Chalabigate
"Weapons of Mass Deception"
2003-09-24
Friends of the family
Companies wishing to make money in post-Saddam Iraq need look no further than an Iraqi uncle and nephew, and their hawkish friends in Washington,
Brian Whitaker
Wednesday
September 24, 2003
Fancy your chances making a fast buck from the reconstruction of Iraq? Well, you'll need to invest in a bullet-proof vest for starters, and then make some well-connected business contacts on the ground.
That's where the Iraqi International Law Group can help. Indeed, judging by the blurb on their website, they are the only firm worth consulting if you want to strike it rich in Iraq.
"At IILG, our task is to provide foreign enterprise with the information and tools it needs to enter the emerging Iraq and to succeed," the website says. "Our clients number among the largest corporations and institutions on the planet. They have chosen IILG to provide them with real-time, on the ground intelligence they cannot get from inexperienced local firms or from overburdened coalition and local government officials."
As for its mission, the firm explains: "The lawyers and professionals of IILG have dared to take the lead in bringing private sector investment and experience to the new Iraq.
"Our task is to provide a 'last mile' connection between foreign capital, initiative, technology, experience and know-how and the organisations, enterprises, institutions and entrepreneurs in Iraq eager to rebuild this ancient and war-torn country, to catalyse and ignite the realisation of the new Iraq's huge economic potential."
IILG says it was established in the wake of the "recent coalition victory" in Iraq and is proud to be the first international law firm based inside the country.
"Many firms outside the country purport to counsel companies about doing business in Iraq," it continues. "The simple fact is: you cannot adequately advise about Iraq unless you are here day in and day out, working closely with officials at the CPA [Coalition Provisional Authority], the newly constituted governing council and the few functioning civilian ministries [oil, labour and social welfare, etc]."
As for business contacts inside Iraq, IILG boasts that it people act "as international counsellors to the Iraq-Baghdad Chamber of Commerce, with some 300,000 members country-wide, and to the Federation of Iraqi Industrialists, representing thousands of indigenous factory owners.
Amid all this boasting about its lucrative connections, IILG is surprisingly modest about the family connections of its founder, Salem Chalabi. The website doesn't mention that he is a nephew of Ahmed Chalabi, who just happens to be the leader of the US-backed Iraqi National Congress (INC), a member of the governing council and current president of Iraq. Uncle Ahmed, a former banker in Jordan, fled the country in 1989 before he could be arrested in connection with a $200 million financial scandal. He was later tried in his absence and sentenced by a Jordanian court to 22 years in prison on 31 charges of embezzlement, theft, misuse of depositor funds and currency speculation.
But has never looked back. Despite being detested by the State Department and the CIA, Ahmed Chalabi found strong support in the Pentagon and US Congress, which generously provided funds in support of his opposition to Saddam Hussein through the INC.
One of Ahmed Chalabi's staunchest supporters in Washington is Douglas Feith, a former lawyer who is currently third in the Pentagon pecking order. The pair worked closely together in the run-up to war, with Chalabi providing "intelligence" about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (much of which proved to be wrong) and boasting that he had a secret network inside Iraq which could be harnessed to help run the country once the US invaded.
In the event, the network did not materialise and consequently, Feith and Chalabi share a large part of the blame for the present mess.
Feith, meanwhile, has close links to the Israeli Likud party and the country's prime minister, Ariel Sharon. He was one of the authors of the famous Clean Break document, published in 1996, which proposed overthrowing Saddam Hussein as the first step towards reshaping Israel's "strategic environment" in the Middle East.
Feith has also argued that Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian land are lawful - contrary to the overwhelming majority of legal opinion around the world - and has latterly been promoting the idea of supplying Iraqi oil to Israel via a pipeline.
Until recently, Ahmed Chalabi's nephew, Salem, was a peripheral figure in the political machinations over Iraq. The only information about him given on the IILG website is that he "formerly" worked for Clifford Chance, a firm of London solicitors.
Oddly, Clifford Chance denied yesterday that he had left their firm. Rather they said he is still employed by them but is currently on sabbatical.
Shortly before the war, Salem Chalabi took part in a conference on bringing democracy to Iraq and pushed for a post-war truth and reconciliation commission on the South African model.
Later, during the invasion, the Pentagon sought to appoint him as adviser to the ministry of justice, working in Jay Garner's ill-fated project to take over the administration of Iraq.
Salem's dynamic new law firm is currently operating from suites 1632-1634 of Baghdad's Palestine Hotel. This, according to the website, is a temporary arrangement "while we renovate and restore our permanent office building in the centrally situated Harthiyya district".
Although none of the "largest corporations and institutions on the planet" have yet identified themselves as Salem Chalabi's clients, IILG appears to be part of a carefully-constructed network aimed at channelling business into Iraq.
Interestingly, the firm's website is not registered in Salem Chalabi's name but in the name of Marc Zell, whose address is given as Suite 716, 1800 K Street, Washington. That is the address of the Washington office of Zell, Goldberg &Co, which claims to be "one of Israel's fastest-growing business-oriented law firms", and the related FANDZ International Law Group.
The unusual name "FANDZ" was concocted from "F and Z", the Z being Marc Zell and the F beingDouglas Feith. The two men were law partners until 2001, when Feith took up his Pentagon post as undersecretary of defence for policy.
According to Salem Chalabi, quoted in the National Journal on September 13, Mr Zell is IILG's "marketing consultant" and has been contacting US law firms in Washington and New York to ask if they have clients interested in doing business in Iraq.
This ties in with a recent announcement by Zell, Goldberg & Co that it has set up a "task force" dealing with issues and opportunities relating to the "recently ended" war in Iraq.
One of its activities, the announcement said, was to assist US companies "in their relations with the United States government in connection with Iraqi reconstruction projects as prime contractors and consultants".
At the time, Zell Goldberg & Co made no mention of a connection with Salem Chalabi or IILG in Iraq, but said it was working in the US with the Federal Market Group. This organisation - whose website is adorned with a "God bless America" logo - specialises in helping companies to win US government contracts and claims a 90 per cent success rate. With friends like these, it will not be surprising to find Salem Chalabi moving out of the Palestine Hotel and into his newly restored headquarters in Harthiyya district sooner than expected.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,1048204,00.html
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Brian Whitaker
Wednesday
September 24, 2003
Fancy your chances making a fast buck from the reconstruction of Iraq? Well, you'll need to invest in a bullet-proof vest for starters, and then make some well-connected business contacts on the ground.
That's where the Iraqi International Law Group can help. Indeed, judging by the blurb on their website, they are the only firm worth consulting if you want to strike it rich in Iraq.
"At IILG, our task is to provide foreign enterprise with the information and tools it needs to enter the emerging Iraq and to succeed," the website says. "Our clients number among the largest corporations and institutions on the planet. They have chosen IILG to provide them with real-time, on the ground intelligence they cannot get from inexperienced local firms or from overburdened coalition and local government officials."
As for its mission, the firm explains: "The lawyers and professionals of IILG have dared to take the lead in bringing private sector investment and experience to the new Iraq.
"Our task is to provide a 'last mile' connection between foreign capital, initiative, technology, experience and know-how and the organisations, enterprises, institutions and entrepreneurs in Iraq eager to rebuild this ancient and war-torn country, to catalyse and ignite the realisation of the new Iraq's huge economic potential."
IILG says it was established in the wake of the "recent coalition victory" in Iraq and is proud to be the first international law firm based inside the country.
"Many firms outside the country purport to counsel companies about doing business in Iraq," it continues. "The simple fact is: you cannot adequately advise about Iraq unless you are here day in and day out, working closely with officials at the CPA [Coalition Provisional Authority], the newly constituted governing council and the few functioning civilian ministries [oil, labour and social welfare, etc]."
As for business contacts inside Iraq, IILG boasts that it people act "as international counsellors to the Iraq-Baghdad Chamber of Commerce, with some 300,000 members country-wide, and to the Federation of Iraqi Industrialists, representing thousands of indigenous factory owners.
Amid all this boasting about its lucrative connections, IILG is surprisingly modest about the family connections of its founder, Salem Chalabi. The website doesn't mention that he is a nephew of Ahmed Chalabi, who just happens to be the leader of the US-backed Iraqi National Congress (INC), a member of the governing council and current president of Iraq. Uncle Ahmed, a former banker in Jordan, fled the country in 1989 before he could be arrested in connection with a $200 million financial scandal. He was later tried in his absence and sentenced by a Jordanian court to 22 years in prison on 31 charges of embezzlement, theft, misuse of depositor funds and currency speculation.
But has never looked back. Despite being detested by the State Department and the CIA, Ahmed Chalabi found strong support in the Pentagon and US Congress, which generously provided funds in support of his opposition to Saddam Hussein through the INC.
One of Ahmed Chalabi's staunchest supporters in Washington is Douglas Feith, a former lawyer who is currently third in the Pentagon pecking order. The pair worked closely together in the run-up to war, with Chalabi providing "intelligence" about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (much of which proved to be wrong) and boasting that he had a secret network inside Iraq which could be harnessed to help run the country once the US invaded.
In the event, the network did not materialise and consequently, Feith and Chalabi share a large part of the blame for the present mess.
Feith, meanwhile, has close links to the Israeli Likud party and the country's prime minister, Ariel Sharon. He was one of the authors of the famous Clean Break document, published in 1996, which proposed overthrowing Saddam Hussein as the first step towards reshaping Israel's "strategic environment" in the Middle East.
Feith has also argued that Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian land are lawful - contrary to the overwhelming majority of legal opinion around the world - and has latterly been promoting the idea of supplying Iraqi oil to Israel via a pipeline.
Until recently, Ahmed Chalabi's nephew, Salem, was a peripheral figure in the political machinations over Iraq. The only information about him given on the IILG website is that he "formerly" worked for Clifford Chance, a firm of London solicitors.
Oddly, Clifford Chance denied yesterday that he had left their firm. Rather they said he is still employed by them but is currently on sabbatical.
Shortly before the war, Salem Chalabi took part in a conference on bringing democracy to Iraq and pushed for a post-war truth and reconciliation commission on the South African model.
Later, during the invasion, the Pentagon sought to appoint him as adviser to the ministry of justice, working in Jay Garner's ill-fated project to take over the administration of Iraq.
Salem's dynamic new law firm is currently operating from suites 1632-1634 of Baghdad's Palestine Hotel. This, according to the website, is a temporary arrangement "while we renovate and restore our permanent office building in the centrally situated Harthiyya district".
Although none of the "largest corporations and institutions on the planet" have yet identified themselves as Salem Chalabi's clients, IILG appears to be part of a carefully-constructed network aimed at channelling business into Iraq.
Interestingly, the firm's website is not registered in Salem Chalabi's name but in the name of Marc Zell, whose address is given as Suite 716, 1800 K Street, Washington. That is the address of the Washington office of Zell, Goldberg &Co, which claims to be "one of Israel's fastest-growing business-oriented law firms", and the related FANDZ International Law Group.
The unusual name "FANDZ" was concocted from "F and Z", the Z being Marc Zell and the F beingDouglas Feith. The two men were law partners until 2001, when Feith took up his Pentagon post as undersecretary of defence for policy.
According to Salem Chalabi, quoted in the National Journal on September 13, Mr Zell is IILG's "marketing consultant" and has been contacting US law firms in Washington and New York to ask if they have clients interested in doing business in Iraq.
This ties in with a recent announcement by Zell, Goldberg & Co that it has set up a "task force" dealing with issues and opportunities relating to the "recently ended" war in Iraq.
One of its activities, the announcement said, was to assist US companies "in their relations with the United States government in connection with Iraqi reconstruction projects as prime contractors and consultants".
At the time, Zell Goldberg & Co made no mention of a connection with Salem Chalabi or IILG in Iraq, but said it was working in the US with the Federal Market Group. This organisation - whose website is adorned with a "God bless America" logo - specialises in helping companies to win US government contracts and claims a 90 per cent success rate. With friends like these, it will not be surprising to find Salem Chalabi moving out of the Palestine Hotel and into his newly restored headquarters in Harthiyya district sooner than expected.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,1048204,00.html
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Milton Frihetsson, 23:57
