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Iran rejects 'baseless' US intelligence charges

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, May 23, IRNA -- Iran Sunday described as `baseless and 
unfounded` Washington`s accusations that the Iraqi National Council 
chief Ahmad Chalabi had passed sensitive US intelligence to Tehran. 
"America, in order to overshadow its problems, has embarked on a 
policy of accusing others," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza 
Asefi said. 
The official, however, stressed that Tehran continued its 
`constructive ties` with all members of the Iraqi Governing Council 
according to a policy of non-interference in the war-torn country`s 
internal affairs. 
In a sign marking the fall of a key American ally from grace, U.S.
forces raided Chalabi`s Baghdad home and party offices Thursday and 
seized computers and files. 
Unnamed US officials were then quoted as accusing that Chalabi 
had been passing highly classified U.S. intelligence to Iran. 
They described the intelligence of a nature which could "get 
Americans killed." 
Asefi said, "In the past few years, America has lied about many 
issues and failed to prove their allegations." He said "lying has 
become institutionalized in the American foreign policy." 
An aide to Chalabi has dismissed the charges as `nonsense` 
and said they are part of an effort by the CIA to discredit him. 
The raid and the accusations followed U.S. officials announcing 
that they had cut off the $340,000 a month they were paying to the 
Iraqi National Congress for intelligence. 
Chalabi was a key figure to help the United States build up its 
case for invading Iraq by saying that former Iraqi leader Saddam 
Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. 
The allegation is now widely being disputed. 
US RUN OF `TRIAL AND ERROR` 
Asefi also decried what he called a run of `trial and error`, 
manifested in US policies in Iraq. 
"America has committed repeated mistakes and crimes, which are 
not acceptable at all. The Americans had better not escape from the 
realities and pay attention to the concealed historical lessons of 
the Iraqi community," he said. 
The official said Iran had sent a message through the Swiss 
Embassy in Tehran, which takes care of US interests in the absence of 
diplomatic ties between Tehran and Washington, and warned of the 
worsening situation in Iraq. 
"The issue of Iraq is a serious problem and we gave the necessary 
warning in this regard," Asefi said without disclosing its contents. 
Iraq has seen more bloodshed and violence in recent weeks 
following US troops` incursions into several holy cities, which have 
triggered an international outcry, including in Iran. 
Asefi said, "Resorting to violence, terror and intrigues as well 
as sacrileging holy sites, after what we have heard all about the 
scandal involving the abuse of the Iraqi prisoners, have attracted 
the attention of the entire world." 
The Iranian official stressed that the best way for America to 
rid itself of the crisis is to delegate affairs to the real 
representatives of the Iraqi people. 
While Washington is trying to deflect international outcry toward 
widening dimensions of a prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq, a series of 
military blunders and rising insurgency have shed new lights on the 
ongoing crisis. 
Iraqi witnesses were quoted Thursday as saying that at least 41 
civilians were killed during a US air strike on a wedding party at 
the village of Makr al-Deeb near the Syrian border Thursday. 
Meanwhile, hundreds of unreleased videos and photographs, 
depicting harrowing sexual humiliation at the hands of U.S. soldiers, 
have added an anti-Islamic dimension to such abuses. 
According to The Washington Post report Friday, Iraqi detainees 
at the Abu Ghraib prison were forced to renounce their religion, eat 
pork and drink liquor in contravention of Islamic religious tenets. 
Asefi also urged Iraq`s Shiite groups to rally behind the 
eminent source of religious reference in order to resolve their 
problems since `the occupiers are trying to create disunity` among 
their ranks. 
The official further denounced US officials` green light to the 
terrorist Iranian opposition -- MKO -- to stay in Iraq despite the 
Governing Council`s demand that the group quit the country. 
"This is another example of America`s double standards," Asefi 
said, adding the United States was virtually backing the terrorist 
group in the face of its claim to be leading a global anti-war 
campaign. 
BH/212