If what the Iraqi National Congress says is true, we are in for some very interesting times in the Middle East; the INC has plans for strong ties with Israel and Turkey, and no support for the Palestinian Arabs. (Hat tip: Yossarian.)

One of the most elegant and eloquent princes of the INC is Nabeel Musawi, right-hand man of INC leader Ahmad Chalabi and scion of a prominent Shi’ite family from Baghdad.

Musawi fled into exile aged 18 when his father was arrested and later executed. Now in his early 40s, he is destined for a key role in a future Iraqi administration.

Speaking from Dokan, in liberated northern Iraq, Musawi took pleasure in describing the unbridled celebrations the spontaneous, uninhibited joy on the streets of Iraq’s towns and cities as ordinary Iraqis celebrated the toppling of Saddam’s statue in Baghdad’s Paradise Square.

“All our cities are euphoric,” he told me, the allied bombing of nearby Kirkuk clearly audible in the background over our satellite phone link.

Musawi reminds me that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled from the Gulf states after the 1991 war in retribution for their complicity with Saddam, particularly in Kuwait, where they collaborated with his enforcers in identifying key personnel after the Iraqi invasion. All were arrested, many were never seen again.

Today, the large Palestinian community is regarded by INC leaders as a loathsome fifth column, among the most faithful followers of Saddam Hussein.

Will the Palestinians be welcome to remain in a new, post-Saddam Iraq?

“Absolutely not,” Musawi snapped.

Nor, for that matter, will Arabs who had opposed the US-led war to deliver freedom to the Iraqi people.

This would be an amazing sea change in the region; Iraq would tranform from one of the most insidious supporters of Palestinian Arab terrorism, into a powerful ally for Israel and America.

I’m almost afraid to hope. And what does Musawi think of the United Nations?

“They did not play a very honorable role when it came to dealing with Saddam,” he said. “We believe the UN needs to put its own house in order before it can play a credible role here.”