The man who pushed America to war : the extraordinary life, adventures, and obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi /
Roston, Aram.
New York : Nation Books,
c2008.
If anyone were to get the most credit for pushing the United States to war in Iraq, Ahmad Chalabi, a wealthy exile who spent most of his life out of Iraq, would certainly be a leading contender. A convicted felon and a fugitive from justice in Jordan, Chalabi managed to charm and influence the top leaders of the United States. Those leaders gave him United States government money, which he would, in turn, use to lobby them. He then rode America's immense power, harnessing it to his interests. More so than Bush or Cheney, Chalabi and his followers steered the United States toward its fateful position in Iraq. This investigative biography by an NBC journalist tells the story of Chalabi as a gifted MIT mathematician, to his misadventures in the Middle East, to the invasion of Iraq.--From publisher description.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 350-360) and index.
Golden age, 1944-1958 -- Chalabi in America, 1962-1968 -- Beirut, 1971-1977 -- Petra Bank, 1977 -- Iran and Shiism, 1978-1988 -- Business with Saddam, 1980-1989 -- The collapse of the Chalabi empire, 1989-1990 -- The fall of Ahmad Chalabi, 1989 -- Desert Storm, 1990-1991 -- Recruitment, 1991 -- Going after Jordon, 1992 -- The founding of the Iraqi National Congress : audit by burglary and little coffins, 1991-1992 -- IBC Communications : the funding, 1992 -- Conviction, 1992 -- Guerrilla warrior, 1993-1995 -- Victory in Hong Kong, 1995 -- Tossed out in the cold, 1996 -- Rising again : Ahmad Chalabi's allies, 1997 -- Wooing the neocons, 1997-1998 -- Frozen assets and the Iraq trust -- Forming INDICT -- Ahmad Chalabi's law, 1998 -- The money returns -- BKSH : representing Chalabi -- The uses of September 11, 2001 -- September 11--a new direction -- Saddam's airline hijacking school -- The case of the underground wells -- David Rose, 2001-2003 -- The man who invented the mobile labs, March 2002 -- Saddam's mistress, September 2002 -- The run-up to war, summer 2002-winter 2003 -- The committee for the liberation of Iraq, autumn 2002 -- The free Iraqi forces and the end of the Iraq liberation act, summer 2003-winter 2003 -- The birth of de-baathification, summer 2002 -- There is oil in Iraq -- Getting ready, winter 2003 -- Entering Iraq, April 2003 -- The dossiers, 2003 -- An armored truck and $250 million, April 2003 -- De-baathification, part II, 2003-2004 --Chalabi vs. Bremer, May 2003-April 2004 -- The UN gets a warning, summer 2003 -- The State of the Union, January 2004 -- BKSH at war, 2003-2004 -- Banking in Iraq, summer-fall 2003 -- Chalabi under seige, May 2003 -- The Iran connection -- Weapons of mass destruction -- Almost at the top -- Inside deal, 2005 -- The vote, 2005-2006 -- The rescue of the journalist, 2005 -- Epilogue.
If anyone were to get the most credit for pushing the United States to war in Iraq, Ahmad Chalabi, a wealthy exile who spent most of his life out of Iraq, would certainly be a leading contender. A convicted felon and a fugitive from justice in Jordan, Chalabi managed to charm and influence the top leaders of the United States. Those leaders gave him United States government money, which he would, in turn, use to lobby them. He then rode America's immense power, harnessing it to his interests. More so than Bush or Cheney, Chalabi and his followers steered the United States toward its fateful position in Iraq. This investigative biography by an NBC journalist tells the story of Chalabi as a gifted MIT mathematician, to his misadventures in the Middle East, to the invasion of Iraq.--From publisher description.
Chalabi, Ahmad, 1944-
Shiites
Statesmen
Iraq War, 2003-