Mike Hicks

Assume Deposition

I'm pretty sure that the change of government in Iraq is going to follow a similar pattern to what has usually happened when the United States has deposed someone in power in hopes of creating a new ally. There's a guy named Ahmed Chalabi that has been pulling strings for over a decade, trying to convince the rest of the world to get rid of Saddam Hussein. He was one of the most important members of the Iraqi National Congress, a sort of government-in-exile that actually existed in the UK, but supposedly spoke for the Iraqi people. About 10 years ago, Chalabi formed a friendship with current Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, who was a professor at the time.

Through the years, Chalabi brought forth all sorts of information about what was going on inside Iraq. However, much of the information is sketchy at best, even though some governments took it at face value. Wolfowitz eventually came into a position of power, and was preaching the story his friend was telling. I don't know exactly why Wolfowitz liked the story so much, but I believe he had his own reasons for wanting to get rid of Hussein, and Chalabi's stories were good at convincing people.

Of course, we now see the end result of all of that campaigning: Iraq is now occupied by the U.S., and Chalabi is a prominent member of the transitional government there.

The thing that concerns me is that Chalabi doesn't seem to be an entirely ethical man. There are allegations of fabricated evidence regarding chemical and nuclear weapons. He supposedly has a criminal past. Yet, he is widely seen to be a likely candidate to head any new Iraqi government. They say that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Considering that Chalabi is already a bit iffy, I imagine we'll see a new example of that truism in no time.