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The Essential Chalabi
New York Sun
Editorial
January 3, 2006 Now that the ultra-religious parties in
Iraq have sidelined the secular, pro-democracy reformers, which of our policy
makers is going to stand up and take the blame? Is it going to be George Tenet
and Colin Powell, whose Central Intelligence Agency and State Department spent
much of the last seven years ridiculing Ahmad Chalabi? Is it going to be all the
administration officials who spoke off the record and on deep background to
disparage Mr. Chalabi as a pro-Iranian spy without offering up a shred of
evidence? It would seem the Iranian role in this election was to undercut the
man who was accused an Iranian stooge.
Or is the blame going to be shouldered
by the pro-Hashemite camp, which issued apologies for the Jordanian monarchy
while the Jordanians were dancing on the rooftops cheering on as Saddam Hussein
launched his scud attack on Israel back during the Gulf War? Is it going to be
President Clinton, whose administration scuttled plans to pay out to the Iraqi
National Congress the $97 million in seed money that was authorized in the Iraq
Liberation Act? Is it going to be the foreign affairs columnist of the New York
Times, Thomas Friedman, who once boasted that he had never met Mr.
Chalabi?
Well, we won't hold our breath. We're
content to note that in recent weeks Mr. Chalabi did something extraordinary. He
stood on the Madisonian, Erhardian principles on which he has carried his quest
so far and forfeited near certain political success to branch out on his own,
without state sponsorship, to form a non-sectarian party. He gambled that some
of his countrymen would choose a party and leader that eschewed the sectarian
divisions that could end up destroying Iraq. In so doing, Mr. Chalabi left the
United Iraqi Alliance he helped form over a year ago. That was the party that
appeared to sweep the Shiite voters in the election.
For those who constantly accuse Mr.
Chalabi of the flaw of political expediency, here is a case of a politician who
eschewed the easy election maneuver - which would have been to attach to the
Shiite political machine - in favor of the non-sectarian principles. While Mr.
Chalabi went out of his way to tout support from Iran, he also made it clear
that he opposed the sort of meddling we suspect from the Islamic Republic in
these elections. While he lost this round, his admirers take heart from the fact
that it has so often proved to be a mistake to count out Mr. Chalabi, who will
be assuming duties as Iraq's oil minister as Iraqi leaders work out the new
government. That is no doubt a reflection of his ability to manage as well as
lead. In the next government, we expect all confessional stripes will conclude
they cannot do without him. Too bad so many in Washington have been for so long
insisting they must. |
