Mullahs Win in Baghdad
By Mike Evans
Published: June 23, 2007
If America didn’t quite hand Iraq to Iran on a golden platter in Baghdad on Saturday, it certainly took its order for a large-size portion of appeasement. To sit down for a polite chat with a terrorist state that is responsible for about 85 percent of the civilian and military deaths in Iraq sends an unmistakable signal that terrorism pays. Have we forgotten that the fires of a 21st century Persian Islamic revolution are spreading into Iraq, while at the same time Teheran races to become a nuclear power?
The conference was called to explore ways to end the sectarian violence that has been killing nearly 100 Iraqi civilians almost every day. Indeed, the windows of the Foreign Ministry conference room were rattled by a nearby mortar attack as representatives of Iraq’s neighboring countries, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, and three international groups tried to ignore the elephant in the room. Nobody at the conference doubted that the mortar team had been sent by the mullahs in Teheran.
Mohammad Ali Hosseini, spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, actually had the gall to declare that his government is ready to support “any plan” to help end the bloodshed in Iraq. "Leaving security affairs to the Iraqi government, arranging a timetable for the departure of foreign forces, and taking an indiscriminate approach to all terrorist groups can bring peace and security in Iraq," Hosseini told reporters, without blushing. Another act in the theater of the absurd: Iran wants “all foreign forces” out of Iraq – except its own expeditionary Iranian terrorist army.
While America’s representatives glared at the Iranians, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told his country's neighbors to stop financing attacks and funneling weapons and fighters across their borders. Iraq "will not accept that its lands, cities, and streets be an arena for inter-regional or regional-international disputes," Maliki said.
US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters that US officials had also met briefly with Syrian representatives at the parley. He said the Syrians "did not respond directly" to this startling reversal of longstanding US policy, but noted they had issued a statement of support for Iraq. What an accomplishment for the diplomacy of appeasement: a pledge from a terrorist state whose capital Damascus hosts a virtual United Nations of Terrorism.
While the diplomats politely chatted, US military officials continued to state the facts: Iran is supplying Iraq’s Shi’ite militias with money and arms that have taken a deadly toll of American troops. Just two weeks ago US forces displayed in Baghdad captured Iranian-made weapons being used by Iraqi insurgents against American troops, including components for sophisticated roadside bombs.
The conference was notably silent regarding the anti-American Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who led his so-called “Mahdi Army” militia in two uprisings against US forces in 2004 and today specializes in suicide bombings. The Mehdi militia was created and armed by Iran in the 1980s to retaliate against Saddam Hussein. Today it is Iran’s fifth column working to undermine Iraqi democracy.
How many more Iraqi civilians and coalition troops – mainly American soldiers – will have died by the next round of unproductive chatter with unrepentant terrorists?
Published: June 23, 2007
If America didn’t quite hand Iraq to Iran on a golden platter in Baghdad on Saturday, it certainly took its order for a large-size portion of appeasement. To sit down for a polite chat with a terrorist state that is responsible for about 85 percent of the civilian and military deaths in Iraq sends an unmistakable signal that terrorism pays. Have we forgotten that the fires of a 21st century Persian Islamic revolution are spreading into Iraq, while at the same time Teheran races to become a nuclear power?
The conference was called to explore ways to end the sectarian violence that has been killing nearly 100 Iraqi civilians almost every day. Indeed, the windows of the Foreign Ministry conference room were rattled by a nearby mortar attack as representatives of Iraq’s neighboring countries, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, and three international groups tried to ignore the elephant in the room. Nobody at the conference doubted that the mortar team had been sent by the mullahs in Teheran.
Mohammad Ali Hosseini, spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, actually had the gall to declare that his government is ready to support “any plan” to help end the bloodshed in Iraq. "Leaving security affairs to the Iraqi government, arranging a timetable for the departure of foreign forces, and taking an indiscriminate approach to all terrorist groups can bring peace and security in Iraq," Hosseini told reporters, without blushing. Another act in the theater of the absurd: Iran wants “all foreign forces” out of Iraq – except its own expeditionary Iranian terrorist army.
While America’s representatives glared at the Iranians, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told his country's neighbors to stop financing attacks and funneling weapons and fighters across their borders. Iraq "will not accept that its lands, cities, and streets be an arena for inter-regional or regional-international disputes," Maliki said.
US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters that US officials had also met briefly with Syrian representatives at the parley. He said the Syrians "did not respond directly" to this startling reversal of longstanding US policy, but noted they had issued a statement of support for Iraq. What an accomplishment for the diplomacy of appeasement: a pledge from a terrorist state whose capital Damascus hosts a virtual United Nations of Terrorism.
While the diplomats politely chatted, US military officials continued to state the facts: Iran is supplying Iraq’s Shi’ite militias with money and arms that have taken a deadly toll of American troops. Just two weeks ago US forces displayed in Baghdad captured Iranian-made weapons being used by Iraqi insurgents against American troops, including components for sophisticated roadside bombs.
The conference was notably silent regarding the anti-American Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who led his so-called “Mahdi Army” militia in two uprisings against US forces in 2004 and today specializes in suicide bombings. The Mehdi militia was created and armed by Iran in the 1980s to retaliate against Saddam Hussein. Today it is Iran’s fifth column working to undermine Iraqi democracy.
How many more Iraqi civilians and coalition troops – mainly American soldiers – will have died by the next round of unproductive chatter with unrepentant terrorists?
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