Rigged election?

Baghdad

The U.S. interfered in the recent Iraqi parliamentary election by funneling money to favored candidates, investigative reporter Seymour Hersh claims in The New Yorker this week. The article said the Bush administration feared that the Shiite majority would elect a pro-Iranian Islamic government, so it developed a plan to provide covert support to more secular parties, notably that of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. When members of Congress objected, the administration said it was withdrawing the plan. In fact, Hersh reports, citing unidentified intelligence and military officials, the covert support went ahead anyway. The White House denied the charge. “The president made the decision that our policy would be not to try to influence the outcome of the election by covertly helping individual candidates for office,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.