Iraqi who influenced case for invasion

Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi politician who from exile helped persuade the United States to invade Iraq in 2003, died at his home in Baghdad on Tuesday. He was 71.

The cause was heart failure, Iraqi officials said.

Chalabi’s relationship with the U. S. stretched over decades. In 1998, he helped persuade Congress to pass the Iraq Liberation Act, which was signed by President Bill Clinton and declared it was the policy of the U. S. to replace Saddam Hussein’s government with a democratic one.

But Chalabi is most recognized for his association with President George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq.

Chalabi’s contention, broadly shared by U. S. intelligence agencies, was that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction. But as it became clear that Iraq did not have such weapons, the Bush administration distanced itself from Chalabi.

In 2004, U. S. special forces raided his home in Baghdad, apparently searching for evidence that he was sharing intelligence with Iran. No such evidence was found.

Chalabi’s family went into exile in 1958, the year army officers overthrew King Faisal II. Chalabi spent 45 years away from Iraq. He studied math at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before receiving his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1969.

Saddam’s ouster gave Chalabi a chance to re- enter Iraqi politics. After the invasion, the U. S. named him to the 25- member Iraqi Governing Council. As recently as last year, Chalabi’s name was floated as a candidate for prime minister, and at the time of his death he was head of the finance committee in Parliament.