Baghdad
The U.S. government has decided to stop financing the Iraqi National Congress, a former opposition group and current political party, U.S. and Iraqi officials said this week. The INC, led by former Iraqi expat Ahmad Chalabi, has received some $27 million from the Pentagons Defense Intelligence Agency over the past four years. Much of that money was payment for INC intelligence on Saddam Husseins alleged weapons of mass destruction programsintelligence that has since been determined to have been misleading or even fabricated. Recently, Chalabi has been a vocal critic of the conduct of the U.S.-led occupation.