The trail to Tehran (lot's of info on Chalabi/Iran/CIA)

[ze_dscherman]

He was Washington's favourite Iraqi, a prized intelligence source and a dream post-Saddam leader. Now his former CIA masters are rubbishing him, saying he helped Iran trick the US into war. No one, says Iraq expert Andrew Cockburn, should be surprised

Wednesday May 26, 2004
The Guardian


SNIP

If reports that US intelligence has at last woken up to Chalabi's Iranian connection are true, then taking his Koran may have been more than personal spite, since, according to a former close associate, the Pentagon's erstwhile favorite Iraqi owns one bearing an affectionate inscription from the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini himself, evidence of how deep and long standing a relationship he has had with the Islamic Republic. "Ahmad helped Iran very much during the war ," recalls this former associate and friend. "Khomeini was very pleased, and he sent him a copy of the Holy Koran inscribed 'To My Son Ahmed.'"

Another former colleague who, like so many, has subsequently fallen out with Chalabi, explains that, "It was during the Iraq/Iran war that Ahmad discovered the value of information as a commodity, that it was something you could trade, buy and sell, and he has used that ever since."

Much, much more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1224824,00.html