A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Ken Pollack on Ahmed Chalabi

I certainly haven't always agreed with Brookings' Ken Pollack on Iraq, though I respect him as an informed analyst. But I think his appreciation (or perhaps depreciation) of the late Ahmed Chalabi is right on target,

I will simply quote his lead and urge you to follow the link.
I first met him soon after the Persian Gulf War when I still worked for the CIA. I cannot remember if it was 1992 or 1993. I just remember that my immediate response after meeting him was that I wanted to take a shower. I could not believe that we were giving him money to try to overthrow Saddam Hussein. He was so unctuous, so obviously duplicitous and self-serving, I could not understand why anyone would buy what he was trying to sell.

1 comment:

David Mack said...

Agree with most of what Ken has to say. Chalabi was useful for a year or so in a carefully limited role. After that, he was running his own show. Caveat emptor. See my comment on Mike's earlier post.