American Viceroy

Harold's List
New Yorker
Dec. 19, 2005
by Jon Lee Anderson

Khalilzad, in his meetings with them, raised the issue of corruption every time Allawi's name was mentioned. The Jaafari government had issued arrest warrants against some two dozen former officials of Allawi's government, in a case involving a billion dollars in missing government funds. When Khalilzad asked Pachachi about the charges, Pachachi replied sanguinely that he thought they were politically motivated. When Khalilzad asked Naqib about corruption, he said, "This is inevitable, because of the insecurity in the country."

"So everyone is just raking it in, as insurance?" Khalilzad was smiling.

"Exactly," Naqib said. "I'll bet this government, after it ends, will be discovered to have been ten times more corrupt than our government."

I asked Khalilzad whether the corruption charges might ensnare Allawi. He said that although he had some concerns, he had seen no evidence implicating Allawi personally, and that he had talked to him about the matter, stressing that he must clear his name.

Khalilzad's emphasis on the issue when talking to Allawi's allies seemed to have multiple purposes: to make them aware of the need to deal with the charges, to foster the impression that the U.S. was neutral, and, possibly, to distance the U.S. if more evidence against Allawi emerged.

Khalilzad said that he regarded Allawi, Jaafari, and Mahdi, the Shiite Vice-President, as the front-runners in the election, with Ahmad Chalabi as a likely compromise candidate.