are Shia, and embedded in their beliefs is a lot of minority anger, the sense of always being repressed by Sunnis, of being part of a religion shaped from injustice. So it remains."
I looked at him and said, "So this is like a family feud over the old man's inheritance."
Don did not seem impressed by my clever simplification, and he instructed me, "It's no less significant, and no more meaningful, than the feuds that divided Christianity and produced countless wars in Europe. Papal power, the right to divorce, theological interpretations-- there are many issues that divide even our faith. Except for one thing: The Muslim schism never subsided, never softened, never healed." He then shifted back to his larger discussion.
Don eventually summarized, saying, "I explain this so you'll understand the meaning . . . the full scope of what Daniels gave Charabi, and the relevance of what the Iranians offered in return. As you might suspect, Iranian intelligence has been keeping a close eye on Iraq's Sunni community. Bear in mind that under Saddam--a Sunni--Iran and Iraq fought a bloody seven-year war. The Iranians do not want another Sunni to rise to the top."
He paused to see if we had any questions. We did not.
He continued, "Also understand that Iranian intelligence has an excellent read on what's happening inside Iraq. It's their primary collection target, they live next door, they're more culturally savvy than we are, and they've invested decades developing and refining their sources, particularly among their Iraqi Shia coreligionists. So it's not just losing insights into what Iranian agents were doing inside Iraq, it's also getting their take on what's happening in a country they know better than us." He let that sink in, then said, "Losing that window was . . . well, it still is an intelligence catastrophe."
I mentioned, "Like losing the seat next to the smartest girl in algebra class. How do you pass the final? Right?"
Don's eyes had sort of a patronizing glaze. "I suppose that's a . . . well, an intelligible analogy."
It seemed like we were back to questions and answers, and I looked at Don and asked, "What exactly was the nature of the deal between Daniels and Charabi?"
"I wasn't privy to it, right?"
"Right. So surmise."
"Okay. Here's what I think. As you know from the news, even before the invasion, the Pentagon and the White House were touting and backing Charabi as the future prime minister of a democratic Iraq. You read that, right? And clearly, his godfathers were his controller, Daniels and, obviously, Cliff's bosses, Tigerman and Hirschfield, who had their own long relationships with Charabi and persuaded the White House to make him their man in Baghdad."
"Right."
"So, in the middle of the invasion, Charabi and select members of his Iraqi National Symposium were flown over to and prepositioned inside Kuwait. The idea was to rush them in the instant Baghdad fell and place them in charge of the government."
"So what happened?"
"That is what happened. The day Baghdad fell, Charabi was flown in by an Army Black Hawk, where he was met by an Army band and a color guard and given the full pomp and ceremony treatment. And we immediately began screwing up the occupation. It was a big mess, and the administration immediately had reservations about the initial American team sent over to run things, so they replaced it with a new team, and it became an even bigger mess."
Bian, who had been there during that period, commented, "On top of that, Saddam's Iraqi government had crumbled, then disintegrated. There was nothing to put Charabi in charge of. It was utter chaos, for months."
Don smiled and nodded at his prize pupil. He said, "So Charabi was left to sit around Baghdad, cool his heels, and wait for things to settle out. But simultaneously, the prewar intelligence he and his people provided was, piece by piece, being disproven. Search teams fanned out all over the country and checked the sites Charabi and his people had pinpointed--no nukes, no bioweapons sites, no huge stockpiles of chemical weapons. For the White House and for the Defense Department, this was more than embarrassing, this was a strategic fiasco."
"Buyer's remorse," I suggested. "So they all began having second thoughts about Charabi?"
"They began having what should've been first thoughts," commented Don with his typical self-assured arrogance.
Bian smartly observed, "But not Daniels."
"No, you're right," Don replied agreeably. "Mahmoud Charabi, after all, was his creation. He'd been his faithful controller for all those years, and later