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Iraq is now a proxy war with Iran
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01/10/07 08:16 AM ET
President Bush is now warning Democrats about the grave consequences of withdrawal from Iraq, insisting our leadership with moderate allies in the Middle East will be damaged, Egypt could destabilize and the Saudis will be forced to turn to other nations for help. This message either just dawned on him or he has put off delivering it since waking up on Nov. 8 to a Democratic majority in the U.S. Congress.
But why won't Bush tell the Democrats, and the public, just how much the Iraq puzzle is actually about Iran? We are propping up the government of Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister who talks to Bush but doesn't say what he means or always do what he says. Maliki cannot separate himself from the Shiite Mahdi army controlled by Muqtada al Sadr, because Sadr controls a large chunk of seats in Parliament and other offices in Maliki's fragile government. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the Independent Democrat of Connecticut who supports Bush's plans for a troop increase, just returned from Iraq and said the battle is all about Iran, and that the Mahdi army is armed and supported by Tehran. Just after Lieberman returned, Maliki's government released two Iranians our forces had captured in a raid.
If Iraq is the battlefield of Iran, and we are by degrees enabling Iran, then no amount of troop reinforcements will change that. And if we are in a proxy war with Iran in Iraq, just as we were with Hezbollah in Lebanon this summer, then Bush needs to say that. If Bush states this clearly, the American public will listen. Then finally Maliki may as well.
But why won't Bush tell the Democrats, and the public, just how much the Iraq puzzle is actually about Iran? We are propping up the government of Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister who talks to Bush but doesn't say what he means or always do what he says. Maliki cannot separate himself from the Shiite Mahdi army controlled by Muqtada al Sadr, because Sadr controls a large chunk of seats in Parliament and other offices in Maliki's fragile government. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the Independent Democrat of Connecticut who supports Bush's plans for a troop increase, just returned from Iraq and said the battle is all about Iran, and that the Mahdi army is armed and supported by Tehran. Just after Lieberman returned, Maliki's government released two Iranians our forces had captured in a raid.
If Iraq is the battlefield of Iran, and we are by degrees enabling Iran, then no amount of troop reinforcements will change that. And if we are in a proxy war with Iran in Iraq, just as we were with Hezbollah in Lebanon this summer, then Bush needs to say that. If Bush states this clearly, the American public will listen. Then finally Maliki may as well.
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