Ahmed Chalabi أحمد الجلبي |
|
---|---|
Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq | |
In office 1 May 2005 – 20 May 2006 |
|
Prime Minister | Ibrahim al-Jaafari |
Preceded by | Rowsch Shaways |
Succeeded by | Barham Salih |
Minister of Oil | |
In office 16 April 2005 – 1 January 2006 |
|
Prime Minister | Ibrahim al-Jaafari |
Preceded by | Bahr al-Ulloum |
Succeeded by | Hussain al-Shahristani |
President of the Governing Council of Iraq | |
In office 1 September 2003 – 30 September 2003 |
|
Leader | Paul Bremer |
Preceded by | Ibrahim al-Jaafari |
Succeeded by | Ayad Allawi |
Personal details | |
Born |
Ahmed Abdel Hadi Chalabi 30 October 1944 Kadhimiya, Iraq |
Died | 3 November 2015 Kadhimiya, Iraq |
(aged 71)
Political party | Iraqi National Congress |
Spouse(s) | Leila Osseiran |
Alma mater |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Chicago |
Religion | Shiite Islam |
Ahmed Abdel Hadi Chalabi (Arabic: أحمد عبد الهادي الجلبي; 30 October 1944 – 3 November 2015) was an Iraqi politician, a founder of the Iraqi National Congress (INC).
He was interim Minister of Oil in Iraq in April–May 2005 and December 2005 – January 2006 and Deputy Prime Minister from May 2005 to May 2006. Chalabi failed to win a seat in parliament in the December 2005 elections, and when the new Iraqi cabinet was announced in May 2006, he was not given a post. Once dubbed the "George Washington of Iraq" by American supporters, he later fell out of favor and came under investigation by several U.S. government sources. He was also the subject of a 2008 biography by investigative journalist Aram Roston, The Man Who Pushed America to War: The Extraordinary Life, Adventures, And Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi and a 2011 biography by 60 Minutes producer Richard Bonin, Arrows of the Night: Ahmad Chalabi's Long Journey to Triumph in Iraq.
Chalabi was a controversial figure, especially in the United States, for many reasons.
In the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Iraqi National Congress (INC), with the assistance of lobbying powerhouse BKSH & Associates, provided a major portion of the information on which U.S. Intelligence based its condemnation of the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, including reports of weapons of mass destruction and alleged ties to al-Qaeda. Most, if not all, of this information has turned out to be false and Chalabi has been called a fabricator.