U.S. officials who have supported Chalabi defended him yesterday. And some officials raised the possibility that the incident could be an attempt by Iran to discredit Chalabi and remove him from contention as a future leader of Iraq.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11043-2004Jun2_2.html

"As a secular Shia and a democrat, he's a threat to Iran, which wants to see an Islamic government in Iraq," one official said. "Maybe these two Iranians were trying to set Chalabi up, knowing that the Americans would react viscerally if they suspected he had compromised codes."

In an appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America," Rice said, "I can't comment on intelligence matters, but I can say that we have had a relationship with Mr. Chalabi in the past that's been strained recently."

Richard N. Perle, the former chairman of the Defense Policy Board and a longtime supporter of Chalabi's, said yesterday he found it "impossible to believe" that Chalabi is accused of informing the Iranians about U.S. code-breaking and the station chief "would use a compromised code to report to Baghdad when he could convey it in 2 1/2 hours by car." Perle added: "It would be a tragedy if we jettisoned an Iraqi leader on such a hairy story."