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Iraqi Sunnis Diverting Anger from Israel to Iran

(Knight Ridder/Miami Herald) Nancy A. Youssef - Since results from Iraq's national assembly election trickled out this week showing that Shiite Muslims - many backed by neighboring Iran - would dominate the new parliament, Sunni Muslims have begun to ask: Is Israel really Iraq's enemy, or is it neighboring Iran? "I think that Iran is more dangerous to Iraq than Israel because of the assassinations that the Iranians have been doing," said Added Hamid Hashim, 30, referring to recent killings of prominent Sunnis. "I hated Israel before the war, but now I hate Iran even more." Mithal al-Alusi ran for the new parliament while calling for stronger ties between Israel and Iraq, and appears to have won a seat. In May 2004, al-Alusi publicly admitted to visiting Israel the year before. His only two sons were assassinated in January because of his support of Iraqi-Israeli cooperation, he said. But he said that some Iraqis are warming to a stronger relationship with Israel, in part because they are frightened of Iran's influence. "We don't have border problems with Israel. We don't have historical problems with Israel," he said, just Iran.
2005-12-23 00:00:00
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