"What the caterpillar calls the end of life, wise men call a butterfly."

How the almost-mighty are fallen...

Iraq issues warrants for Chalabis

An Iraqi judge says he has issued two arrest warrants for former Governing Council member Ahmed Chalabi and his nephew, Salem.

Ahmed Chalabi is wanted on counterfeiting charges, Judge Zuhair al-Maliki said.

He said Salem Chalabi, the head of the tribunal trying Saddam Hussein, is sought on suspicion of murder.

Both men, who are out of the country, denied the charges and said they were politically motivated.

Ahmed Chalabi was once the Pentagon's favoured candidate to lead Iraq, but he fell from favour amid allegations of links to Iranian hardliners and concerns that he provided faulty intelligence in the run-up to the war.

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"There is no case here and I will go to meet those charges head-on," Ahmad Chalabi told CNN, speaking from Tehran.

WTF is he doing in Iran?! It seems ever more likely that Iraq is just a stepping stone or proxy war for the neocons march on the 'Axis of Evil.' News at 11 (November), make that 10 (October) when the next war starts.