BAGHDAD, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- An Iraqi leader says his reports on weapons of mass destruction may have been faulty but still led to Saddam Hussein's downfall.
"We are heroes in error," said Ahmed Chalabi, head of the London-based exile group, the Iraqi National Congress. "As far as we're concerned, we've been entirely successful. Our objective has been achieved. That tyrant Saddam is gone, and the Americans are in Baghdad. What was said before is not important."
Chalabi, by far the most effective anti-Saddam lobbyist in Washington, shrugged off charges he had deliberately misled U.S. intelligence, the Washington Times reported.
"The Bush administration is looking for a scapegoat," he said. "We're ready to fall on our swords if (President Bush) wants."
Chalabi and the national congress for years provided a conduit for Iraqi defectors who were debriefed by U.S. intelligence agents. But, many American officials now blame Chalabi for providing what turned out to be false or wildly exaggerated intelligence about Iraq's illicit weapons.
