Slow Burn: The Road to the Iraq War

Season 5: Bonus Episode 1
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Who Was Ahmad Chalabi?

More on the divisive figure from the people who got to know him.

Episode Notes

In this bonus episode, Slow Burn’s host Noreen Malone and producer Jayson De Leon discuss Season 5. Then we’ll hear more about Ahmad Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress, through various interview clips that didn’t make it into the main episode, with journalists Janine di Giovanni, Asli Aydintasbas, and Jim Hoagland, and INC member Rend al-Rahim.

Mentioned in this episode:
Arrows of the Night: Ahmad Chalabi and the Selling of the Iraq War by Richard Bonin
“The Enemy of Our Enemy” by Janine di Giovanni, New York Times, Feb. 20, 2000

Production by Chau Tu and Sophie Summergrad.

About the Show

In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq without provocation. Most Americans supported the war—as did most politicians and intellectuals, both liberal and conservative. Today, it’s universally considered a disaster.

Hosted by award-winning reporter Noreen Malone, the fifth season of Slow Burn explores the people and ideas that propelled the country into the Iraq war, and the institutions that failed to stop it. How did the Iraq catastrophe happen? And what was it like to watch America make one of its most consequential mistakes?

All episodes

Host

  • Chau Tu is a former editor of Slate Plus.