handler for the Iraqi National Congress, traveled to Iran with Ahmed Chalabi to meet with other opposition leaders in both northern Iraq and Iran. However besides meeting with opposition leaders, Brooke was in Iran to deliver a message to the Iranians on the behalf of the US government. This coming more than a year after President Bush declared the Islamic state a member of the "Axis of Evil", and during a period of heightened tensions over Iran's desire to acquire nuclear technology. |
Brooke first became involved in the cause of Iraqi regime change in 1992 when he
took a public relations job with the Rendon Group, a PR company with close ties to
the Central Intelligence Agency, started by a former Carter Administration political
operative John Rendon. Brooke was given a $19,000 a month paycheck and a huge
operating budget to begin a campaign to publicize the atrocities committed in Iraq
by Saddam Hussein. When the Iraqi National Congress was later founded, Brooke was
able to maneuver himself into a highly sensitive job with in the exile group. (1)
When Saddam Hussein drove out the opposition element in northern Iraq, in 1996,
Brooke setup a Washington office for the Iraqi Liberation Action Committee in a
house which was owned by Levantine Holdings, a Chalabi family corporation based in
Luxembourg. The home become an office, with Iraqi exiles camping out in the
basement, and the place from which Chalabi spearheaded a sophisticated anti-
Saddam marketing operation that Brooke described proudly as “an amazing success.”
As he would later say, “This war would (never) have been fought if it had not been
for Ahmad.” (2)
In March of 2003, on the eve of a trip to Tehran to attend an Iraqi Shiite
conference, Chalabi contacted the Iranian Embassy in London and spoke with the
embassy’s adviser for relations with Iraqi opposition groups, Hossein Niknan. The INC
leader asked the Iranian diplomat to issue a multiple entry visa for his public relations
consultant, Francis Brooke, whom he said would be traveling with him to Iraqi
Kurdistan through Iran and back again. Niknan was eager to help with the
arrangements. Chalabi was surprised to see him take such an interest in Brooke’s
case; the American was granted a special multiple entry visa similar to the one issued
to Chalabi himself.
When Brooke arrived in Tehran, the Iranian Authorities waived the mandatory
fingerprinting requirement for all US nationals that had been a routine practice ever
since the US Immigration Service issued a similar policy in regards to Iranians entering
the US.
While in Iran, Brooke met with Iranian Foreign Ministry officials as well as a senior
Iranian National Security official. He also conducted an interview with two reporters,
Omid Memarian and Hossein Barmaki from a reformist newspaper.
In the interview Brooke revealed he was not in Iran simply as spokesmen for the INC
but was in fact on a mission for the United States Government. Brooke, a longtime
friend of Condoleezza Rice, delivered a letter from United States to the Foreign
Ministry. When asked by a reporter about the incident a Foreign Ministry official
replied, “All I can say is that he (Brooke) is an important person who knows many
secrets”.
In private meetings with Iranian officials, Brooke told officials that the US would not
attack Iran or seek regime change so long as Iran acted responsibly and cooperated
with the US in its objective of Democratizing the Middle East.
Ironically, on March 16, 2003 just two days after Iran officially objected to any plan
by the US to invade Iraq, the Iranian National Security Council decided to change
their view on the war and allied themselves with the US position in regards to Iraq. (3)
took a public relations job with the Rendon Group, a PR company with close ties to
the Central Intelligence Agency, started by a former Carter Administration political
operative John Rendon. Brooke was given a $19,000 a month paycheck and a huge
operating budget to begin a campaign to publicize the atrocities committed in Iraq
by Saddam Hussein. When the Iraqi National Congress was later founded, Brooke was
able to maneuver himself into a highly sensitive job with in the exile group. (1)
When Saddam Hussein drove out the opposition element in northern Iraq, in 1996,
Brooke setup a Washington office for the Iraqi Liberation Action Committee in a
house which was owned by Levantine Holdings, a Chalabi family corporation based in
Luxembourg. The home become an office, with Iraqi exiles camping out in the
basement, and the place from which Chalabi spearheaded a sophisticated anti-
Saddam marketing operation that Brooke described proudly as “an amazing success.”
As he would later say, “This war would (never) have been fought if it had not been
for Ahmad.” (2)
In March of 2003, on the eve of a trip to Tehran to attend an Iraqi Shiite
conference, Chalabi contacted the Iranian Embassy in London and spoke with the
embassy’s adviser for relations with Iraqi opposition groups, Hossein Niknan. The INC
leader asked the Iranian diplomat to issue a multiple entry visa for his public relations
consultant, Francis Brooke, whom he said would be traveling with him to Iraqi
Kurdistan through Iran and back again. Niknan was eager to help with the
arrangements. Chalabi was surprised to see him take such an interest in Brooke’s
case; the American was granted a special multiple entry visa similar to the one issued
to Chalabi himself.
When Brooke arrived in Tehran, the Iranian Authorities waived the mandatory
fingerprinting requirement for all US nationals that had been a routine practice ever
since the US Immigration Service issued a similar policy in regards to Iranians entering
the US.
While in Iran, Brooke met with Iranian Foreign Ministry officials as well as a senior
Iranian National Security official. He also conducted an interview with two reporters,
Omid Memarian and Hossein Barmaki from a reformist newspaper.
In the interview Brooke revealed he was not in Iran simply as spokesmen for the INC
but was in fact on a mission for the United States Government. Brooke, a longtime
friend of Condoleezza Rice, delivered a letter from United States to the Foreign
Ministry. When asked by a reporter about the incident a Foreign Ministry official
replied, “All I can say is that he (Brooke) is an important person who knows many
secrets”.
In private meetings with Iranian officials, Brooke told officials that the US would not
attack Iran or seek regime change so long as Iran acted responsibly and cooperated
with the US in its objective of Democratizing the Middle East.
Ironically, on March 16, 2003 just two days after Iran officially objected to any plan
by the US to invade Iraq, the Iranian National Security Council decided to change
their view on the war and allied themselves with the US position in regards to Iraq. (3)
Related Reading on Francis Brooke
Francis Brookes Bio http://www.sourcewatch.org/wiki.phtml?title=Francis_Brooke
The Citizens are Currently on Standby by Zvi Bar’el
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtWar.jhtml?
itemNo=276884&contrassID=33&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0
Campaign Baghdad by Richard Leiby
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A36796-
2003May9¬Found=true
Francis Brookes Bio http://www.sourcewatch.org/wiki.phtml?title=Francis_Brooke
The Citizens are Currently on Standby by Zvi Bar’el
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtWar.jhtml?
itemNo=276884&contrassID=33&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0
Campaign Baghdad by Richard Leiby
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A36796-
2003May9¬Found=true
| **Iraqfact Bonus Fact ** |
Francis Brooke and Margaret Bartel hold up an order from a Iraqi judge dismissing
charges against them stemming from a US raid on the Ahmed Calabi's headquarters.
Brooke was charged with obstruction-of-justice by U.S. viceroy L. Paul Bremer for
interfering with the with the well-publicized raid, which was carried out by Iraqi
police, U.S. troops and police trainers from Reston-based Dyncorp. The defendants
not only denied the allegations but also pointed out that they were in Iraq working
on a Defense Intelligence Agency-funded program to provide intel and documents to
coalition forces. Washington Post
charges against them stemming from a US raid on the Ahmed Calabi's headquarters.
Brooke was charged with obstruction-of-justice by U.S. viceroy L. Paul Bremer for
interfering with the with the well-publicized raid, which was carried out by Iraqi
police, U.S. troops and police trainers from Reston-based Dyncorp. The defendants
not only denied the allegations but also pointed out that they were in Iraq working
on a Defense Intelligence Agency-funded program to provide intel and documents to
coalition forces. Washington Post
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| © 2005 IraqFact Working Group |