Curbing Iranian influence in Iraq
James Forsyth 2:57pm
One of the most important things to have emerged from recent events in Basra and the testimony of General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker is that Iran has stepped up its efforts to destabilise Iraq. The crucial question is whether the Maliki government is now more prepared to confront this Iranian influence.
The signs are promising. First, Mailiki was prepared to order his forces into Basra in an effort to curb the power of the militias and the Iranian trained special groups. Second, it seems that Iran’s role in the fighting in Basra has been, as Defense Secretary Gates put it, "a real eye-opener" for Malik. Third, the Americans—as The Washington Posts reports—are now more committed than ever to tackle the “Iranian-armed militias [who] are now the biggest threat to internal order". Gates declared yesterday that, "We are going to be as aggressive as we possibly can be inside Iraq in trying to counter their efforts."
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www.BiBiJon.org
April 12th, 2008 4:24pmAs per the Telegraph:
There are countries in the world that we know only through the prejudice of others; countries that we are encouraged to avoid. ... we think we know about Iran: hotbed of religious zealotry, hater of the West, sponsor of terrorism, and so on. This précis bears little relation to the reality.
Ann
April 13th, 2008 8:36amSure. Iran has never sponsored terrorism.
What a lot of fertiliser.
Next!
Max Kaye
April 13th, 2008 10:54amThat's right www.BiBiJon.org - and the Pope isn't a Catholic.
Ian C
April 13th, 2008 12:37pmThere are 2 Irans. It is as simple as that - one that is outward looking, highly educated and western oriented; the other one is the one that is in charge - the Mullocracy backed by the military. To pretend that this is not the case is dishonest and will lead to disaster. Realpolitik, the game of day to day management of world events, means that we have to take account of this destructive, dangerous latter Iran, that is driven by religious zealotry. It is just that we seem to be doing so little to get the former to help us help both them and ourselves at the same time. Whoever put the Bibijon website together was evidently trained in PR (on behalf of who I wonder?) and cherry picking.
www.BiBiJon.com
April 13th, 2008 4:29pmIan, guilty as charged. Serious cherry picking. Hope you didn't spend too much time arriving at the verdict because there is an introductory confession in the site: "It is the aim of this weblog to highlight a collection of stories published [in the mainstream media that contradict the widely held notions]". So, I guess you are saying that a collection of articles in one place is impactful. Glad to hear it. That was my aim. 99% of the material is from BBC, etc. I just pulled the stuff together.
Max, thanks for the scoop about the pope.
Ann, put up a website and expose Iran's government. I am sure Iranians will not tolerate such heinous behavior from their government.
Ian C
April 13th, 2008 8:45pmGood one Bibijon. You've proved how easy it is to create propaganda in a gullible, uninformed world. I had not read your 'health warning' but a quick flip through your 'cherries' did demonstrate that an argument such as you ran above can be too easily made with the help of useful media idiots.