Washington said yesterday that it was to cease funding the Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi, the former exile whose “intelligence reports” and claims about Americans’ likely reception among his countrymen helped push the Bush administration to war. Officials said the Pentagon would stop paying Mr Chalabi’s group, the Iraqi National Congress (INC), $340,000 (£192,000) a month at the end of June, when the US is due to return sovereignty of Iraq. Entifadh Qanbar, an INC spokesman in Washington, said: “After 30 June, we expect all funding by US agencies to be ceased because the Iraqi government will be sovereign.” Full Story