(New York Times) Tim Arango - Walk into almost any market in Iraq and the shelves are filled with goods from Iran. Turn on the television and channel after channel broadcasts programs sympathetic to Iran. New television channels set up with Iranian money and linked to Shiite militias broadcast news coverage portraying Iran as Iraq's protector and the U.S. as a devious interloper. At some border posts in the south, Iraqi sovereignty is an afterthought. Busloads of militia recruits cross into Iran without so much as a document check. They receive military training and are then flown to Syria, where they fight under the command of Iranian officers in defense of Syrian President Assad. Parliament passed a law last year that effectively made the constellation of Shiite militias a permanent fixture of Iraq's security forces. This ensures Iraqi funding for the groups while effectively maintaining Iran's control. In the halls of power in Baghdad, even the most senior Iraqi cabinet officials have been blessed, or bounced out, by Iran's leadership. Iran has a large number of allies in Iraq's parliament who can help secure its goals. Its influence over the choice of interior minister has given it substantial control over that ministry and the federal police.
2017-07-18 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive