Word: chalabied
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...While Ahmed Chalabi, the tweedy, M.I.T.-educated head of the London-based Iraqi National Congress, is the best-known member of the weak Iraqi opposition, he is not a unanimous choice to inherit the reins of power once Saddam is driven out. Though he enjoys some backing in the White House and the Pentagon, both the CIA and the State Department deride him as a divisive, autocratic blowhard. Since he is a Shi'ite Muslim, Chalabi is viewed with suspicion by many of Iraq's powerful Sunni neighbors, such as Saudi Arabia. The Administration has recently increased contacts with...
Produced by Deena Chalabi...
Still, preparations have begun. One option for ousting Saddam entails using a broad-based Iraqi rebel force. The Iraqi opposition, though, is a thicket of political rivalries and ethnic divisions. The U.S. is taking steps to organize various groups. Earlier this year Washington reached past its main client, Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, and re-engaged with defectors from the Iraqi army who, like Saddam and the country's ruling elite, are Sunni Muslims. The U.S. plans to convene a conference of more than 300 Iraqi opposition leaders in Europe this spring...
...even if U.S. forces could spread unrest and limit Saddam's retaliation, there is no one waiting in the wings to take power in Baghdad. One candidate is Ahmad Chalabi, Shi'a leader of the Iraqi National Congress, an opposition group in exile. But Chalabi has little personal following inside Iraq, is distrusted by many U.S. officials and is opposed by key Arab states like Saudi Arabia. Washington is increasingly looking for an exiled Sunni from Saddam's professional army to rally the country against him. An emerging candidate is Nazar Khazraji, a former Iraqi chief of staff who defected...
Saddam's neighbors, however, have concluded that Washington is not serious about getting rid of him, so they have begun rearranging their foreign policies to live with him and are pressing for the economic sanctions to be lifted. Most Arab governments refuse to deal with Chalabi or allow him to use their countries as staging areas for any guerrilla force he might assemble. Jordan has convicted him in absentia on banking-fraud charges. (Chalabi says the allegations were trumped up.) Though the loyalty of many divisions in Saddam's 400,000-man armed forces is questionable, U.S. intelligence believes that...