ANOTHER SCARY IRAQI was in town last week, in addition to Ahmed Chalabi. That would be Iraq's "deputy president," Adil Abdul Mahdi, a short, squat and bulky Shiite fundamentalist who was in town to promote his own chances of becoming Iraq's next prime minister. Unlike Chalabi, Richard Perle's favorite Iraqi, Abdul Mahdi actually has a chance at winning the job. Like Chalabi, Abdul Mahdi has been making the rounds in meetings with top U.S. officials. Unlike Chalabi, who spoke at the neocon American Enterprise Institute, Abdul Mahdi was hosted by the more realist-minded CSIS.

When I asked him about reports that Iraqi police and interior ministry squads were carrying out assassinations and other illegal acts, he didn't deny it--but, he said, such acts were merely a reaction to the terrorism of the resistance. "There is terrorism on only one side,:" he said. "Inappropiatem acts by the other side, by the police--this is something else. This is a reaction." As far as civilian casualties in Sunni towns, he had this to say: "You can't fight terrorism without attacking some popular areas."

I also asked him about the Badr Brigade, the Iranian-backed paramilitary force that is the main domestic army propping up Abdul Mahdi's Shiite coalition, he said "they are disarmed," which is patently absurd. He added: "They participate fully in the political process."

Abdul Mahdi had this to say about Fallujah, the city that was obliterated by the the U.S. armed forces a year ago. "It is one of the most peaceful areas in Iraq. I don't know whether the people are happy or not. But it is one of the most peaceful cities."

He also welcomed the Arab League initiative for a reconciliation conference. But ominously, he said that there is no point in trying to create a dialogue with the Sunni-led opposition and the insurgents. "We don't know their names. We can't dialogue with ghosts and masked people." That, of course, is silly. The Iraqi government knows exactly who they could be talking to, but they refuse. Asked to clarify, he uttered the delphic sentence: "Respect our views, and don't try to find out what's behind those views." And pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.