Iraq’s Spy Agency lodges libel case against INA chief

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraq’s Intelligence Agency on Thursday announced it would lodge a legal case against the chief of the Iraq National Party and its spokesman on libel charges. “Iraq’s Intelligence Agency will lodge a legal case against chief of Iraqi National Congress Party (INA) Ahmed Chalabi and the party spokesman Mohamed Hussein al-Musawi,” the agency spokesman told IraqiNews.com. “Chalabi and al-Musawi used defamatory statements against the agency in TV interviews with the Iraqi TV channels al-Hurriya and al-Diyar,” he explained. Chalabi and al-Musawi claimed the Intelligence Agency has conducted raid and arrest operations without having any links with the Iraqi government. They also doubted the funds given for the agency came from the Iraqi government. “The Intelligence Agency presented its reports to the Iraqi government at a regular daily basis,” the agency spokesman said “the accusations were false and groundless.” The spokesman stressed “the agency employees received their salaries from the Finance Ministry and not from an outside party.” Iraq’s new Spy Agency was established in 2004 under the American Civil Administrator Paul Bremer. The Agency chief is Mohamed Abdallah al-Shahwani, who took part in the foiled coup against Saddam Hussein’s regime in 1996. AM (S)/SR 1