Norman Finkelstein sent me this: "In re your Makiya comment, the other day I came across this passage in Douglas Feith's WAR AND DECISION: Inside the Pentagon at the dawn of the war on terrorism:
Makiya warned that Iraqi politics would not develop democratically if the United States did not "direct the process." "You're trying so hard not to be imperialists that you're not giving Iraqis a sense that you're in charge," he observed. Regarding the IIA [Interim Iraqi Authority] Leadership Council, he said: "You don't want a committee that quarrels among itself. You must pick and choose. Pick people who are with you. Do not be even-handed between those who are with you and those who are against you. Leadership is required--not laissez-faire politically." When Rumsfeld asked for an evaluation of the Iraqi leaders, Makiya responded that Chalabi was the most effective as well as the most controversial; he could be difficult and haughty, but has "leadership talent."
Small wonder Feith dubs him "the eminent Iraqi expatriate intellectual.""
(pp. 420-21 for the longer quote
p. 416 for "eminent...intellectual")
