Confusion

Here's the question of the day: whom to believe about Ahmed Chalabi.

Chalabi is an Iraqi ex-pat who has always been a democrat, anti-Saddam, secular politician whom the US had touted as an Iraqi nationalist leader for the post-Saddam era. Chalabi led one of two major anti-Saddam factions after Gulf War I and the US basically abandoned him after it abandoned the rest of the Iraqi resistance in 1991. The State Department hates him because (1) it is basically Pan-Arabist in outlook; (2) it is averse to regime change; (3) Chalabi is Iraqicentric and sought to KO Saddam; (4) Chalabi blew the whistle against France's and Russia's weapons and food dealings with Saddam. The UN hates him for the same reason.

The Wall Street Journal and some in the Defense Department have championed Chalabi as an imperfect Iraqi De Gaulle. But last night CBS News reported that US officials said they have "rock solid" evidence that Chalabi passed US secrets to Iranian intelligence. The officials are unidentified and they leaked the information to Leslie Stahl -- a notably anti-war and anti-Bush reporter.

The Wall Street Journal and National Review are apoplectic (click the links to the right). The question is who is right. The Journal correctly notes that US State Dept. officials have hidden behind secrecy to deride Chalabi for years. More worrisome is the failure of the US to root out Iranian and Jordanian (King Abdullah wants another strongman in Iraq) influence in Iraq and the US's deference to Sunni pan-Arabist stooge Lakhdar Brahimi.