BAGHDAD, May 16 (UPI) -- U.S. officials in Iraq severed ties with controversial former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi because of a rift with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Top officials in Baghdad made their initial decisions earlier this week in part because of ongoing disputes between the various Shiite political factions in Iraq.
"That's it. He's out," one senior military official told The McClatchy Newspapers.
Officials in the U.S. Defense Department and the vice president's office courted Chalabi as a successor to Saddam Hussein, though many in the State Department and the intelligence community viewed him as a fraud for his misleading allegations regarding weapons of mass destruction.
A State Department official told McClatchy the request came directly from the Maliki administration and suggested the move was intended to weaken Chalabi's political standing.
"My sense is that Maliki wants to marginalize and diminish Chalabi, because he sees him as a pretender to the throne," the official said on condition of anonymity, adding, "We're going to keep association with him to a minimum."
Chalabi serves currently on a Cabinet-level committee responsible for reinvigorating social services to communities following the completion of security operations by U.S. and Iraqi forces.
"Dr. Chalabi has a very good relationship with the prime minister," Chalabi spokesman Mohammed Hassan al-Mousawi told McClatchy. "The leaks made by American officials or politicians who refuse to reveal their names publicly ... are meant to cause strife between the two officials."
