january 24, 2006

Radical Iraqi Imam Vows to Stand Behind Iran

Over the weekend, the radical young Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr left his base in Najaf to visit with Iranian government officials in Tehran. You may remember Al-Sadr from the April 2004 Shiite uprising against Coalition forces in southern Iraq, which he led via his Al-Madhi army.  That rebellion was decisively crushed by U.S. troops. Yet Al-Sadr, who, despite being charged with the April 2003 murder of Shi'ite Grand Ayatollah Abd al-Majid al-Khoi at a mosque in Najaf--a crime for which he has yet to be arrested--began rearing his head once again last summer, vowing to participate in Iraq’s political process.

And now he is vowing to stand by his fellow Shiite radicals in Iran in the likely event of a U.S. and/or Israeli air strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. This likely means that al-Sadr’s forces will attack Coalition troops in Iraq shortly after the first bomb is dropped on Iran, making the very necessary task of taking out Iran’s nuke facilities--which already promised to be harrowing--a bit more perilous.  Here’s more, from Iran Focus: 

Tehran, Iran, Jan. 22 - Senior Iranian officials praised on Sunday radical Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr during his visit to Tehran over the weekend.

Ali Larijani, the secretary-general of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, described Sadr as an “active, dynamic, and wise individual, representing Iraqi religious figures”.

Sadr’s armed militia, the Mehdi Army, launched an offensive against United States-led forces in Iraq in April 2004. The attempted uprising was, however, quashed after several military offensives by U.S. troops and the political intervention of Iraq's senior Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.

Larijani told Sadr that Iran and Iraq were natural allies.

“If unity [among various Iraqi groups] is further consolidated, Israel and the U.S. will not be able to have a constant presence in Iraq”, the state-run IRNA news agency quoted Sadr as telling his Iranian host.

The firebrand cleric said that the U.S. had been targeting “Islamic ideology”.

He also said that his followers would support Iran if it ever came under foreign military aggression.

“If neighbouring Islamic countries, including Iran, come under attack, then the Mahdi Army will support them”, he said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki also met and held talks with Sadr on Sunday.

Mottaki said that Tehran wanted Iraqi political and ethnic groups to contribute to future developments in Iraq.

During the meeting, Sadr called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, adding that he sought stronger ties between Tehran and Baghdad.

“We have always been happy with growing links between the two Iranian and Iraqi nations and we have constantly been supporting stronger ties between Iran and Iraq and their neighbours”, Sadr said.

Along with my brother, Fred Stakelbeck, I’ve written previously about the growing and disturbing links between Iran and the new Iraqi government. Al-Sadr’s Tehran holiday is another step in the wrong direction in that regard. As it stands, the man should have been captured or killed long ago. Since he wasn’t, he’s now back to fight another day against Coalition troops. The moral of this story should be obvious to the Pentagon.

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