The romance is over and I want my ring back
Officials Seize Files of Top Iraqi Leader Once Backed by U.S.
By DEXTER FILKINS and KIRK SEMPLE
AGHDAD, Iraq, May 20 ? The offices and home of Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi politician once favored by the Pentagon but now at odds with the American authorities, were raided by the authorities today and computers and documents were seized.
Witnesses said the raiding party involved about 100 American and Iraqi law enforcement officers, including officials believed to be from the F.B.I. and the C.I.A..
A spokesman for the American occupation authorities said that the Coalition Provisional Authority and its top official, L. Paul Bremer III, had not been involved in the raids, and he referred all questions to the Iraqi police, which, the spokesman said, had planned and conducted the operations.
Mr. Bremer, the spokesman said, "did not know the operation was occurring today" and was notified only after it had been completed. He did not confirm witness accounts that American troops involved.
