Ahmed Chalabi: Smooth-talking Iraqi politician who helped persuade the US to invade dies aged 71

Chalabi's information about WMDs in Iraq is believed to have been major driving force behind the invasion

Ahmed Chalabi, whilst head of the Iraqi National Congress in 2004 (Reuters)

Ahmed Chalabi, the smooth-talking Iraqi politician who played a role in persuading the United States to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003, died on Tuesday of a heart attack, state television and two parliamentarians said.

Haitham al-Jabouri, secretary of parliament's financial panel, which Chalabi had chaired, said attendants had found him dead in his bed in his Baghdad home.

Chalabi was widely seen as the man who helpeId push the United States into invading Iraq in 2003 with information about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction programme that was eventually discredited.

After Saddam's fall, Chalabi returned from exile in Britain and the United States. At one point his name was floated as a candidate for prime minister but he never managed to rise to the top of Iraq's stormy, sectarian-driven politics.

His eventual fallout with his former American allies also hurt his chances of becoming an Iraqi leader.

Reuters