Incredible Iyad Allawi: Not A Good Source To Back Up Bush

Who is this head man in Iraq, backing up President Bush's claims of stability, security to hold January elections and progress in the rebuilding effort?

Despite mounting resistance and the toll of dead and wounded among both American troops and Iraqis, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's recent address to Congress and remarks to the press sounded like he was either using President Bush's talking points or plagiarizing old Bush speeches.

Listening to him was definitely a case of deja vu.

In an obvious swipe at Senator Kerry, Mr. Allawi, reciting a Bush campaign sound bite said in the Rose Garden, "When political leaders sound the siren of defeatism in the face of terrorism, it only encourages more violence".

That remark was effectively countered by Joe Lockhart, a senior Kerry advisor who quipped, "The last thing you want to be seen as is a puppet of the United States, and you can almost see the hand underneath the shirt today moving the lips."

Indeed, the claims of both President Bush and Prime Minister Iyad Allawi are contradicted by a recent 105 page GAO report that found conditions in Iraq today are worse off than before the war.

Allawi is the administration's new fair haired boy since Ahmed Chalabi's fall from grace. The two have much in common.

Both were CIA assets. Both spent more than 30 years out of Iraq as exiles. They are related through Chalabi's sister. Her son, Ali Allawi, the interim Minister of Trade, is Chalabi's nephew, and Iyad Allawi's cousin.

While Chalabi created and headed the INC, Iraqi National Congress, at the behest of the US government, Allawi, backed by the US and UK formed the INA, Iraqi National Accord.

Between 1992 and 1995, the INA organized terrorist attacks in Iraq including bombing a school bus loaded with children. Despite this, the INA received $5 million in covert aid from the US in 1995 and $6 million in 1996.

It was through the INA that Allawi duped British Intelligence with the fable that "Iraq could deploy its WMD in 45 minutes."

That now discredited claim was used by the British government to gain support for war and was echoed by the Bush administration to generate fear to get US support.

Beginning in 2003 Allawi spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying to enter influential Washington circles of policy makers.

The expected return is to be much greater than the initial investment. As interim prime minister of a country sitting on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of oil, it looks like it was a good investment.

It's unlikely the US would allow a government in Iraq in which Allawi didn't figure prominently.

It was reported by two Australian publications that a week before handing over sovereignty, Allawi personally executed six insurgents at a Baghdad police station.

The reports said the prisoners, handcuffed and blindfolded, were lined up and shot point blank in the head by Allawi, who said it was to "send a clear message to the police on how to handle insurgents."

While Allawi denied the allegation, it was backed by two independent eye-witnesses, neither knowing the other had related the incident.

Allawi doesn't appear to be a man to trifle with and Bush may be playing out of his league.

For the time being, it seems to suit his purposes to play, "you lie and I'll swear to it" with Bush's statements on conditions in Iraq.

Once again, the Iraqi people and the truth are victimized by these collaborators.

9-28-04