Was Iran the secret mastermind behind the Bush Iraq war? This is the question of the week after the raid on Ahmed Chalabi's home last week by US forces and the revelation that he had very strong diplomatic ties to Iran's Islamic government. The Guardian this morning asks the question whether the hawks in the Pentagon were manipulated into the Iraq war thrust by false information delivered through Ahmed Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress. This would then give Iran a friendly Islamic led government at the expense of the unpredictable and hostile Hussain.

With much of the pre-war intelligence built around information provided by Chalabi, this could have disastrous implications for both the Pentagon and the White House. What I'm surprised about is that this investigation was made public, given the enormous potential for embarrassment it holds, especially with the secretive nature of this neo-conservative US government. What seems to have happened is that it's become the usual intelligence turf war between the Pentagon and the CIA, with the CIA calling publicly for this investigation.