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Iran's Fingerprints in Fallujah
(Washington Post) David Ignatius - Last week, al-Qaeda fighters in Iraq captured Fallujah, a city where hundreds of Americans were killed or wounded in the last decade fighting the jihadists. How did this happen? Iran has waged a brilliant covert-action campaign that turned the Shiite government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Iraq into virtual clients of Tehran - and in the process alienated Sunnis and pushed them toward extremism. The government reneged on promises to pay the Sunni tribal militia that Gen. David Petraeus mobilized in 2007 and 2008 to battle al-Qaeda in Fallujah and other areas of Anbar province. With Iraqi Shiites pulled toward Iran, Sunnis were drawn back toward the jihadist orbit. The covert campaign in Iraq was directed by Qassem Suleimani, the head of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). At Iran's covert direction, fighters from Iraqi militias have also been sent to Syria to battle Sunni rebels there.