Iran Fighting Proxy War in Iraq, U.S. Envoy Says

Iran is engaging in a proxy war with the United States in Iraq, adopting tactics similar to those it has used to back fighters in Lebanon, the United States ambassador to Iraq said Friday. Mr. Crocker said in an interview that there had been no substantive change in Iranian behavior in Iraq, despite more than a year of talks between the Bush administration and Iran over how to calm Shiite-Sunni tensions in Iraq. He said that the paramilitary branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps was continuing to direct attacks by Shiite militias against American and Iraqi targets, although he offered no direct evidence. [emphasis added]

There is little doubt that Iran is meddling in Iraq. After all, Iraq is its neighbor; they share a long border (somewhere around 500 to 600 miles). Tehran is about 500 miles from Baghdad; in comparison, Houston is about 500 miles from Monterrey, Mexico. Iran can not be expected to allow the US to occupy its neighbor militarily, and sit by doing nothing. Whatever one might think about Iran politically, one must understand that in its own national interest and geopolitically, it feels a need to be involved. All the more, the US has made noises threatening Iran with military action, and of regime change.

Administration officials have long accused Iran of supporting Shiite militias in attacks on American forces in Iraq. The difference now is that administration officials are trying to convince the Iraqi government that Iran may not be the ally it thought, and is behind attacks against Iraqi government forces. That is a harder sell, given that Iran has supported Iraq’s government.

Conveniently, the Administration omits speaking to the point that the Iraqi government considers Iran its ally. Here we are spending billions of dollars, our soldiers dying, being physically and emotionally scarred, and the regime we are supposed to be propping up so Iraq can become a democratic nation considers Iran its ally.

Mr. Bush this week accused Iran of arming, financing and training what he called “illegal militant groups.” “If Iran makes the right choice, America will encourage a peaceful relationship between Iran and Iraq,” he said Thursday. “If Iran makes the wrong choice, America will act to protect our interests and our troops and our Iraqi partners.”

Bush and his cohorts think they can dictate terms. And that phrase, protect our interests, is fascinating. Primary among those interests, of course, is oil.

During the interview, Mr. Crocker accused Iran of meddling in Afghanistan, Lebanon and Gaza, in addition to Iraq. He also faulted Iraq’s Arab neighbors for refusing to help, noting that a promised Saudi Arabian Embassy had yet to materialize.

Lovely. Here this guy is criticizing Iran for meddling in Iraq, and our purportedly great ally, Saudi Arabia, isn't helping.