IRBIL, Iraq — Ahmed Chalabi, the Iraqi politician who played a leading role in ushering the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, has died of a heart attack, Iraqi state media said Tuesday.

He was found dead in his home in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Tuesday morning, according to Ali Yaseen, his driver. He was in his early 70s.

A controversial figure, Chalabi is notorious for having helped bring about the Iraq war by pedaling false information about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction and linking him to al-Qaeda.

After years in exile in the United States and Britain, Chalabi returned to Iraq after Saddam’s fall, becoming interim oil minister.

He has been dogged by allegations of corruption and lacked popular support but through political maneuvering has remained a prominent figure on Iraq’s political scene, often touted as a candidate for the premiership.

By The Washington Post