The investigative branch of the US Congress is looking into whether Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmad Chalabi broke the law in using US money to attempt to sway US opinion in favour of ousting Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, Newsweek reports in its Monday issue.
At issue are tens of thousands of dollars Chalabi and his group received in 2001 and 2002.
Chalabi agreed in writing to use State Department-supplied funds to "implement a public information campaign to communicate with Iraqis inside and outside of Iraq and also to promulgate its message to the international community at large," according to Newsweek.
But the terms "strictly exclude" activities that are "associated with, or that could appear to be associated with, attempting to influence the policies of the United States government or Congress or propagandising the American people."
Yet the INC itself told Congress in 2002 that there were more than 100 news stories published between October 2001 and May 2002 containing information collected by INC informants - informants who had their expenses paid with State Department money, the magazine said.
These included articles on Saddam's links to terrorism, links to the September 11, 2001 attacks, and his alleged banned biological, nuclear and chemical programs, the magazine reports.
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