“Arrows of the Night”: The man behind the Iraq War

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 01:00:00 +0000

In the saga of Ahmad Chalabi, fact and fiction mingle promiscuously until they become a disorienting blur. Just how responsible was the exquisitely tailored Iraqi exile and one-time darling of Washington neocons for coaxing the U.S. into the Iraq War? What exactly is the nature of his relationship with Iran? How much of the millions of dollars in funding that American intelligence agencies gave him over the past several decades was ever used for its intended purposes?

Back up for a long shot, however, and a different fact vs. fiction dilemma comes into focus: Is Chalabi, that consummate politician and schemer, a scoundrel or a hero? That's a question that Richard Bonin's new book, "Arrows of the Night: Ahmad Chalabi's Long Journey to Triumph in Iraq," probes with wincing persistence.

Salon.com > Ahmad Chalabi

“Arrows of the Night”: The man behind the Iraq War