More on the court that will try Saddam: the link I posted earlier today gave the name of the lead judge as "Sami Chalabi."

Per AP, his proper name is Salem Chalabi -- "a U.S.-educated lawyer and nephew of the head of the Iraqi National Congress."

Back in October, in The Hill, Josh Marshall wrote about Salem Chalabi and a few of his friends:

Now let's talk about Doug Feith, undersecretary of defense for policy and arguably one of the most influential people in the administration when it came to advocating for the Iraq war and actually developing the plan. He's now responsible for reconstruction in Iraq.

Before Feith went into the Bush administration, he hung his hat at Feith & Zell, his corporate law firm in Washington. Now Feith's old partner, Marc Zell, has rechristened the firm Zell, Goldberg & Co. And they've gone into the Iraq contract business.

Among other things, they’re "assisting regional construction and logistics firms to collaborate with contractors from the United States and other coalition countries in implementing infrastructure and other reconstruction projects in Iraq [and] assisting American companies in their relations with the United States government in connection with Iraqi reconstruction projects as prime contractors and consultants."

Zell's old law partner is in charge of reconstruction at the Pentagon. Now Zell's helping clients rustle up the sweetest reconstruction contracts. You figure he has any special access?

Me too.

And let me tell you about one other firm, the Iraqi International Law Group (IILG). They are made up of lawyers and businessmen who "dared to take the lead in bringing private sector investment and experience" to the war-torn country and now offer to "be your Professional Gateway to the New Iraq."

Who’s the head of the IILG? That would be Salem Chalabi.

Does that name sound familiar? It should. Salem is Ahmed Chalabi's nephew. So you have to figure he'll be able to provide you with quite a gateway indeed.

And who’s doing the IILG's "international marketing"? You may have heard of him: Marc Zell, Feith's old law partner.

I could go on, of course. But do I really need to?

Sleazy. Very, very sleazy.

UPDATE: This is from a Newsday article from February:

U.S. authorities in Iraq have awarded more than $400 million in contracts to a start-up company that has extensive family and, according to court documents, business ties to Ahmed Chalabi, the Pentagon favorite on the Iraqi Governing Council. The most recent contract, for $327 million to supply equipment for the Iraqi Armed Forces, was awarded last month and drew an immediate challenge from a losing contester, who said the winning bid was so low that it questions the "credibility" of that bid.

But it is an $80-million contract, awarded by the Coalition Provisional Authority last summer to provide security for Iraq's vital oil infrastructure, that has become a controversial lightning rod within the Iraqi Provisional Government and the security industry. Soon after this security contract was issued, the company started recruiting many of its guards from the ranks of Chalabi's former militia, the Iraqi Free Forces, raising allegations from other Iraqi officials that he was creating a private army....

... The firm's counsel in Baghdad is Chalabi's nephew Salem Chalabi....

(Link courtesy of Kathryn Cramer.)