Chalabi Reportedly Told Iran That U.S. Had Code

New York Times ^ | 6/2/04 | James Risen and David Johnston

[Barlowmaker]

Michael Ledeen made hash of this nonsense at National Review Online last week. It is a preposterous charge.

Ledeen Column "The Chalabi Story".

[lepton]

Better yet, why was it announced that we read the codes when Iran apparently didn't believe him...unless they had changed their codes.

[Ann Archy]

It creeps me out the Richard Perle is holding Chalibi's skirts. WHO are the good guys in this story???/HELP

[davisfh]

" 1. Force the Iranians to wonder which of their codes have been broken, when in fact they probably have all been broken."

I'd bet that you're right on this. Probably not a lot of talent there. So much time is spent every day bumping one's head on the ground while aimed at Mecca, you know.

[Ann Archy]

Name names!

[the Real fifi]

The smearing of Chalabi is a disgrace.

[zencat]

This story is so much horsesh*t. Chalabi never had access to our encrypted stuff.

Absolutely right. Encryption and codes are some of the most closely guarded secrets. Chalabi is not a member of the US government intel services or of the US armed forces. If he somehow got them, they were illegally given to him by some in the government or a spy. I'm just not buying this.

[Southack]

Wow! An entire article filled with disinformation so primitive that even children in the street are laughing at the NY Times right now.

[Ann Archy]

Why would they raid his apt?

[Dolphy]

This story is so much horsesh*t. Chalabi never had access to our encrypted stuff. This is a red herring designed to do two things...

When this story first broke ABC Radio said that they couldn't provide details for reasons of National Security, which the NY Times confirms here. But they also said Chalabi didn't have access to any of this information and the question is who, within the US, gave him the information.

I'm sure we have barely a fraction of what this is all about but those like Perle, who so fiercely defend Chalabi, really make me wonder. This is a high stake game and from a distance it's hard to know who to trust.

[John Lenin]

Actually it was Jimmy Carter who leaked the code secret ...

[Maynerd]

If true, why is Chalabi not in a holding cell right now?

If this is true. Why didn't the CIA kill him and make it look like a terrorist hit? This doesn't really add up.

[texasflower]

The F.B.I. has opened an espionage investigation seeking to determine exactly what information Mr. Chalabi turned over to the Iranians as well as who told Mr. Chalabi that the Iranian code had been broken, government officials said. The inquiry, still in an early phase, is focused on a very small number of people who were close to Mr. Chalabi and also had access to the highly restricted information about the Iran code.

[jellybean]

Chalabi never had access to our encrypted stuff.

Could you point me to the portion of the article where is says Chalabi had access to encrypted material? I've read it twice and can't find it. Thanks

I'm of the opinion that Chalabi is being set up to go deeper under cover. I haven't been following this too closely, so I could be wrong.

[SuziQ]

According to American officials, the Iranian official in Baghdad, possibly not believing Mr. Chalabi's account, sent a cable to Tehran detailing his conversation with Mr. Chalabi, using the broken code. That encrypted cable, intercepted and read by the United States, tipped off American officials to the fact that Mr. Chalabi had betrayed the code-breaking operation, the American officials said.

Hmmm. Might Iran be trying to discredit Chalabi? From where did the other intelligence we have on Chalabi come?

[the Real fifi]

To discredit him, of course. If they had something on him, they'd have arrested him, and despite the talk that someone gave him the code--no one who has been in contact with him has been investigated because they didn't have the encrypted code to give him. Read the Ledeen article ..this is the biggest pile of hooey.

[neverdem]

Since you mentioned the denial of the Atta sighting in Prague, have you seen this article?

It was posted as an excerpted article on FR, but it doesn't have its links either.

With respect to Risen, I'm inclined to give him one more chance. Maybe he relied on a single source for the Havel phone call and was rushing to break the story. As for the Times, I'm more inclined to believe they only slant their coverage, leaving out important elements of a story or refusing to cover a story at all. After the Jayson Blair affair and eating crow last week about their coverage of the Iraqi WMD issue, I don't see them knowingly printing outright BS. Cracking codes is every intel's service nightmare. Risen could be a useful idiot being used any of several players.

[Grampa Dave]

:)

[SierraWasp]

You sure know how to cut through the crap and right down to the quick, don't you?!?!

[nopardons]

He always does.