WAR: Did Iran Dupe the US into the War with Iraq?

The CIA is investigating very serious allegations that an Iranian double agent passed bogus material to the hawks in Washington to in effect get rid of Irans biggest threat in the Middle East, Iraq. If this turns out to be true, it could have very serious ramifications on the US's on going policy in the region.

An urgent investigation has been launched in Washington into whether Iran played a role in manipulating the US into the Iraq war by passing on bogus intelligence through Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress (INC), it emerged on Monday.
Some intelligence officials now believe that Iran used the hawks in the Pentagon and the White House to get rid of a hostile neighbor and pave the way for a Shia-ruled Iraq.

According to a US intelligence official, the CIA has hard evidence that Chalabi and his intelligence chief, Aras Karim Habib, passed US secrets to Tehran, and that Habib has been a paid Iranian agent for several years, involved in passing intelligence in both directions.

The CIA has asked the FBI to investigate Chalabi's contacts in the Pentagon to discover how the INC acquired sensitive information that ended up in Iranian hands.

Iran duped US into Iraq war: officials

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Why do we always try to blame someone else... Just saw we SCREWED up and move on.....!!!!!!

Somehow I find that hard to believe. The WMD claims before the war didnt come from Chalabi, the other excuse for war, terrorism, was a bogus one anyway and again it had nothing to do with Chalabi. If anyone lobbied USA to attack Iraq, it was Israel, the only true enemy of Iraq, they also have a few 1000 american troops watching their back now.
Iran could have manipulated Iraqi interim goverment however, AFTER the official end of war, that is possible.

Oh, one more thing, could this be used as an excuse to attack Iran next?

What do we "know" so far?

This seems to have it's origins in the early 1990's...

Iran used the US to get rid of Iraq, it's biggest enemy
Chalabi was a member of the INC
Habib was Chalabi's intelligence chief, and a double agent for Iran
Iran got its hands on some very sensitive US information via the INC and Habib - info so sensitive that it was limited to a handful of US officials.

This brings up the question of a very high-level leak inside the Pentagon.

I tried to follow the rest of the goings-on provided by the links and got a headache from all the twists and turns.

It does seem that this was all part of a covert operation sanctioned by GHWB to use the CIA to bring down Hussein.

Habib is on the run, reportedly holed up in Tehran.

We can't, however, discount the possibility that the 'info leak' that implicates Chalabi is a setup designed to get rid of him, now that June 30 is fast approaching. We can only hope that we're that smart for once.

Haha thats pretty funny, I hadn't thought of that. Sounds perfectly plausible too.

Whats the bets Iraq will be an Islamic state in 12 months time ? Its hardly going to be anything else is it ?

The new Iraqi government may however try to avoid looking too much like an Islamic state to try and keep Washington happy.

I beleive the Iranian's used the US close ties with Chalabi to set us up. They had to know that the US would buy into just about anything Chalabi concocted so long as it was damaging to Iraq. Why, because that's what we were hoping to find. So Iran won a war it never had to fightt and never could win.

....on this teams 2000 campaign trail & cemented during these 4 long years: test balloon data to justify the attacking of Iran. "Axis of Evil" ringing any bells?

whats so unbelievable about such a thing? its an old trick used by many nations weaker than a certain enemy or ones who want to weaken 2 rivals so they can take on both weakened.

Just my opinion here.. I think it is more likely that Israel duped us into war with Iraq.

The motive is much more clear for Israel.. they made no secret that they wanted Saddam and his regime out. and through the activity and little known actions of the mossad I believe they were able to pull it off.

Feeling duped now?

Gazz

Gazz is totally correct....

this was kinda a given from day one

This story does not make any sense at all.

Blame Iran for suckering the USA into a war with Iraq!

Too what end?

Sure. Iran wants us in a war with Iraq, which we would win obviously.

Then, only to have U.S. military bases housing a few hundred thousand crack troops with modern tanks and planes in support on the borders of George Bush�s Evil Empire member #2?

I don�t think so. That�s crazy, if not suicidal, a plan for the Iranians to have run.

This does however sound strangely familiar to the �tried and true� Karl Rove strategy of leaks to press which then show up in the President or V-P's public speeches - referenced as truth.

And that would make more sense in one of the following three ways:

1. As the excuse for the Bush blunder in Iraq. It�s the �No. It wasn't my fault. SEE. They duped me."
2. Or it�s the �No. It wasn't my fault. SEE. They duped me now let�s go to war."
3. And then there�s the old true truism to win elections � �In times of war, Americans rally around their President.�


Another possibility for consideration: If one wish�s to escape blame I can see it as a neo-con�s �get out of jail free� card. Israel would have been a more plausible target/candidate for blame����but then, �Israel is our only friend in the Middle East.�

IN any event, This story just does not seem Kosher.

Originally posted by TenPin
Haha thats pretty funny, I hadn't thought of that. Sounds perfectly plausible too.

Whats the bets Iraq will be an Islamic state in 12 months time ? Its hardly going to be anything else is it ?

That's a suckers bet. It's almost a given.

Maybe Iran and the new Iraq will form a united Arab country as told in "executive orders" by Tom Clancy. I think that was the one. In short, Iran executes Saddam with a sleeper agent in his security detail. Then reunites all the people of both countries making it the Arab superpower of the region.

A little far fetched but I wouldn't rule it out.