Played

Another investigation, more corruption, and now the revelation that we've been played by the Iranians. I'd speculated on just this possibility in a previous post, and now it's been echoed by high-ranking intelligence officials. For God's sake, when do impeachment hearings begin? Seriously. I understand the scandal-fatigue the American public was under thanks to the unrelenting and baseless attacks the GOP staged against the 42nd president, but hasn't that passed by now?

Today's Guardian fleshes out the bottom line of the Chalabi fiasco.

An urgent investigation has been launched in Washington into whether Iran played a role in manipulating the US into the Iraq war by passing on bogus intelligence through Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, it emerged yesterday.

Some intelligence officials now believe that Iran used the hawks in the Pentagon and the White House to get rid of a hostile neighbour, and pave the way for a Shia-ruled Iraq.

According to a US intelligence official, the CIA has hard evidence that Mr Chalabi and his intelligence chief, Aras Karim Habib, passed US secrets to Tehran, and that Mr Habib has been a paid Iranian agent for several years, involved in passing intelligence in both directions.

The CIA has asked the FBI to investigate Mr Chalabi's contacts in the Pentagon to discover how the INC acquired sensitive information that ended up in Iranian hands.

The implications are far-reaching. Mr Chalabi and Mr Habib were the channels for much of the intelligence on Iraqi weapons on which Washington built its case for war.

"It's pretty clear that Iranians had us for breakfast, lunch and dinner," said an intelligence source in Washington yesterday. "Iranian intelligence has been manipulating the US for several years through Chalabi."

There is a glimmer of added hope at the end of the article, but it is an empty and hollow hope that only serves to further illustrate the infighting, loggerheads, and ultimate breakdown inside of our government.

The CIA allegations bring to a head a dispute between the CIA and the Pentagon officials instrumental in promoting Mr Chalabi and his intelligence in the run-up to the war. By calling for an FBI counter-intelligence investigation, the CIA is, in effect, threatening to disgrace senior neo-conservatives in the Pentagon.