Chalabi's Allowance Cut

The New York Times reports that Ahmad will have to go it alone in terms of finances:

WASHINGTON, May 17 — The United States government has decided to halt monthly $335,000 payments to the Iraqi National Congress, the group headed by Ahmad Chalabi, an official with the group said on Monday.

Mr. Chalabi, a longtime exile leader and now a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, played a crucial role in persuading the administration that Saddam Hussein had to be removed from power. But he has since become a lightning rod for critics of the Bush administration, who say the United States relied on him too heavily for prewar intelligence that has since proved faulty.

That certainly was written in classic Times style: understatement verging boredom. The fact that we've paid out roughly $27 million dollars to a convicted crook elicits a yawn from the paper, which didn't bother to note his conviction in Jordan for this report.

All that money, and what did we get? A broken country, seething with violence. All sales final.