Iranian influence seeping into Iraq

[Devil Soul]

Iranian influence seeping into Iraq
By LARA JAKES - Associated Press | AP – 32 mins ago
MANDALI, Iraq (AP) — Iran's presence is already visible in Iraq, from the droves of pilgrims at Shiite holy sites to the brands of yoghurt and jams on grocery shelves. But now Iraqis are bracing for a potential escalation of Persian influence as the U.S. military leaves at the end of the year.
It's a natural step, most agree, for the only two Shiite Muslim-led governments in the Sunni-dominated Mideast to expand their relationship. But it's a fine line for Iraq to walk, with even many in Iraq's Shiite majority wary of infringement of their country's sovereignty and afraid of being overrun by the Iranian theocracy.
From politics and weapons to pilgrims and consumer products, Iraqis have for years stood by as Iranian influence seeped in. It's been galling for many still bitter over the destruction that Iran heaped on their homes during the eight-year war in the 1980s that left a half-million people dead.
"We hated the Iranians. And there are still bad feelings," said Fouad Karim, a 36-year-old sheep trader in the northeast town of Mandali, about six miles (10 kilometers) from the Iranian border. The town was all but destroyed during the Iraq-Iran war, and travelers entering Mandali are greeted by a monument to a young woman killed by Iranian shelling at her own wedding in 1983.
"The government should not tolerate any Iranian interference, as our anger against them only gets worse when we hear about their deeds," said Karim, a Shiite.
Top Iranian officials maintain they are only strengthening diplomatic and economic ties with Iraq, as they have sought to do since the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein.
American officials, however, have long feared what they describe as Iranian meddling in Iraq — and its potential to sow unrest across the Mideast. Those worries were a chief driver of failed efforts to leave at least several thousand American troops in Iraq beyond the Dec. 31 withdrawal deadline.
At least three Shiite militias backed by Iran ramped up attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq this year in a warning not to stay beyond the deadline. U.S. and Iraqi intelligence officials said Iran supplied the militiamen with weapons, training and millions of dollars in funding. Those militias' strength will no doubt give them influence in Iraq after the withdrawal.
"Iran wants to make Iraq a weak state," says Maj. Gen. Jeffrey S. Buchanan, the U.S military spokesman in Iraq. "Iran is feeling increasingly isolated, and one of the ways it can avoid isolation is by co-opting Iraq."
During a trip last week to Baghdad, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi described the neighborly relationship as "two branches belonging to one tree" and dismissed U.S. accusations of interference. "Iraqis know better than anyone else how to run their country."
Michael Knights, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, says U.S. fears about Iran's influence are largely "overblown."
Experts and diplomats note that Iraq has stood up to Iran in a number of ways, including competition in oil production and crackdowns on militias attacking U.S. forces last summer. Iraq also has adhered to many U.S. and international sanctions against Iran.
Still, Knights acknowledges, "the more you think about it, the more examples there are" of Iranian influence. "They're circumstantial, but that's how behind-the-scenes influence works."
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki kept his job last year only after Iran pushed him to a detente with an old nemesis, anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Al-Sadr, who was then studying religion in Iran, provided the political support al-Maliki needed to stay in power.
Since then, al-Maliki has all but ignored Iranian military incursions on Kurdish lands in Iraq's north. The government has delayed, and in al-Sadr's case, quashed, arrest warrants on militants backed by Iranian forces and financiers.
Despite al-Maliki's longtime anger at Syria for serving as a haven for Baathist and al-Qaida extremists, Iraq now is backing embattled President Bashar Assad, an ally of Tehran. Iraq also has sided with Iran to support Bahrain's Shiites under assault by the tiny kingdom's Sunni monarchy.
In Mandali, a mixed Kurdish-Arab city about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, local officials complain Iran is taking advantage of the poorly marked 906-mile (1,458 kilometers) border to claim Iraqi territory with little to no resistance from Baghdad.
In the southern port city of Basra, a half-hour from the Iranian border and 340 miles (550 kilometers) from Baghdad, Iran is helping supply electricity and cheap goods to Iraqis who would otherwise go without.
Last summer, Iranian First Vice President Mohammed Reza Rahimi led a 170-firm business delegation to Baghdad, a visit Western diplomats in Baghdad saw as an Iranian move to muscle in on its economically stagnant neighbor.
But Sami al-Araji, chairman of the National Investment Commission of Iraq, downplayed the concerns.
"We are open for business and for trade with all those who are desiring to come into Iraq and to participate," al-Araji said. "Let the politicians take care of the politics."
Ghanim Abdul-Amir, a Basra provincial councilman, hopes one aspect of Iran's role will wane once the Americans leave. He said he has long complained to Iranian officials about weapons being smuggled into Iraq. The Iranians replied that it won't stop until U.S. troops are gone.
"The Iranians' answer is that they cannot prevent people from fighting the occupier," Abdul-Amir said.
Ironically, it was the U.S. who opened Iraq's door to Iran by ousting Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime, allowing Shiite parties with historic ties to Tehran to rise to power. Iraq's Sunnis deeply fear Iranian domination and the potential they will be even further shut out of the political process.
Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia has also sought influence in Iraq, in part to counterbalance Iran. Saudi Arabia is believed to have funded Iraqiya, the Sunni-dominated but secular political alliance that won the most seats in Iraq's national election last year but was unable to form a government.
Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, Iraq's highest-ranking Sunni politician, warned last month that "if neighboring countries" see Iraq as weak, "there will be interference ... This interference does exist now" — though he diplomatically avoided mentioning Iran directly.
In Mandali, Iran has left an indelible fingerprint on the city of 50,000.
"Iran has quit the idea of invading Iraq with its military," said resident Bassem Mohammed, a 45-year-old Kurd, who lost a leg in the Iran-Iraq war. "Now they are trying to occupy Iraq's politics."
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Associated Press Writers Sameer N. Yacoub in Baghdad and Nabil al-Jurani in Basra, Iraq, contributed to this report.
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Follow Lara Jakes on Twitter at Lara Jakes (@larajakesAP) on Twitter

 

[somebozo]

The west make it sound like this is happening due to some kind of bad omen or Iran is colonizing Iraq. Iran is a bordering neighbour to Iraq so its natrual that trade and cultural influence will flow in. And me love some Iranian fruit jam! trust me..you have never tasted anything like that in life..with hot crisp bread and butter in the morning!

 

[longbrained]

The west make it sound like this is happening due to some kind of bad omen or Iran is colonizing Iraq. Iran is a bordering neighbour to Iraq so its natrual that trade and cultural influence will flow in. And me love some Iranian fruit jam! trust me..you have never tasted anything like that in life..with hot crisp bread and butter in the morning!

Now that they have lost the war Americans have changed gears to their old tactic, divide and rule. They make such fake stories to divide people. Every in Iraq knows that it was Saddam that attacked Iran and not Iraq and Iranians have been gracious not to demand any reparations through UN which is their right. More Iranians died in the war than Iraqis and these facts are known to every one. Saddam is now gone and millions of people can not be held hostage by the past and start a fight again just because America wants them to.

Americans have the habit to turn every thing political and militaristic when it comes to Iran, they do not even leave alone Iranian ice cream chains in Baghdad. See this Washington post article:

BAGHDAD - In the heart of Baghdad's Green Zone, just yards from the mighty fortress of the biggest U.S. embassy in the world, a small but symbolic challenge to America's rapidly waning influence in Iraq is taking shape in the form of an Iranian ice cream parlor.

Ice Pack, an aggressive new franchise that proclaims its intent to challenge U.S. fast-food hegemony worldwide, will open its Green Zone branch in January, said Ali Hazem Haideri, the shop's Iraqi manager. The building is under construction, but when complete, it will offer customers a choice of 34 ice cream flavors, along with a front-row view of the comings and goings of the heavily armored convoys that whisk U.S. officials through the blast walls protecting the embassy nearby.

Next door is the fast-fading Freedom Restaurant, named in honor of the U.S.-led invasion and aimed at U.S. soldiers and contractors. These days, American customers are rare, and the restaurant mostly caters to Iraqi government workers who come to eat chicken and kebabs on plastic tablecloths under flickering neon lights.



It's a vivid reminder of the shifting balance of power here as the U.S. military winds down its presence and prepares to go home. Even the Green Zone, once an outpost of Americana in a chaotic Iraq, is no longer a U.S. zone of influence. The United States handed over control to Iraqi security forces last June, along with responsibility for issuing the coveted badges that allow access to the walled enclave, relinquishing the ability to control who may come and go.

In the long-deadlocked process of government formation, it was Iran, not America, that brokered the deal that enabled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to keep his job, by exerting pressure on anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to accept Maliki for a second term, leaving both men beholden to their powerful neighbor.

Simply by being next door, Iran wields leverage in Iraq that the United States cannot hope to enjoy. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians visit Iraq's holy Shiite shrines every year, Iranian goods flow freely across the border and Iraqi politicians are acutely aware that they will have to continue dealing with Iran, with which Iraq fought an eight-year war in the 1980s, long after U.S. troops have gone home. Meanwhile, as Ice Pack expands across Iraq, there are no plans to open Baghdad branches of McDonald's, Starbucks, Burger King or any of the other U.S. brand names that are entrenched in most other countries in the region.

Haideri, 22, and his business associate, Hadi Laith, 23, who owns the Ice Pack franchise for Iraq, said they would have preferred an American partner.

"We wanted to open a McDonald's here, but we were afraid someone would blow it up," Haideri said over large paper cups filled with chocolate ice cream, fruit and whipped cream, Ice Pack's specialty, at the chain's first Baghdad outlet in the busy Karradah neighborhood.

"A lot of Iraqis want to try new products, and McDonald's is really enthusiastic to come here because they know if they come they will make a fortune. But Iraqis are too scared."

"Iran is easy," added Laith, who bought the Ice Pack franchise in 2008 for $800,000 after negotiating for several weeks with McDonald's representatives in Jordan. "Transportation is easy. Customs are easy. McDonald's had very exacting demands, and they wanted $4 million."

In some ways, Ice Pack's push into the Green Zone is more of a snub than a challenge. Iranian-made ice cream is a lesser threat to U.S. officials than the Iranian-made rockets, fired by Iranian-trained and funded militias, that periodically crash into the embassy and its environs.

Haideri says he did not deliberately site the outlet near the embassy, and indeed seems somewhat anxious about the store's proximity to rockets aimed at Americans. He is hoping to attract Iraqi families living in the Zone, and does not expect U.S. diplomats to visit.

"I think they have strict rules and they are not allowed to leave their embassy," he said. "If they come, they will be welcome."

Yet there's something brazen about the Green Zone location of a franchise whose Web site declares that its goal is "to exalt the name of Iran and reinforce Iranian identity."

Citing McDonald's, Starbucks and Burger King as its competitors and inspiration, Ice Pack's Web site adds, in English: "Considering the fact that countries such as the United States have been able to impose their exports to other countries by chain and brand systems but Iran has not ever used this method, happily Ice Pack has been able to include Iran in competition with the world's chain brands."

The company boasts outlets as far afield as Malaysia, Kuwait, Turkey and Venezuela, as well as across Iran. A sign hung at the Green Zone site states that this will be Ice Pack's 210th branch. It will also be the third in Baghdad, and others are planned in the southern cities of Najaf and Basra.


Whether Ice Pack can succeed in Iraq in its mission to advance Iranian interests is in question, however. Though Iran's influence soared after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Iran's support for the Shiite militias responsible for much of the violence a few years back, along with its often overt interference in Iraqi politics, has fueled animosity among many ordinary Iraqis.

Cheap Iranian products from cars to chickens have flooded the Iraqi market, damaging the local economy and further deepening millennia-old rivalries between Arab Iraqis and Persian Iranians.

"Iran's influence is self-limiting," said Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group. "The Iranians will always be meddling, but the Iraqis don't trust Iran and they don't like Iran."

Haideri says he plays down the brand's Iranian origins for fear of deterring customers. "Iran's popularity has gone down," he said.

On the streets around Ice Pack's first Baghdad branch, people said they neither knew nor cared that the store was Iranian. "There are people who prefer Iran, and people who prefer America," Haider Saleh Mohammed, 23, who sells sports accessories nearby, said with a shrug. "I don't like either of them."

In Green Zone, an icy challenge to U.S. power