[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Pages 25379-25380]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 STATUS OF AHMAD CHALABI INVESTIGATION

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I note that something curious is happening 
in Washington today. There is a man by the name of Ahmad Chalabi, an 
Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, who is visiting Washington. Yesterday in 
the Wall Street Journal, FBI spokesman John Miller noted that Mr. 
Chalabi is ``under active investigation.'' For what? He is under 
investigation for the charge that he leaked intelligence, including the 
fact that the United States had broken a crucial Iranian code and that 
Mr.

[[Page 25380]]

Chalabi turned that information over to the Baghdad station chief of 
Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security.
  Of course, if that happened, Mr. Chalabi endangered American troops 
and American security. As a result of this charge against Mr. Chalabi 
on May 20 of last year, his residence was searched by the Iraqis, with 
the cooperation of American forces in Iraq, to see if evidence could be 
found.
  That is a serious charge that we would somehow jeopardize the 
security of America's troops and our national security and whether this 
man leaked sensitive information. The fact that he is under active 
investigation by the FBI is proof positive that we are taking this 
seriously.
  So where can we find Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi this week? 
Well, we will find him in Washington. He has an appointment to sit down 
and break bread with Treasury Secretary Snow and Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice. Then a little later this week he is going to give a 
speech to the American Enterprise Institute.
  Does this sound like a man under active investigation or a man who is 
being actively lauded by this administration? I do not understand this.
  While the Department of Justice is actively investigating this man 
for wrongdoing that could have endangered American troops and American 
lives, the Department of State and the Department of the Treasury are 
hosting him as though he were some dignitary. So do not be surprised if 
the Chalabi motorcade speeds up when they pass the Department of 
Justice. I guess they are concerned whether an FBI agent will come out 
and pursue this so-called active investigation.
  It is very difficult to track how this man, who gave us such 
misleading information before the invasion of Iraq, now under active 
investigation for endangering American troops, is now the toast of the 
town at the Department of Treasury and the Department of State. I do 
not follow their logic, and I certainly do not follow the pursuit of 
justice if they do not have an active investigation concluded so that 
we know whether Mr. Chalabi has endangered American lives.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sununu). The Senator's time has expired. 
Who yields time?
  The Senator from Colorado.

                          ____________________