The Nattering Nabob

Ok, so troops are surrounding Chalabi's house now. Just two weeks ago, he was our good buddy and the guy we were going to leave in charge of Iraq.

The Bushies loved the guy, even though he was convicted of embezzlement and bank fraud. In absentia. He's facing 22 years in a Jordan prison if he ever goes back to the country. But hey, boys will be boys, right?

Of course, the Bushies wouldn't consider bank fraud a REAL crime. It's nothing that brother Neil didn't do.

To Bush, Cheney and Rove, embezzlement is just the normal way of doing business.

But suddenly Chalabi is a problem. But not because he's a crook. He was ALWAYS a crook.

But now, they're afraid he won't be OUR crook. And that's the REAL crime. Crookedness in somebody else's service.

The Bushies also might have realized that they seriously need a scapegoat for their failures, and Chalabi might be just what the doctor ordered.