No one seems to be writing opinion pieces quite the way I would, so I decided to do it myself.

The name? Taverns are places where one goes to discuss the interesting events and things in the world, so this is my tavern.

I will offer my views on politics, economics, and whatever else strikes my fancy.
I will occasionally publish the entire article from another journal for purposes of causing discussion.

 

More about Ahmed Chalabi

The Daily Star of Lebanon printed an interesting < a href = "http://www.dailystar.com.lb/opinion/30_04_03_e.asp">defense of Ahmed Chalabi on April 30, 2003. Here is the part I found particularly interesting:

"“Convicted felon:” Chalabi’s Jordanian bank, Petra Bank, collapsed in 1989 amid allegations of financial impropriety and Chalabi was convicted in absentia of embezzlement and fraud. At the time, the late King Hussein was Saddam’s closest Arab ally and Chalabi, based in Jordan, his most creative Iraqi opponent. A few weeks before the bank was closed ­ oddly, by military law ­ a major American auditing firm gave it a clean bill of health. In the same year Chalabi was convicted, King Hussein paid him the first of several secret visits and asked him what was the cause of his anger toward an old friend. Chalabi replied: “Because you made me out to be a thief and my family a family of thieves.” He refused a royal pardon, since pardon implies guilt.
The Wall Street Journal recently produced evidence that the State Department has attempted to perpetuate this bank robber image by putting pressure on government auditors to produce evidence that would enable it to “shut down the INC.” The auditors gave the INC a clean bill of health and said it was “impossible” for them to comply with various State Department demands.

"“A catspaw of Washington.” A catspaw, however, who is loathed by the CIA and the State Department. Not only because he has consistently pushed for action rather than words ­ and action by Iraqis rather than, as now, by Americans. But also because, as his friend, the American columnist Anthony Lewis, says: “When you hear Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage maligning Chalabi, you hear the institutional voices of Saudi Arabia and Egypt speaking through him.” Many in the US administration would prefer to see Saddam replaced by former Baathists, who would get along just fine with their friends in Riyadh and Cairo. "

This article offered thanks to the assistance of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IPWR). Using Google on IPWR I found this about them. IPWR. I was looking for a reason to consider the Daily Star of Lebanon somewhat credible. Make your own judgement.

Of course, even Al Jazeera is more credible than the Bush administration now. The Daily Star CAN'T have sunk THAT low, can it?

posted by Richard at 10:40 PM