--- title: Ahmad Chalabi: Iraq Leader Denied Influencing US Invasion description: The Iraqi politician has died in Baghdad canonical: https://time.com/4098099/ahmad-chalabi-iraq-war/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-03T16:22:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:18:08.159Z article:section: History og:title: How Ahmad Chalabi Downplayed His Role in Iraqi War og:description: The Iraqi politician has died in Baghdad og:url: https://time.com/4098099/ahmad-chalabi-iraq-war/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffcaac8778be8ab1/69886f523c1639591245a844/chalabi.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Ahmed Chalabi, one of nine rotating pres og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Ahmad Chalabi Downplayed His Role in Iraqi War twitter:description: The Iraqi politician has died in Baghdad twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffcaac8778be8ab1/69886f523c1639591245a844/chalabi.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Ahmad Chalabi Downplayed His Role in the U.S. Invasion of Iraq  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 3, 2015 4:22 PM UTC  Ahmed Chalabi, one of nine rotating presidents of the Iraqi Governing Council, speaks to the 58th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Oct. 2, 2003, at UN headquarters in New York. Ahmed Chalabi, one of nine rotating presidents of the Iraqi Governing Council, speaks to the 58th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Oct. 2, 2003, at UN headquarters in New York.Stan Honda—AFP/Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 3, 2015 4:22 PM UTC American obituaries of Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi, whose death in his 70s was [announced](http://time.com/4097877/ahmad-chalabi-iraq-war-obituary/) on Tuesday, are likely to focus on one aspect of his decades-long career: that, in encouraging the U.S. military involvement in Iraq in 2003, he provided information that led many to believe that his country had weapons of mass destruction. However, about two years after that conflict began, when he was Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister and Saddam Hussein was still on trial, he spoke to TIME’s Brian Bennett during a visit to the United States—and his version of what had happened was very different. In describing the events that led up to the war, he downplayed his own role in influencing any decisions by the U.S.: --- > “” --- **_Read the full interview here in the TIME archives:_** [10 Questions for Ahmad Chalabi](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,1129574,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4098099/ahmad-chalabi-iraq-war/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4098099/ahmad-chalabi-iraq-war/"},"headline":"How Ahmad Chalabi Downplayed His Role in the U.S. Invasion of Iraq","datePublished":"2015-11-03T16:22:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:18:08.159Z","description":"The Iraqi politician has died in Baghdad","url":"https://time.com/4098099/ahmad-chalabi-iraq-war/","keywords":["Iraq","politics","war","remembrance","conflict"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffcaac8778be8ab1/69886f523c1639591245a844/chalabi.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffcaac8778be8ab1/69886f523c1639591245a844/chalabi.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ahmed Chalabi, one of nine rotating pres","caption":"Ahmed Chalabi, one of nine rotating pres","creditText":"Stan Honda—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/iraq/","name":"Iraq"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4098099/ahmad-chalabi-iraq-war/","name":"How Ahmad Chalabi Downplayed His Role in the U.S. Invasion of Iraq"}}]}] ```