Iran Claims Role In Recent Iraq Truce

Tehran Interceded To End Violence Between Iraqi Govt. And Shiite Cleric Al-Sadr

(AP)  Officials in Iran confirmed for the first time Saturday that the country played an important role in brokering a recent truce between the Iraqi government and anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Iran's Shiite government helped end the clashes between Iraqi government troops and al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia for the sake of Shiite unity, said a senior Iranian official who deals with Iraq.

"It is in Iran's best interests to see unity among Shiite factions," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki heads a Shiite-dominated government in Iraq, but has clashed with other Shiite factions in the country, including the one led by al-Sadr.

Al-Maliki sparked clashes with al-Sadr's Mahdi Army over a week ago when he sent government troops to Basra to crack down on Shiite militias. The fighting eased last Sunday after al-Sadr ordered his men off the streets and called on the Iraqi government to end its attacks.

The Iranian government helped broker the truce during high-level talks in Iran's holy city of Qom with Shiite Iraqi officials and senior supporters of al-Sadr, said a prominent Iraqi party official based in Tehran.

"Iran played a mediating role and helped ease things a lot," said the Iraqi official, also speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

"Given its influence over al-Sadr, Iran convinced the Sadrists to stop fighting," he said.

U.S. officials in Baghdad have acknowledged an Iranian role in the talks but also accuse Iran of providing much of the weaponry used during the recent fighting, including rocket salvos against the U.S.-controlled Green Zone in Baghdad.

U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said last Thursday that he wasn't sure the Iranians were instrumental in convincing al-Sadr to stop fighting "or whether they just didn't stop him from doing it."

The Iraqi government sent a three-member delegation that was headed by a prominent Shiite lawmaker close to al-Maliki, Ali Adeeb, and also included two of his Shiite colleagues, Hadi al-Amri and Qassem Sahlani, said the Iraqi official based in Tehran. The meetings in Qom also included representatives from Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, he said.

Al-Sadr is believed to divide his time between Qom and Najaf, another Shiite holy city in Iraq 100 miles south of Baghdad. But Iranian government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham denied al-Sadr's presence in Iran on Saturday, saying "this is what the occupying forces claim to divert the attention from what is going on in Iraq."

Iran's role in hammering out the peace deal is believed to have boosted Tehran's influence among Iraq's majority Shiite community.

U.S. and Iraqi authorities have insisted the Basra operation was not aimed at al-Sadr's powerful political movement but was aimed at ridding the streets of criminals and gunmen who had effectively ruled the city since 2005.

But al-Sadr's supporters believe the crackdown was aimed at weakening their movement before provincial elections this fall. Al-Sadr expects to score major electoral gains against Shiite parties that work with the Americans.

[prinzowhales]

jamesm12341,,,, Senator Joe Biden is a senior member of the Senat Foreign Relations Comittee --- He knows more than you do

Posted by j-whitman at 04:51 PM : Apr 06, 2008

Bush and Patreus know more than you do....in fact most of america and iraq knows more than you do

Posted by jamesm12341 at 04:53 PM : Apr 06, 2008
--------------------

Then, maybe, either the Chimp or Barney''s protege would like to tell us where the 100,000 weapons are that Betrayus ''misplaced'' in Iraq...before he was rewarded by being made commander in Iraq...

[j-whitman]

jamesm12341,,,,, Bush has excellerated global terroism as I said he would --- 3 Americans died in the Green Zone today & a western compound came under attack by rockets in Yemen

[j-whitman]

getcentered,,,, Good post, quite accurate as we''ve found out

[getcentered]

jamesm12341

"Doesn''''t change the fact that the people of Iraq are as irrational and stupid as you are."

It is we who are stupid..stupid Republicans....not listening to history.....we should never have gone to Iraq....and we knew it.....

Excerpt from "Why We Didn''''t Remove Saddam" by George Bush Sr. and Brent Scowcroft, Time (2 March 1998):

"While we hoped that popular revolt or coup would topple Saddam, neither the U.S. nor the countries of the region wished to see the breakup of the Iraqi state. We were concerned about the long-term balance of power at the head of the Gulf. Trying to eliminate Saddam, extending the ground war into an occupation of Iraq, would have violated our guideline about not changing objectives in midstream, engaging in "mission creep," and would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible. We had been unable to find Noriega in Panama, which we knew intimately. We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. The coalition would instantly have collapsed, the Arabs deserting it in anger and other allies pulling out as well. Under those circumstances, furthermore, we had been self-consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-cold war world."

[prinzowhales]

Bush could not have launched the war without the active assistance of the Democratic wing of the Demopublican Party. This faux-opposition ignored the evidence and participated in the deception--and when they got control of Congress, they continued to support the Regime''s occupation and set aside their duty to impeach Bush and Cheney for high crimes and misdemeanors. They supported the surge...they supported granting the power to Bush to attack named terrorist organizations anywhere in the world...and they supported the naming of the Republican Guard as a terrorist organization...

[getcentered]

Cont.

"Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the U.N.''''s mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the U.S. could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land. It would have been a dramatically different--and perhaps barren--outcome."

[j-whitman]

jamesm12341,,,, Senator Joe Biden is a senior member of the Senat Foreign Relations Comittee --- He knows more than you do

[getcentered]

People who vote for Republicans are very angry right now. They feel somewhat responsible for our brothers and sisters dying in Iraq, and they should, but that does not mean that because you voted for a warmonger in the last few elections that you have to continue to do so.

Do not let your guilt get in the way of your intelligence!
By the way, where are the centrist Republicans? Why does the GOP have to have a big rubber stamp as a constituency?

I would rather have a "inexperienced" Democrat wasting a billion on helping the poor or disabled or uneducated, than have a neo-con Republican blow a billion on killing tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi and thousands of US service men and women.

In the last 8 years or so Republicans have shown me that they will do anything and everything in their power to keep you from retaining an opinion based on the facts that their incompetence is comprised of.

[j-whitman]

BaghdadsHere,,,,, Not one drop of their oil is worth a single drop of American blood

[blackwater66-2009]

Hurry big John McCain, get in office soon and lets go after these axes of evil!! You should have no trouble looking at who is running against you !!

The next Commander In Chief (CIC) !!!

Attack !! Attack !! Attack !!

[j-whitman]

jamesm12341,,,,, Can you read ??

Sen. Biden calls Iraq troop buildup a failure
Political reconciliation has not been achieved, he says

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23970660/

Sacrificed to the Surge
Tribal fighters have cut down Iraq''s violence. But they''re subjecting women to often-medieval mores.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/130602

[baghdadshere]

BaghdadsHere,,,,, Iraq''''s War & any route to progress has to be Iraq''''s War -- Not Ours

Posted by j-whitman at 04:32 PM : Apr 06, 2008

j-whitman,,,When we leave Iraq and your FORD run out of fuel you"ll understand that its because IRAN took control of the Persian Gulf.

[j-whitman]

BaghdadsHere,,,,, Iraq''s War & any route to progress has to be Iraq''s War -- Not Ours

[j-whitman]

BaghdadsHere,,,, That''s another major problem that''s getting harder to address, political reconciliation --- We are going in the opposite direction in creating many little city states, individual tribal powers & all oppose the central govenment --- Power still lies in who''s got the biggest militia

[baghdadshere]

j-whitman,,,,Do you see any political reconciliation in America? Why do you expect the Iraqis to re conciliate overnight? It takes many years. Thats why we have to stay there to prevent Iran from taking advantage of the Iraq transition process from a dictatorship to democracy.

[j-whitman]

BaghdadsHere,,,, Yes & we need to start adressing these problems & quit adding to them don''t you think ??

[baghdadshere]

Conditions in Iraq are a mess, the Badar Brigade, Mahdi Army & Iraq''''''''s police are still not working with Iraq''''''''s Shia Army... Suni groups we have armed & given power too are even more fractionalized & threaten violence amongst themselves & against the Shia''''''''s.

What we have achieved is a Iraqi Supreme Consul running the country still under our direct control.
-- We have created tribal city states who operate under there own laws & system of justice & none are loyal to the central government

------------ SNAFU -----------

Posted by j-whitman at 04:06 PM : Apr 06, 2008

--------------------------
j-whitman,,,,,,The world itself is an entire mess. In America for example there have been shootings all around. Hundreds of girls were taken from a polygamist ranch,killings are happening all the time in every US big city. Here in Brazil the drug dealers are fighting to control the drugs market, and they have infiltrated the police forces and even the politics.

[getcentered]

How could McCain could say he was "honored and humbled" to have Bush"s endorsement?

Lets recap:

9/11 Terrorist attack..
The WORLD gets behind the USA to support whatever action, against those who caused this attack..

Bush declares WAR on the Taliban in Afghanistan..
Allies of the USA unite, and go into Afghanistan ready to kick some a**..

Bush declares WAR on Iraq..
The world allies question this decision, and are chastised by the Bush admin for doing so..

The world allies remove support in dismay at the decisions of the Americans to attack Iraq..
The US stands alone in Iraq...

Americans die in an unnecessary war in Iraq and the cause of the 9/11 terrorist attacks are lost in the minds of Americans........................

Can we say digress????? Just say it with me once....I found a whole new meaning......

Digressssss.......

[j-whitman]

BaghdadsHere,,,,, I do pay attention to our congressmen, it''s easy too on CSPAN as I''m doing now to the Senate Foreign Relations Comittee on Wendsday.

Listening to the qustions they ask point out how good they are or not.
.. Listening to the experts on the panel & witness who have been on the ground is very informative & doesn''t leave any room for news media bias of any kind.

[baghdadshere]

BaghdadsHere,,,, Believe you ??? ROTFULL, Not a chance ------ I will stick to believing the experts, & the factfinding oversite of our congressional oversite comittee''''s.

Posted by j-whitman at 04:12 PM : Apr 06, 2008
--------------------------
j-whitman
Take my advice. Dont you believe in congressmen.They are all out there to steal your money and do nothing.