Why do I bother?
Iranian State Radio interviews “One of Cheney’s Arch – Enemies”, Lyndon LaRouche.
Um. Okay. Is there a suitable fringe figure of similar stature in that region that can interviewed with a straight face as though he is an authority?
Oh wait! I know who’s not taken seriously around those parts that can be interviewed over and over again in America media! Maybe?
BLITZER: On this third anniversary of the war, as you know, a lot of your critics say that you were very much responsible for convincing the so-called neoconservatives in the Bush administration to launch this war three years ago, based on faulty intelligence that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I want to give you a chance to respond to that criticism, which you hear all the time, as you well know, coming forward. Specifically, your role in convincing the Bush administration to launch this war against Saddam Hussein.
CHALABI: I thought this bug has been put to sleep. The issue of what my role in the — in persuading the Bush administration to go to war has been greatly exaggerated. I refer you to the Senate reports on this and the Robb-Silberman report that came out on this issue. And it showed that the influence of any information that was provided by the Iraqi National Congress to the Bush administration played, and I quote, “a minimal role” in persuading the Bush administration.
I think that these charges are losing luster, because they have been — were rejected categorically and emphatically by both the Senate Intelligence Committee report and by the Robb-Silberman Commission.
BLITZER: Did you ever imagine three years ago, when you were flown into southern Iraq by U.S. forces as this invasion was moving towards Baghdad, did you ever imagine that three years later the situation would be as apparently dire as it is right now?
CHALABI: Well, I entered Iraq in January of 2003 on foot. Then we went to Nasiriyah with the help of the U.S. Air Force, from Kurdistan, and we were then moved to Baghdad.
He walked into Iraq by foot, and then was flown down into Southern Iraq to be around there for the convenient statue dropping. Got that? One of those bugs that hasn’t been put to sleep yet. No follow-up question for that one about his role in policy formation.