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Tears of a Clown

Why Ahmadinejad’s visit to Iraq was a failure. Alireza Jafarzadeh at Fox: 

Outside of the very limited segment of Baghdad where Ahmadinejad visited, there was outrage. A young Baghdad resident told the New York Times, “I think Ahmadinejad is the most criminal and bloody person in the world. This visit degrades Iraq’s dignity.” Up north in Kirkuk, where Arab tribes and political parties rallied against Ahmadinejad’s visit, a tribal leader told the Times, “How can we tolerate this? Today we live under the regime of the clerics. The Iranian revolution has been exported to Iraq.” An Iraqi businessman added, “His visit is intended to reassure his followers here,” but is “provoking and enraging” the rest of Iraq.

…

The outrage was widespread among independent Iraqi political figures of various backgrounds. Abdul-Karim al-Samaraie, a lawmaker with the Iraqi Accordance Front, told Al-Jazeera TV that “We wish that there would be a commitment from the Iranian president personally to cease all kind of interventions in Iraq’s security and political affairs.” Muhammad al-Daini, a member of the Iraqi National Assembly denounced Ahmadinejad’s visit in an interview with the Al-Hurra TV channel, and called for the shutdown of the Iranian regime’s diplomatic offices in Iraq.

Significantly, in a joint statement, over 130 Iraqi tribal leaders from the Shiite-dominated provinces of southern Iraq also denounced Ahmadinejad’s visit. “Since five years ago Iraq has turned into the scene of the Iranian regime’s meddling and aggression. Everyday hundreds of Iraqis are victims of the Iranian exported terrorism. In southern Iraq we are witnessing the murder of our children and ransack of our oil and other national wealth by the criminal elements of the Iranian regime,” the statement said. In late 2007, more than 300,000 Shiite Iraqis, including hundreds of tribal leaders from the southern provinces, signed a petition condemning the Iranian regime’s meddling in Iraq and supporting the presence of the main Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), in Iraq.

Ahmadinejad’s trip was a dismal failure on other levels, as well. Lost in the headlines was the news that he was shunned by the leader he most sought after. The meeting Ahmadinejad desperately coveted was not with Iraqi President Jalal Talebani or Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki. They are regular visitors to Tehran. Ahmadinejad and his team, for a variety of domestic and foreign policy considerations, sought a photo-op with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most influential Shiite cleric. Ayatollah Sistani, citing “scheduling conflicts,” snubbed Ahmadinejad, who had to cancel his trip to Najaf and cut short his Iraq visit by one day, according to the Iraqi TV channel, al-Sharquiyah.

Whole thing. Maybe so, A’jad is still A-OK with Iraq’s elected, marginally functional leadership. 

Economist: Iran’s influence in Iraq likely to grow.

Al Jazeera: Iran’s Man in Iraq

Moscow News: What does Iran really want?

Gateway updates the list of what’s banned in Iran. Purple Avenger at Ace commends the mulahs on the righteousness of their jihad vs. the wastefulness of colored ink and suggests alternatives.

Meanwhile, Kamangir with a map of Persian cyberspace. Let me know if you find anything good.

Topics: Iran, Iraq

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:26 pm on Thursday, March 6, 2008

3 Responses to “Tears of a Clown”

1. Fatty Bolger Says:
   March 7th, 2008 at 10:56 am

   That’s obviously good news, and if Iran realizes that a lot of Iraqis are very wary of their intentions, they’ll be all the more likely to keep the promises they have made. The Iraqi leadership, which is fairly weak, must also realize that they are walking a tightrope here. I could see them selling out Iran if there is provocation or if they feel the balance of power shifting between the two countries.

   In my opinion, it will not be that long before Iraq is the big brother in this equation. Iran desperately wants to keep that from happening, but I think their options are becoming limited.

2. RebeccaH Says:
   March 7th, 2008 at 4:38 pm

   “Clown” is too respectful a word for this duplicitous little boil on the backside of humanity.

3. Vanguard of the Commentariat Says:
   March 7th, 2008 at 8:24 pm

   “I think Ahmadinejad is the most criminal and bloody person in the world. This visit degrades Iraq’s dignity.”

   Yeah ,but Obama’s gonna sit down with him and see if we can’t just work this out.

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