Iraq edges closer to Iran, with or without the U.S.

[ProSense]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iranians16jan16,0,782236,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines">Iraq edges closer to Iran, with or without the U.S.

By Louise Roug and Borzou Daragahi, Times Staff Writers
January 16, 2007

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government is moving to solidify relations with Iran, even as the United States turns up the rhetorical heat and bolsters its military forces to confront Tehran's influence in Iraq.

Iraq's foreign minister, responding to a U.S. raid on an Iranian office in Irbil in northern Iraq last week, said Monday that the government intended to transform similar Iranian agencies into consulates. The minister, Hoshyar Zebari, also said the government planned to negotiate more border entry points with Iran.

Snip...

Administration officials accuse Iran of sowing anarchy and violence in the region.

Zebari's remarks came two days after Iraq and Iran announced a security agreement. "Terrorism threatens not only Iraq but all the regional countries," Iranian radio reported Sherwan Waili, Iraq's national security minister, as saying.

Snip...

American officials oppose the presence in Iraq of Iranian officials and members of the Revolutionary Guard, which is controlled by religious hard-liners in Iran. Washington and Tehran have been at odds for decades and are in a standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

But to Iraq, Iran is its biggest trading partner and a source of tourist revenue, mainly from the thousands of Shiite Muslim pilgrims who travel to the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala every year.

Snip...

A blow to the economy

The U.S. raid on the Iranian office, which handled visas and other paperwork for Iraqis traveling to Iran, struck at the heart of Kurdistan's economy, which depends on commercial ties with Iran facilitated through that office.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iranians16jan16,0,782236,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines">more...

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Iraqi official seeks release of Iranians

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Are the Iraqis expected to fight against Iran and Irani soldiers and

citizens against their will according to the plans of *, Cheney, Gates, and Rice?

[nealmhughes]

2. We Franks will leave. The Persians will still be nextdoor.

70 millions of the Iranians as opposed to 25 million Iraqis.
Iran shares a close historical religious tie with Iraq, many holy Shiite sites are shared between the two states.
Their economies are tied. They have no reason not to get along, save Frankish intransience.
To the average Iraqi, and that would be a Shiite Arab, to whom would one turn for assistance? To foreign nonbelievers with eyes on occupation of not merely government (in name only) but also on its main economic resource? To be a collaborator or a partner?
I believe that most will choose partner.

[bdamomma]

3. maybe Iran and Iraq will unite, then bush can call himself a uniter.

bush opened a pandora's box, and probably he doesn't know the meaning also.

[Beer Snob-50]

4. I do not believe our President is smart enough

to realize what he is doing.

[schmuls]

5. The idiot chimp is too dim-witted to see that actions have consequences

and probably isn't any more capable of looking ahead than a box of rocks!

[DuaneBidoux]

6. trust me, it will be without.