So many unanswered questions

Josh Marshall points out that there are some fishy circumstances surrounding the issue of that oil-for-food scam the Oaf of Office and That Man Behind the Curtain would like you to focus on in the latest report that says Saddam had no WMD program. Fishy circumstances like no American companies that were involved in the scam have been named - privacy laws. (Yes, you're right - your privacy is not protected, thanks to the PATRIOT ACT and some other anti-terrorist laws, but corporations who deal in scams do have that protection.) And fishy circumstances like the information comes from records that our once friend Ahmad-the third biggest liar on the planet-Chalabi (who either chumped the Bushies or simply provided them cover with phony information for what they wanted to do anyway) supposedly has in his possession and refuses to hand over to independent authorities to have their authenticity verified. Of course I can't blame him for that - they're probably his life insurance policy.

There's a separate question about why U.S. firms on the list aren't being identified, only foreigners. But, setting that aside, has any independent body yet reviewed those documents? And if not, why are they being given such credence considering Chalabi's record as a convicted criminal, forger of documents, producer of phony intelligence and, in all likelihood, someone who passed on American intelligence to Iran?

  Marshall post

I am assuming that these documents are part of the Hussein files that the U.S. permitted Chalabi to take control of when we "liberated" Baghdad and "accomplished" our "mission", when Chalabi was His Slowliness the Dope's favorite to be installed as Saddam's replacement. And again, I am assuming, from what Marshall is saying, that they were not amongst Chalabi's possessions when we accused him of being an Iranian agent and raided his offices.

The Chalabi story seemed awfully big to have blown out of the news so quickly. I've done a little light Googling to see whether his name comes up. It does, but not much.

It seems that an Iraqi court has dismissed the counterfeiting charges against him for lack of evidence. He blames the U.S. for those charges, saying that Rice's NSC has put out a memo delineating steps to "marginalize him". There's currently an investigation here in the U.S. into who might have leaked the classified information to him that he allegedly passed to Iran - an investigation we don't hear anything about.

I think Ahmad Chalabi is an important piece of an incredible plot, but he seems to have dropped from the U.S. news, with the exception of some headlines when somebody tried to assassinate him last month, and that was quickly passed over as well. It seems only reasonable to think that knowing which American companies are on his list of oil-for-food scam deals would give us some clues as to why Chalabi isn't in Guantanamo. I wonder if he's going to be on the presidential ballot. I imagine he is, since he's leader of the INC party. Running against Saddam Hussein. And Allawi.

Wow, their choices are as bad as our own.