fall of Ahmed Chalabi from the centers of power. Chalabi, a longtime exile opposition leader, had been a favorite of many in the Pentagon but fell out with the Americans earlier this year.
His nephew, Salem Chalabi, heads the tribunal that is due to try Saddam on war crimes charges.
"They should be arrested and then questioned and then we will evaluate the evidence, and then if there is enough evidence, they will be sent to trial," said Judge Zuhair al-Maliky.
The warrants, issued Saturday, accused Ahmed Chalabi of counterfeiting old Iraqi dinars -- which had been removed from circulation following the fall of Saddam's regime last year, he said.
Ahmed Chalabi appeared to have been hiding the counterfeit money amid other old money and changing it into new dinars in the street, he said.
Police found the counterfeit money along with old dinars in Ahmed Chalabi's house during a May raid, he said.
Salem Chalabi was named as a suspect in the June killing of the Haithem Fadhil, director general of the finance ministry.
Both men were reportedly out of the country Sunday...
The whole thing seems flukey. If they want to arrest somebody, how about Sadr who has a murder warrent against him?