What Condi told Chalocchio
According to the L.A. Times Condi met Chaolocchio in NYC in late Sept., and then again in DC September 30:
- "She was instructed to tell him to behave. She stressed how unhelpful it was for Iraqis to be enunciating positions that were personally embarrassing for the president, who was the strongest advocate of a new regime in Baghdad," said a senior U.S. official. "She was blunt."
(Thanks to Juan Cole for pointing me to that piece. Robin W, who has a great, decades-long track record of reporting and writing about Iran and Iraq, has another good story in the LAT today, saying that Iran is offering some reconstruction aid to Iraq. That development was, of course, totally predictable-- indeed, actually predicted long ago by yrs truly. Plus, it has considerable weight of sheer logistical/political logic behind it.)
Anyway, back to the story on Chalocchio, Condi and the UN: it notes that when Chalo gave a long address at the UN Thursday, he was actually not any more the "President" of the Iraqi Governing Council, whose presidency had rotated away from him Oct. 1.
It also has an interesting quote or two from former Chalocchio boosters close to the administration who articulated their sense that they had been seriously let down by him. (Duh! Ask hundreds of thousands of small Jordanian investors who felt the same way 20 years ago when his so-called "Petra Bank" ran away with their life savings... )
The story quotes Henri Barkey, a well-connected former State Dept staffer who, it says, once worked with Chalo, as now saying,