Kara wrote:hb, I wondered about that. Chalabi has not been reliable.
Consider how much of the bad intel has come from Chalabi & Co.:
The mass quantities of NBC weapons, poised to strike.
The exact locations of these weapons.
The presumed readiness of the Iraqi people to welcome the US in without resistance.
The fierce resistance Hussein would put up.
Iraq's mythical ties with al-Quaeda.
The presumtion that the Iraqi people would embrace Chalabi and the INC and immediately approve him as president.
These are just the examples from the top of my head. No one other than the neo-con group (Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle,et al..) thought Chalabi was a valid source. The State Dept. , the DIA,and the CIA all considered him an unreliable source. Despite this, the little groupa round Bush ignored the opinions of those who were likely to know what they were talking about, and instead listened to Chalabi tell them what they wanted to hear. I don't think that they have changed their behaviour any in the recent past. Believing information you wish to be true is a common human failing, but in a world leader it is a hottible personality flaw.
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