JAMES PAUL
Paul, executive director of the Global Policy Forum, which monitors the United Nations, has written several reports about oil including “Oil in Iraq: The Heart of the Crisis.” He said today: “On Tuesday, the Security Council adopted a resolution extending throughout 2006 the UN mandate of the ‘Multinational Force’ in Iraq — that is, the U.S. occupation. … Many squeamish Council members wanted to postpone Council action until after the upcoming Iraqi elections, but the U.S. and the U.K. twisted arms, issued threats and got their way.
“The occupiers are doubtless worried that the post-election government will not be as enthusiastic about occupation as the current one. Washington and London plan to fast-track billions of dollars worth of oil contracts as soon as possible in the new year and well before the new parliament gets its political footing. Ahmed Chalabi, now chairman of Iraq’s Energy Council and czar of the country’s oil riches, has been preparing for this moment for a long time. He and his cronies have prepared a new oil law, highly favorable to the likes of Exxon and BP, and they will submit it immediately to the new parliament. Under the watchful eye of the ‘multinational force,’ contracts for fabulous oilfields like Majnoon are being readied and will soon be signed.”
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KEVIN ZEESE
Director of Democracy Rising, one of a number of groups organizing a protest at 2 p.m. in front of the American Enterprise Institute where Ahmed Chalabi will be speaking today, Zeese said: “Chalabi was a source of many of the bogus claims used by the White House to sell the war. He is visiting Washington, D.C., for a week, renting out six suites at the Ritz Carlton in Georgetown. He has planned a private meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney. He is visiting at a moment when leaders in the Senate and House have begun demanding an investigation into the fraudulent case for war that he played a prominent role in concocting.”
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ROBERT DREYFUSS
Dreyfuss, who wrote the article “Tinker, Banker, NeoCon, Spy” about Chalabi, said today: “Like Richard Nixon, Ahmed Chalabi continues to reinvent himself again and again. The latest reincarnation for the convicted embezzler is as a mediator between the United States and Iran. Blamed for manufacturing intelligence … for war, accused of leaking secret U.S. intelligence to Iran, Chalabi now wants to be Iraq’s next prime minister. Iraqis say Chalabi has millions of dollars that he is spreading around to buy votes in the scheduled December 15 election.” Dreyfuss is author of the new book Devil’s Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam and the current cover story in the American Prospect, “Bush’s Spook: The Destructive Reign of CIA Director Porter Goss.”
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DAVID SWANSON
Swanson is co-founder of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition, comprised of a number of veteran and peace groups seeking key facts about the buildup to the war in Iraq. Swanson said today: “Wednesday the House International Relations Committee is scheduled to debate and vote on a resolution of inquiry into the White House Iraq Group. This will be the first vote Congress takes related to the war since Vice Presidential Chief of Staff Lewis Libby was indicted. The WHIG produced bogus information about Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction program.”
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
