[Media-watch] Iraqi exiles suspected of [US] lobbying violations - Billings Gazette/Knight Ridder - 24/04/2004

[Julie-ann Davies]

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/04/24/build/nation/80-exiles-lobbying.inc



April 24, 2004



Iraqi exiles suspected of lobbying violations

Knight Ridder News

WASHINGTON - An Iraqi exile group may have violated restrictions against
using taxpayer funds to lobby when it campaigned for U.S. action to oust
Saddam Hussein, according to documents and U.S. officials with direct
knowledge of the matter.

If the charge - which is the subject of an upcoming probe by Congress'
General Accounting Office - is borne out, it means that U.S. taxpayers paid
to have themselves persuaded that it was necessary to invade Iraq.

Officials of the Iraqi National Congress, which played a central role in
building support for last year's invasion of Iraq, deny that the group
crossed the line prohibiting lobbying, or that it broke any other rules. But
officials at the State Department, which managed the INC's U.S. government
grant, said they believe it did, despite what a senior official said were
repeated warnings to the group to avoid lobbying "or even the appearance of
same."

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the government's
dealings with the INC, a favorite of some Pentagon officials and advisers,
remain highly controversial. State Department officials, along with many
intelligence officers, have been longtime critics of the group and want to
minimize the group's role in post-Saddam Iraq.

Federal law prohibits the use of U.S. government funds for lobbying on
financial matters, such as government contracts. A grant agreement between
the INC and the State Department prohibited lobbying and propagandizing.

In this case, individuals who held senior positions with the INC set up a
nonprofit group to lobby for U.S. action in Iraq. The group, composed
largely of Iraqi-Americans, relied on private funds and wasn't subject to
the same lobbying restrictions. Even so, the formation of the group
surprised and angered U.S. government officials, some of whom suspected that
it was an attempt to sidestep the lobbying restrictions.

The role of outside groups and advisers in the decision to invade Iraq and
in postwar planning has come under growing scrutiny since it was revealed
that much of the intelligence on Saddam's weapons programs and terrorist
ties that President Bush relied on was inaccurate or fabricated. Some
crucial pieces of intelligence found to be bogus were supplied by Iraqi
defectors made available by the INC and other groups.

The incorporation papers of the spin-off group, the Iraq Liberation Action
Committee, say it was founded "to work in support of United States and
international efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from
power in Iraq" and to help in "drafting resolutions, legislation and
regulations" to advance democracy there.

The group's principal founder was Francis Brooke, the INC's Washington
representative, according to the corporate documents obtained by Knight
Ridder.

Brooke, in a telephone interview, acknowledged a "professional relationship"
with the lobby group. But he said there was "no crossover between that and
anything else."

Two senators, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry,
D-Mass., and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., asked the General Accounting Office,
Congress' investigative arm, to determine whether the INC violated lobbying
rules.

In a March 3 letter, the senators asked the GAO to determine whether
taxpayer funds were used to arrange meetings between Iraqi defectors and
journalists, to influence Congress regarding funding or legislation, or to
propagandize the American public. Their request was first reported by
Newsweek magazine.