Where's Ahmed? (A Recurring Feature)

Last seen creating trouble leading the De-Ba'athification Committee (an excellent place to torment old enemies and shake down random unfortunates), Chalabi has popped up again in a special liaison position...

In a new post created earlier this year, Mr. Chalabi will serve as an intermediary between Baghdad residents and the Iraqi and U.S. security forces mounting an aggressive counterinsurgency campaign across the city. The position is meant to help Iraqis arrange reimbursement for damage to their cars and homes caused by the security sweeps in the hope of maintaining public support for the strategy. [...]

The new position is vaguely defined, and it is too early to tell how much power Mr. Chalabi will ultimately wield. How much money will be available to pay claims and how it might be awarded and disbursed remains to be finalized, too. But he is a skilled political infighter who has often shown a talent for making the most out of whatever hand he is dealt. Mr. Chalabi also maintains close ties with key political allies of Mr. Maliki such as radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, which gives him extra sway within Mr. Maliki's government. Indeed, U.S. Embassy officials suggest Mr. Chalabi's closeness to Mr. Sadr is a major reason he was offered the liaison post.

Quoted from The Wall St. Journel, via Josh Marshall.

I will follow Chalabi's future career with great interest, as the teachers in Wodehouse's novels always seem to have declared.


[March 1st update: Swopa has also been following Chalabi's career with great interest and has a wonderful picture up to accompany a similar story as the above.]