On Friday the Council picked Ayad Allawi, a former Baathist who has ties to the CIA and Saudi intelligence, to be prime minister. Allawi fled Iraq in the 1970s and went on to help form one of the leading Iraqi exile groups, the Iraqi National Accord. The group comprises mostly former Baathists and former top Iraqi military leaders. The Guardian of London reports that the selection of Allawi shows that the UN process to select an Iraqi leader had largely collapsed, placing the decision in the hands of the former U.S.-backed exile groups that dominate the governing council. On Friday, White House spokesperson Scott McClellan claimed Allawi had “broad support among the Iraqi people.” But a poll in February found less than one percent of the population favored him to be their national leader. Allawi, who is related to Ahmed Chalabi by marriage, has claimed ties have been found between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, although most Iraqi experts claim no such ties have been found. He told the Daily Telegraph last year “We are uncovering evidence all the time of Saddam’s involvement with al-Qaida… he had contact with those responsible for the September 11 attacks.” Allawi charged that he had evidence that hijacker Muhammad Atta trained for his mission in Baghdad with support from the Iraqi intelligence service. Allawi has also admitted that he personally passed on the now disputed intelligence to the British spy agency MI6 that Iraq could launch weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes. And British journalist Dilip Hero reported that Allawi’s group the INA was largely funded by the head of Saudi Arabia’s foreign intelligence Prince Turki ibn Faisal and that Allawi helped Saudi intelligence establish the anti-Baghdad radio station Voice of Free Iraq.