Who would have thought?

Yesterday, we had yet another example of the simplistic, playground rules by which the Bush administration operates. Here's out it plays out: Ahmed Chalabi leaves Iraq. He then gets a PhD in math from the University of Chicago. After going to Jordan to establish the Petro bank, Chalabi proceeds to embezzle $300 million from the bank, rocking the Jordanian economy. Chalabi flees Jordan. In 1992 Chalabi founds the Iraqi National Congress (INC) in Vienna. This group plans to affect regime change in Iraq. They begin feeding intel to the Bush administration shortly after the election. [see Seymour Hersh's article "The Stovepipe" for an in-depth look at how intel was handled by the INC and the Bush administration: http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?fact/031027fa_fact] The INC produced several witnesses who told stories of WMD manufacturing efforts in Iraq. None of these stories could ever be confirmed by existing intel. The INC is, at this point, receiving extensive financial backing from U.S. taxpayers. To put this into perspective, the US government is now funding an organization led by a known embezzler. This organization is pressured to produce intel that fits in with that organization's express goal of overthrowing Saddam. Conflicts of interest are apparently easier to find than WMD. By the way, Chalabi is personally getting paid $335,000 dollars a month at this point by the US taxpayers.

Fast-forward a little over one year:

The situation in Iraq is deteriorating rapidly. There are no WMD. Chalabi's home in Iraq is raided by US forces. Claims by the US that this raid came at the orders of the Iraqi security forces don't seem to make much sense considering that Chalabi holds a seat on the Iraqi Governing Council (thanks to Uncle Sam...I mean Bush). So essentially the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) under Bremer are pissed off at this guy for not giving good info and being a general pain in the rear. Who could have imagined that a bank embezzler wouldn't be as honest and forthcoming as possible? Instead of realizing that we were playing ball with a shady character and accepting this, the CPA seems to have reverted to a tit-for-tat blame game in which they will make Chalabi the scape-goat for our problems in Iraq. You lie about WMD, I'll trash your house. Typical of the Bush administration's approach to things. It is NEVER THEIR FAULT. If I put my head in a tiger's mouth, I don't blame the tiger when it bites down. The Bush administration, however, seems to think that it is either in the mafia or in the schoolyard where getting back at the guy who did you wrong is more important then moving forward and doing the right thing.