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Coalition forces raid home, offices
of Iraqi National Congress member
An investigation conducted
by Iraqi authorities led
to the raid against Ahmad
Chalabi, U.S. officials say
By Deborah Horan and Liz Sly
Chicago Tribune (KRT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. soldiers
and Iraqi police raided the home
and offices of America's longtime
ally Ahmad Chalabi on Thursday,
signaling a dramatic rift between the
U.S. administration and the man
once touted by the Pentagon as a fu
ture leader of Iraq.
I he force, including uniformed and
plainclothes Americans who identi
fied themselves as members of the FBI
and CIA, surrounded Chalabi's house
in the upscale Mansour district of
Baghdad at about 9:30 a.m. and
seized computers and documents,
witnesses said. I wo other buildings
associated with Chalabi's Iraqi Na
tional Congress were also searched.
The raid came two days after the
Pentagon announced that it was cut
ting off Chalabi's monthly stipend of
$340,000.
"I am America's best friend in
Iraq," Chalabi said at a news confer
ence at his palatial, pagoda-style of
fice. "If the (coalition) finds it neces
sary to direct an armed attack
against my home, you can see the
state of relations between the (coali
tion) and the Iraqi people."
U.S. officials disclaimed responsi
bility for the raid, saying it had been
initiated and planned by Iraqi author
ities after weeks of investigations. Dan
Senor, a spokesman for L. Paul Bre
mer, the chief ll.S. administrator in
Iraq, said Bremer only learned the
raid had taken place after the fact.
Although ll.S. troops were involved,
"This was political.
(The coalition is) trying
to put pressure
on him,
to portray him as
a bad guy."
Haidar Musawi
Chalabi aide
"it was an Iraqi-led investigation, it was
an Iraqi-led raid," Senorsaid.
But Chalabi aide Haidar Musawi
ridiculed the idea that U.S. authorities
had not ordered the raid. "This was
political," he said at Chalabi's office.
"They're trying to put pressure on
him, to portray him as a bad guy."
A senior coalition official speak
ing on condition of anonymity at a
news conference said an Iraqi judge
had issued warrants for the arrest of
"up to 15 people" on charges of kid
napping, fraud and "associated mat
ters." Chalabi was not among them,
said the official, who refused to elab
orate on the charges.
Some of the warrants were served
during the raids, the official said. A
number of the warrants were not
served because the people named in
them were not present. The official
said he did not know how many war
rants had not been served.
But Judge Hussain al-Moathin, the
Iraqi magistrate charged with investi
gating Chalabi and his INC, named
eight men — whom he called "insur
gents and a small number of thugs"
— wanted on charges of "kidnapping
and ... killing" and "taking over some
government facilities."
1 le did not directly tie the eight want
ed men to Chalabi, who said he was in
bed asleep when police burst into his
bedroom and put a gun to his head.
Chalabi said he was sure he was be
ing targeted because of his increasing
ly vocal criticisms of the way the ITS.
is running Iraq. "1 am now calling for
policies to liberate the Iraqi people, to
get full sovereignty now, and I am
pushing the gate in a way they don't
like," he said.
Musawi said the raiding forces were
apparently looking for several senior
members of the INC, including the
group's intelligence chief, who had
been tipped off weeks ago that he was
being sought.
Credited with supplying much of
the intelligence concerning Iraq's
weapons of mass destruction in the
period leading up to the war, Chalabi
has long been a divisive figure.
Convicted in absentia in Iordan
on banking fraud charges, he never
served a sentence, but he also never
completely shook his reputation as
a crook.
In Washington, where he lobbied
to persuade the U.S. to oust Saddam
Hussein, he was beloved and reviled
by rival Iraqi exile groups and ll.S.
policymakers touting competing
plans for regime change in Iraq.
"He has been a very polarizing and
controversial figure," said Phebe Marr,
an author and expert on Iraq in Wash
ington. "The people who like him like
him a lot. The people who don't like
him dislike him intensely."
Meanwhile, a U.S. policy reversal
set Chalabi and the Americans on a
collision course.
Bremer announced weeks ago that
top Baathists from Hussein's former
regime would be allowed to hold
posts in government and in Iraq's se
curity services.
ll.S. military commanders wel
comed high-ranking members of
Iraq's former army into the New Iraqi
Army, while Chalabi fumed.
In recent weeks, Chalabi has im
proved relations with key Shiite parties
and political figures in southern Iraq,
moves that some analysts said signaled
he had begun angling for elections.
His legal woes may undermine any
political aspirations, some analysts
said. But others predicted Chalabi
might weather the storm.
"He's not easy to knock out," Marr r
said. "I'd never count him out for
good."
(c) 2004, Chicago Tribune.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
The Oregon Humanities Center presents
a symposium on
INNER WAR
ZtKAyery Ik Scripture
• . .
. : • ' . .. • 5 *;• • .
May 23 and 24,2004
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Martin S. Jaffee
University of Washington
The Wars of Torah: Inner
Struggle and Historical
Victory in the Rabbinic
Tradition
Alexander Golitzin
Marqijette University
The Violent Take It by Force:
Martial Imagery in the
Eastern Christian Ascetical
Tradition
May 23 May 24
Lectures will be held at 8 p.in. in Room 182, Lillis Hall
These events are -free and open to the public, and are cosponsored
by the College of Arts and Sciences. For more information, or for dis
ability accommodations, please call (541) 346-3934.
UNIVERSITY
EO/AA/ADA institution committed to cultural diversity ("OF OREGON
Cuban government may raise
prices on goods sold in dollars
Economic experts question
the pian, seen by many as
a reaction to new policies
governing Cuban-Americans
By Gary Marx
Chicago Tribune (KRT)
HAVANA — Cuban officials are
proposing to raise prices by 10 to 30
percent on most goods sold in dol
lars in what they have described as a
response to measures recently an
nounced by President Bush to pres
sure the island's communist govern
ment.
The price increases, which have
not been announced but are out
lined in a copy of a government doc
ument circulating in Havana, are
likely to be unpopular among
Cuba's 11 million residents, who of
ten rely on the dollar stores to pur
chase food staples and other items
in scarce supply for Cuban pesos.
"Politically, they are going to
make a lot of people unhappy," said
Philip Peters, a former U.S. State De
partment official and Cuba expert.
Cuban officials abruptly suspend
ed sales in the dollar stores early last
week after the Bush administration
announced a reduction in the
amount of money Cubans living in
the United States can legally send to
relatives on the island. Bush also is
sharply curtailing the number of vis
its Cuban-Americans can legally
make to the island and the amount
of money they can spend during
those trips.
The White House said those
measures and others were designed
to cut the amount of hard currency
going to the Cuban government and
speed a peaceful transition to
democracy.
But some experts questioned the
efficacy of the moves while Cuban
officials denounced them as Dra
conian and said they would hurt
Cuban families and set the stage for
a possible II.S. military attack.
Peters said he did not understand
how increasing prices at dollar stores
would help the Cuban government
or its cash-strapped people weather
the impact of the new measures.
"The economics are backwards,"
he said. "If they wanted to bring an
infusion of cash, they should drop
prices. They are going to drive their
revenue down. There will be less de
mand."
One diplomat in Havana suggest
ed the government may have leaked
the document in advance of an
announcement to gauge public reac
tion and said officials might elimi
nate or modify some of the pro
posed price increases.
The price of goods such as cereal,
pasta, dairy products, meat, cooking
oil and other staples will increase 10
percent, according to the document.
Shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste
and other personal hygiene items
also will rise 10 percent, along with
construction materials.
But the price of electronic equip
ment, toys and bicycles will go up 15
percent, imported cigarettes will go
up 20 percent and imported alco
holic beverages 25 percent.
The diplomat said Cuban officials
may be trying to reduce the sale of
consumer goods to dampen the
growing amount of conspicuous
consumption, which runs counter to
the ideals of the revolution.
By pinning blame for the price in
creases on Bush, Cuban President Fi
del Castro and other officials also
are seeking to rally nationalist sup
port and deflect criticism away from
the government for the economic
measures, experts said.
(c) 2004, Chicago Tribune.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
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