Baghdad, November 4 (RHC)-- Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi, who played a key role in pushing for the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, has died at the age of 71.

Chalabi was the former head of the Iraqi National Congress, a CIA-funded Iraqi exile group that helped drum up pre-war claims that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction and had links to al-Qaeda.

Ahmed Chalabi provided the Iraqi sources to journalists and congressmembers who said Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction and had links to al-Qaeda, all of which turned out to be false.

Former advisers have said they raised major doubts about those sources but were ignored. Ahmed Chalabi died on Tuesday at his home in Baghdad of a heart attack. He was 71 years old.