Chalabi claims he didn't mislead U.S.

WASHINGTON — Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi on Wednesday denied that he deliberately fed the U.S. faulty intelligence to strengthen the case for invading Iraq, calling such accusations "an urban myth."

Chalabi's comments to reporters came after he met privately with Bush administration officials and delivered a speech at a conservative think-tank here, in which he discussed his vision of Iraq's political future.

Chalabi also rebutted accusations that he passed U.S. security secrets to Iran and denied knowledge of an FBI inquiry into the allegations.

"I have no knowledge of any investigation about me," he said. "I did not pass any information to Iran or compromise the security of the United States. I did not pass any codes to Iran."

Earlier, he met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Treasury Secretary John Snow and President Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley. On Friday, he is scheduled to address the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations in New York, before returning to D.C. on Monday for a meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney.

Chalabi's presence poses a dilemma for Bush and his aides: It comes at a time when questions over the administration's case for a pre-emptive war against Iraq are being raised anew. But Chalabi could play a major role in Iraq's future, making him hard to ignore.

Many Democrats and critics of the administration's conduct of the war in Iraq expressed dismay that Chalabi was making the rounds within the administration without having to confront questions from Congress about whether he knowingly made faulty claims about the dangers posed by Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq and later passed secrets to Iran.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said that Chalabi's private appearance today on Capitol Hill should instead be public, and that he should be put under oath "to answer questions about his role in providing false intelligence to the United States ... "

Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Richard Durbin, D-Ill., wrote to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, asking if the FBI planned to interview Chalabi while he was in the U.S.

"If not, why not?" the senators asked in their letter.

Asked by a reporter about such comments, Chalabi said he would be "prepared to go to the Senate and respond to questions."

Chalabi, once the hand-picked favorite of the Pentagon to lead Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion and the fall of Saddam's regime, gradually fell out of favor with the administration. First came accusation that he provided intelligence he knew was faulty in saying that Saddam was closing in on the ability to build nuclear weapons, a claim that eventually proved wrong.

Later, some administration officials suspected he had tipped off Iran that the U.S. had broken that country's intelligence messaging codes. Slightly more than a year ago, U.S. military units in Iraq raided his home there.

As he entered the American Enterprise Institute on Wednesday afternoon to deliver his speech, a small, vocal group of street protesters carried a large banner reading, "Chalabi Lied, Innocents Died."

"This gentleman played a key role in some of the fraudulent claims that led us to war, and a lot of people are angry that he's being treated like a visiting dignitary ... ," said David Swanson, who helped organize the protest.

Chalabi has cast himself as a possible candidate for prime minister of Iraq after the country conducts national elections next month. But political commentators inside Iraq say Chalabi's chances of winning the office are slim.

Material from Knight Ridder Newspapers is included in this report.