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Who is Ahmad Chalabi?
Aired April 11, 2003 - 15:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The State Department has announced that the United States is planning to host a conference next Tuesday in the southern Iraqi town of Nasiriya. The gathering of Iraqis will tackle what happens next to bring about a post-Saddam government. One prominent Iraqi exile who is expected to attend the meeting says he's not interested in taking the reigns of power in his homeland.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
AHMAD CHALABI, IRAQI NATIONAL CONGRESS LEADER: I want to focus on building a civil society in Iraq, and I'm not a candidate for any government position.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
ARRON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: CNN State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel takes a look now at just who is Ahmad Chalabi.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A familiar face around Washington's political elite for more than a decade, 58-year-old Ahmad Chalabi has personified the Iraqi opposition.
PAUL WOLFOWITZ, DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY: Chalabi is one of a number of Iraqis who have played a significant role during the darker period of the 1990s in calling attention to the plight of the Iraqi people and trying to unify them mobilize them.
KOPPEL: Dapper in his designer suits, this controversial former banker and graduate of MIT may look more Saville Row than (UNINTELLIGIBLE), but northern Iraq is where Chalabi, the Iraqi Kurds and the CIA unsuccessfully plotted in the 1990s to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
DANIELLE PLETKA, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: When the CIA's operations in northern Iraq fell apart in the mid-1990s, and all of their allies were (UNINTELLIGIBLE) up and killed by Saddam, they blamed Chalabi for that. Very unfairly, but they blamed him, and they've been very resentful ever since.
KOPPEL: Born in Baghdad to a wealthy Shiite family, Chalabi fled Iraq in 1958, before Saddam Hussein came to power. As the leader of the Iraqi National Congress, Chalabi has become a lightning rod for his critics. Last year the State Department accused him of mismanaging millions of dollars in U.S. aid. Even his cousin, Laith Kubba, who helped him to found the INC questioned Chalabi's commitment to democracy.
LAITH KUBBA, IRAQI NATIONAL CONGRESS: How can you claim to be liberal and democratic if you don't practice any of these within the organization itself? How can you deliver it to the rest of Iraq if you cannot deliver it to your own members?
KOPPEL: But Chalabi has won high-level support within the Bush administration. This week, the Pentagon flew him and 700 Iraqi fighters to southern Iraq. Some say to promote Chalabi for a possible role in an interim Iraqi authority.
WOLFOWITZ: He is not an insignificant figure, but we are also not trying to anoint him or anyone else as the future leader of Iraq.
KOPPEL: Chalabi says he's not looking to lead Iraq. But in an interview with CNN, he sounded like somebody ready to take charge; impatient that U.S. aid has not arrived.
CHALABI: The people need assistance here in Nasiriya. Why are they not here?
KOPPEL: But critics say Chalabi's biggest handicap could be the 40 years he spent living outside Iraq.
EDWARD WALKER, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: If he can go into Iraq, and if he can get the kind of support and substantial support from the Iraqi people, great. I mean he'd be terrific. But he was much better at lobbying Congress than he's ever been at lobbying the Iraqis.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOPPEL: The first real test of Chalabi's potential for a future leadership role in Iraqi politics could come as soon as Tuesday at that U.S.-sponsored conference in Nasiriya, Wolf, where we're expecting to see not only Iraqi exiles and opposition leaders like Ahmad Chalabi, but also recently-liberated Iraqis. The State Department says that they expect this conference will be the first in a series of regional meetings which should culminate, they hope, in a nationwide meeting in Baghdad at some point in the future -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Andrea Koppel, our State Department correspondent.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 11, 2003 - 15:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The State Department has announced that the United States is planning to host a conference next Tuesday in the southern Iraqi town of Nasiriya. The gathering of Iraqis will tackle what happens next to bring about a post-Saddam government. One prominent Iraqi exile who is expected to attend the meeting says he's not interested in taking the reigns of power in his homeland.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
AHMAD CHALABI, IRAQI NATIONAL CONGRESS LEADER: I want to focus on building a civil society in Iraq, and I'm not a candidate for any government position.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
ARRON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: CNN State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel takes a look now at just who is Ahmad Chalabi.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A familiar face around Washington's political elite for more than a decade, 58-year-old Ahmad Chalabi has personified the Iraqi opposition.
PAUL WOLFOWITZ, DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY: Chalabi is one of a number of Iraqis who have played a significant role during the darker period of the 1990s in calling attention to the plight of the Iraqi people and trying to unify them mobilize them.
KOPPEL: Dapper in his designer suits, this controversial former banker and graduate of MIT may look more Saville Row than (UNINTELLIGIBLE), but northern Iraq is where Chalabi, the Iraqi Kurds and the CIA unsuccessfully plotted in the 1990s to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
DANIELLE PLETKA, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: When the CIA's operations in northern Iraq fell apart in the mid-1990s, and all of their allies were (UNINTELLIGIBLE) up and killed by Saddam, they blamed Chalabi for that. Very unfairly, but they blamed him, and they've been very resentful ever since.
KOPPEL: Born in Baghdad to a wealthy Shiite family, Chalabi fled Iraq in 1958, before Saddam Hussein came to power. As the leader of the Iraqi National Congress, Chalabi has become a lightning rod for his critics. Last year the State Department accused him of mismanaging millions of dollars in U.S. aid. Even his cousin, Laith Kubba, who helped him to found the INC questioned Chalabi's commitment to democracy.
LAITH KUBBA, IRAQI NATIONAL CONGRESS: How can you claim to be liberal and democratic if you don't practice any of these within the organization itself? How can you deliver it to the rest of Iraq if you cannot deliver it to your own members?
KOPPEL: But Chalabi has won high-level support within the Bush administration. This week, the Pentagon flew him and 700 Iraqi fighters to southern Iraq. Some say to promote Chalabi for a possible role in an interim Iraqi authority.
WOLFOWITZ: He is not an insignificant figure, but we are also not trying to anoint him or anyone else as the future leader of Iraq.
KOPPEL: Chalabi says he's not looking to lead Iraq. But in an interview with CNN, he sounded like somebody ready to take charge; impatient that U.S. aid has not arrived.
CHALABI: The people need assistance here in Nasiriya. Why are they not here?
KOPPEL: But critics say Chalabi's biggest handicap could be the 40 years he spent living outside Iraq.
EDWARD WALKER, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: If he can go into Iraq, and if he can get the kind of support and substantial support from the Iraqi people, great. I mean he'd be terrific. But he was much better at lobbying Congress than he's ever been at lobbying the Iraqis.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOPPEL: The first real test of Chalabi's potential for a future leadership role in Iraqi politics could come as soon as Tuesday at that U.S.-sponsored conference in Nasiriya, Wolf, where we're expecting to see not only Iraqi exiles and opposition leaders like Ahmad Chalabi, but also recently-liberated Iraqis. The State Department says that they expect this conference will be the first in a series of regional meetings which should culminate, they hope, in a nationwide meeting in Baghdad at some point in the future -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Andrea Koppel, our State Department correspondent.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
