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Iran Is Not an Ally in Iraq

(Wall Street Journal) Michael Singh - During the second Iraq war, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was one of the U.S.' fiercest foes. The IRGC was responsible not only for organizing, training and equipping Shiite militants who fought U.S. troops, but also for manufacturing and importing the "explosively formed penetrators," one of the chief banes of American forces there. Also courtesy of Tehran: mortar and rocket attacks on the Green Zone in Baghdad. For this reason, it is more than strange to hear both American and Iranian officials mooting the possibility of U.S.-Iran cooperation in Iraq today. Accepting Iran's offer of assistance in Iraq would be a grave mistake. ISIS would likely welcome deeper Iranian involvement. ISIS would take this as a propaganda boon and use it to attract funding and fighters. Deeper IRGC involvement would also increase Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki's dependence on Iran. What is needed from Iran is not more involvement in regional conflicts, but less. Specifically, Tehran must end its support for the Assad regime in Syria; its provision of arms, funding and equipment to Sunni and Shia extremist groups alike (such as Hizbullah and Hamas); and its nuclear brinkmanship. The writer is managing director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
2014-06-18 00:00:00
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