May 31 issue - When Iraqi forces raided Ahmad Chalabi's headquarters in Baghdad last week, it may have been partly a result of Mark Hosenball's scoops. In recent weeks, our investigative ace has reported on evidence that Chalabi misused American tax dollars for his own propaganda purposes and funneled intelligence on U.S. operations in Iraq to Iran. And that's hardly the beginning of NEWSWEEK's skepticism about the former darling of Bush-administration neoconservatives. Starting in the late '90s, Christopher Dickey has written stories about CIA distrust of the Iraqi opposition leader. During the war last year, Michael Hirsh reported on State Department fears of what would happen if Chalabi's allies at Defense succeeded in installing him as president. And soon after it was over, Dickey, Hosenball and Melinda Liu published an in-depth investigation that found, among other things, that Chalabi had seized 25 tons of Saddam's intelligence documents to use to blackmail enemies and critics.
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So is Chalabi to blame for leading us into war with bad intelligence and false promises that we would be greeted as liberators? As Hosenball and Evan Thomas report in this week's cover story, the reality is a lot more complex, filled with evidence that Chalabi's supporters in the administration (and the press) used him as much as he used us. Meanwhile, as George W. Bush prepares to go to France to mark the 60th anniversary of D-Day, I asked our Jon Meacham, the author of "Franklin and Winston," a superb best seller on the wartime relationship between FDR and Churchill, to assess the president's performance on Iraq in light of their example. His conclusion: that Bush compares favorably on resolve but shows little of their understanding of the need to secure allies or respect the lessons of history.
Like a lot of parents, I've been thrilled by the spell that J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books have cast over my kids but somewhat disappointed with the film versions. So I was intrigued to be invited along for an early peek at "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," directed by Alfonso Cuaron. As Sean Smith details in his story on the making of the movie, the Mexican visionary behind the indie hit "Y Tu Mama Tambien" has kept the gee-whiz special effects but added the soulfulness that makes the books so haunting. Sadly, Cuaron won't direct the next movie—but, in a cheerier scoop, he tells NEWSWEEK that he may be back again after that.
