UP IN ARMS

The dispute between Ahmad Chalabi, Iraqi defense minister Hazim Shaalan and a missing $300 million (see "Death of a Whistle Blower" below) took another strange and thoroughly Iraqi-style turn yesterday, as reported by the New York Sun's Eli Lake (no web link). 

According to Lake, Al-Hayat reported that the Central Bank of Iraq has taken back $200 million of the money Shaalan apparently deposited in a Lebanese bank.  Meanwhile, a spokesman for the United Iraqi Alliance--the slate expected to win a majority of seats on January 30--will look into embezzlement charges against the defense minister. 

Meanwhile, mysteries surrounding the death of American arms dealer Dale Stoffel--who may have been murdered for complaining about graft in the Iraqi defense ministry--remain.

So let's review.  In mid-January, Chalabi--a leading candidate on the United Iraq Alliance ticket--accuses Shaalan of corruption involving a $300 million deal to purchase equipment for the Iraqi army.  On January 21, Shaalan responds by threatening Chalabi's arrest for defaming his reputation.  Interestingly, Shaalan, a figure accused of having served with Saddam's intelligence service, levels his threat against Chalabi on Al-Jazeera--otherwise known as Air bin Laden--from Amman, Jordan--a favorite hangout for ex-Baathists and Saddamite officials.  Almost immediately, Iraqi president, and Shaalan ally, Ghazi al-Yawar denied the government planned to arrest Chalabi.

According to the Sun's editorial page, a month ago, Shaalan and Prime Minister Ayad Allawi urged Bush to delay the elections.  When Bush refused, "Shaalan threatened to arrest those who are poised to defeat him with the ballot"--among whom, it seems, is Chalabi.

One of the background issues here is the de- (or re-) Baathification of the Iraqi government.  a frequent complaint of neo-cons like Reuben Marc Gerecht about Allawi is that his "overtures" to the Baath party only "emboldened the Sunni insurgents in the field" and "introduced into the fledgling Iraqi government Baathist and Sunni fundamentalist moles."  By contrast, Chalabi once headed up Iraq's De-Baathification Commission, and was instrumental in convincing Washington to disband the Baath-infested Iraqi army (a correct decision, in my estimation).  Complicating Chalabi's role, however, is the U.S. accusation that he--and his security chief Abas Habib--are, or have been, in the pay of the Iran. 

Meanwhile, there is Stoffel.  As we recall, the American arms dealer was in Iraq to purchase weapons for the Iraqi military.  In a letter to U.S. officials dated December 3, he complained of graft among Iraqi Defense Ministry officials and of "problems" with a "Lebanese businessman" acting as a go-between.  On December 8, a previously unknown group calling itself Brigades of the Islamic Jihad ambushed and killed Stoffel and another American.  Now, however, some investigators believe the murderers may have wanted their actions to appear like a terrorist attack in order to hide their real--but so far undisclosed--motive for killing Stoffel.

So let's review:

On December 3, Stoffel--an arms dealer with extensive experience in Eastern Europe--complains of graft among Defense Ministry officials involved a multi-million dollar weapons deal.  On December 8 he is murdered under mysterious circumstances.

On January 22, one day after the Los Angeles Times breaks the story about investigations into Stoffel's murder, the New York Times reveals that earlier this month Shaalan transferred $300 million dollars to a Lebanese bank supposedly to buy equipment from Eastern European sources.  Chalabi then accuses the Defense Minister of graft--echoing Stoffel's charges weeks before.

The Sun, which expresses a neo-con dislike for Allawi and his allies (as opposed to the "realists" among the CIA and State Department), excoriates the Bush Administration over the Shaalan affair. 

The fact that large sums of money are now going missing from Iraq's treasury before these elections is part of an intelligence failure of a higher order of magnitude than anything yet investigated by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.   Did the president's best and brightest advisers choose thugs and thieves to steer Iraq from occupation to democracy?

Perhaps Dale Stoffel had an answer to this question.  Let us urge further investigation into his death.