U.S., Iraqis raid Chalabi's house, offices

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BAGHDAD -- Armed U.S. soldiers and Iraqi police yesterday smashed down the doors of the home and offices of Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmed Chalabi, a longtime U.S. political ally, and seized computers and documents from the organization.

The security forces were reported to have been acting on warrants from an Iraqi judge, but U.S. officials declined to comment on the purpose of the raid.

Mr. Chalabi and his aides reacted with outrage, saying they no longer had any relationship with the American ruling authority in Iraq.

"It was an armed act of aggression, an armed attack on Mr. Chalabi and his property," said spokesman Entifadh Qanbar. "They took away everything, smashed the pictures on the wall and the table, and even took the Koran."

Mr. Qanbar said armed plainclothes CIA agents participated in the raid, but U.S. officials would not confirm that, referring all questions to the Iraqi authorities. However, witnesses reported seeing Americans in casual clothes and flak jackets standing outside the residence during the raid.

A U.S. defense official in Washington told The Washington Times on the condition of anonymity that the raid resulted from suspicions that Mr. Chalabi was blackmailing people involved in the disbanded U.N. oil-for-food program, the subject of several graft investigations.

"The investigation centers on suspicions that Chalabi was extorting money from Iraqis who have been implicated" in the scandal, the official said.

The raid marked a new low in relations between the United States and Mr. Chalabi, an exiled leader who, at one time, had been favored by Pentagon officials to serve as president of a democratic Iraq.

Squads of soldiers and police moved in at midmorning to seal off the neighborhood around the Iraqi National Congress (INC) headquarters and a nearby house used by Mr. Chalabi.