Touted leader's path to power not inevitable

AHMED Chalabi has been described by his supporters in Washington as a "rare find" a man deeply rooted in the Arab world but fundamentally a Westerner.

But the man touted in some quarters as the future leader of Iraq cannot boast universal support far from it.

As leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), the exiled Dr Chalabi is one of the best known of Saddam Hussein's many opponents.

The 57-year-old is seen as one of the forerunners in the hunt to find Iraq's equivalent to Hamid Karzai Afghanistan's US-friendly leader once Saddam is toppled.

But the path would be anything but straightforward and Dr Chalabi has reportedly said he would not stand for office in his nation's brave new world.

For all his backers in the US, he also has his critics there and relations are straining. America's security services, notably the State Department and CIA, reportedly have their concerns, predominantly because he enjoys little support from within the Arab world.

He has said the US is essential in winning the fight against Saddam but the liberation and reintegration of Iraq thereafter is something the Iraqis must shoulder alone.

In 1992, he was convicted and sentenced to 22 years in jail in absentia for embezzlement and theft in Jordan following the collapse of the Petra Bank. He claimed the criminal case was a plot to frame him by Baghdad.

Born in 1945 Dr Chalabi is the scion of a wealthy Shiite banking family.

His family fled Iraq in 1956, when he was just 12, and he has mostly lived in the US and London ever since.

In 1992, he set up the INC as an umbrella group for several of the exiled opposition groups although some groups are now believed to be distancing themselves from INC.

He claims his job ends with the liberation of Iraq and several experts say he is looking increasingly unlikely to take over after Saddam but that remains to be seen.