Baghdad, Reuters
Mata Musing
If the Iraqi defence minister is to be believed, the bad guys causing all the ruckus in Iraqi are former Iraqi intel types, Syrian and Iranian intelligence, and last but not least... Zarqawi, the beheader. Sounds right to me. After all, remember where all those convoys were headed prior to the US intervention back in early 2003?
It goes without saying that the Iraqis must be keeping a wary eye on how the UN and EU handles the Iranian quest for nuclear technology. By their refusal to support not only regime change, but post-Saddam efforts in the country, the Iraqis know the EU and UN is not a friend - even if they are not a stated "foe".
Additionally, Iran's clerics have a stake in keeping Iraq destablized prior to the election since a democratic elected "government *supported* by Iraq's Shiite establishment is a dagger aimed at Tehran's clerical dictatorship." To serve their purposes, the Iranian clerics would much prefer an Iraqi civil war between the factions, allowing the clerics to help develop an Iraqi "Hezbollah" as they did in Lebanon.
History could prove a free Iraq may suffer the same lack or support and distain as Israel from the UN and Euro countries who fear retaliation from their Muslim population. We can only hope this proves not to be true.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq (news - web sites)'s interim defense minister accused neighbors Iran and Syria on Wednesday of aiding al Qaeda Islamist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and former agents of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) to promote a "terrorist" insurgency in Iraq.
Hazim al-Shaalan poured scorn on Iran in a speech to U.S., British, Iraqi and other military officers and derided alleged links to Iran of Hussain al-Shahristani, a senior figure in a Shi'ite bloc expected to do well in next month's Iraqi election.
"Iran runs a major terrorist ring inside Iraq," Shaalan said, repeating accusations frequently made by himself and his ally interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a fellow secular Shi'ite who unveiled a rival electoral list on Wednesday.
"I have already said that this state (Iran) is the prime enemy of Iraq, an enemy of Iraq since before Islam, because it helped the enemies of the Arabs and humanity."
"Syrian, Iranian and former Iraqi intelligence are cooperating with the Zarqawi group," Shaalan said, referring to the Jordanian's al Qaeda in Iraq group, which has claimed some of the bloodiest bombings and kidnappings since the war.
"We want democracy and they want the dictatorship of Islam and clerical rule," he said at the opening of two days of talks on the role of Iraq's new National Guard security force.
(snip) continue reading at above link
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