The unraveling of Iraq, XXII: What he said

Tue, 09/01/2009 - 8:17am

David Ignatius, who knows more about intelligence and the Middle East than I ever will, inexplicably chose the dog days of mid-August to run a very good column about the increasing domination of Iraqi intelligence forces by the agents of Tehran. He clearly has had a long talk with an Iraqi intelligence official. My guess, and that is all it is, is that that official with whom Ignatius spoke was none other than Gen. Mohammed Shahwani, who, as Ignatius writes, resigned in August over the issue of Iranian influence:

When pressed about what his country would look like in five years, absent American help, he answered bluntly: "Iraq will be a colony of Iran."

Meanwhile, here is a headline from Aswat al-Iraq that caught my eye in August, some six years into the war: 

Official says only 2 blasts occurred in Baghdad today
          August 19, 2009 - 02:28:46    

It was a famous victory.

ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images

Thomas E. Ricks | Permalink | | Comments? Login or register
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Is this really new...

by Bill Keller on Tue, 09/01/2009 - 8:21pm

That election fixer from Iran who could sell hair color was making victory laps in the Green Zone and walking tours of Baghdad without body armor during the surge campaign.

If Iraq looks like its

by jjh722 on Wed, 09/02/2009 - 11:27am

If Iraq looks like its becoming a colony of Iran, we'll probably revert to backing the Saddamites in toto. But buck up: they might win again. It's better than the two alternatives: American colony and Iranian colony. So much for the Middle East transformation. Does anyone know if Maliki's ouster from the Shiite coalition will have any effect in regards to Iranian influence?

Ministry bombings: who, why here, why now?

by Walking Wounded on Wed, 09/02/2009 - 2:38pm

The Ignatius article forwards Foreign Minister Zadari's speculation that his people were hit hard (10% at that site killed?) with collusion from other elements in his own gov't. His conjecture is supported by the recent removal of blast barriers at the two bombed ministries. (The other was Finance.)

I read that all the GOI ministries were shared out to specific Iraqi parties, by the same 'grand bargain' that placed Maliki as PM in early 2007. So which parties were strong at the Foreign and Finance ministries, maybe set up as pilot targets in Malikis 'now safe to reduce security' initiative?

Not everything is transparent or attributable to sectarian terror. But at this point WaPo reportage should be sophisticated enough to ask those questions. Doubly so in regard to major incidents like these, where Iranian C-4 is being alleged for the same crime where Maliki trotted out Baathist confessions.

Parties and ministries

by JWing on Wed, 09/02/2009 - 9:25pm

The Finance Minister is Bayan Jabr, the former Interior Minister in the Jaafari government who help set up death squads. He's from the Supreme Council and a former Badr Brigade member. The Foreign Minister you already named, Zadari, who is from the KDP. The Peshmerga protect that ministry.

The SIIC controlled Finance Ministry is one reason why I don't believe Iran was involved in the bombing.

Maliki has also trotted out two contradictory stories for the bombings. At first he aired a confession of a Baathist saying he and other Baathists in Diyala and Syria were behind it. Then later they arrested 14 Al Qaeda members who said they did it all in Baghdad. The Baathists in Syria have denied responsibility and Al Qaeda in Iraq has. For more details see:
http://musingsoniraq.blogspot.com/2009/08/baghdad-cant-get-its-story-straight-on.html

Marc Lynch at Foreign Policy also has a run down of some of the reasons why Maliki is blaming Syria still even though the Baathists there may not be responsible for the Baghdad bombing. See: http://lynch.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/09/01/the_syrian_iraqi_spat