Sadrists: Delegation "Too Iranian"

By Cernig

I want to make the usual caveats about the "Roads To Iraq" website's overall reliability, but in this case they seem simply to be repeating regional reporting:

Now get this surprise, you probably read the NYT report “Iraq Team to Discuss Militias With Iran“, which in reality they went to negotiate with Muqtada al-Sadr, what happened right now is that the Sadrists condemned this delegation saying it is “too Iranian”, Sadrists spokesman al-Obeidi told al-Jevar that al-Amiri and al-Adeeb are agents of Iran, al-Adeeb holds an Iranian nationality.

He answered the U.S. accusations of the Iranians involvement in the fight in Sadr-City, saying Iran selling arms which are available everywhere all the militias Mahdi Army and al-Qaeda are buying, he directly accused al-Hakim of inviting Iran to sit with the Americans on the negotiation table

That last para rings true to me - equal opportunity arms sales over porous borders and into a regional black market at an all-time high has always seemed like the Occam's Razor explanation of Iranian weaponry in Iraq - especially given the way U.S. weapons "mislaid" in Iraq so quickly turned up in the hands of pro-Kurdish terrorists in Turkey. No-one's alleging that American policy at the highest levels is to kill Turks in the same way CIA director Hayden is claiming Iran's policy in Iraq is simply to kill Americans. That seems to me to be a dangerously simplistic and beligerently hyped analysis of Iran's complex motives. Some Qods guys are likely getting rich at the expense of their nation's arsenal.

But you have to love the notion that Iraq is sending Iranian agents to "tell Iran off" about those arms. Like that's going to work. Especially when the first batch of Iranian Qods Force people arrested in Iraq were nabbed at Hakim of ISCI's compound with a weapons-selling shopping list. Hadi al-Amiri is head of the ISCI's Badr Brigade militia while Ali al-Adeeb is a member of Maliki's Dawa party. They led the delegation that went to Iran at the end of march to broker the Basra ceasefire with Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Qods Force.

Update Sadr turned away the Iraqi government's delegation, which does indeed seem to have been in Iran to try to negotiate an end to intra-Shiite violence rather than confront Iran on arms-peddling.

"Moqtada al-Sadr did not permit his leaders to meet the Iraqi delegation," said Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi, his spokesman in the central holy city of Najaf.

"Sadr insists that the crisis can be solved only through a parliamentary initiative backed by President Jalal Talabani and speaker Mahmud Mashhadani."

Obeidi did not elaborate, but Talabani has been holding talks with Sadrists to resolve the crisis.

Earlier, Obeidi said that Iraqi Shiite MPs travelled to Iran for talks with Sadr, in the first acknowledgement that the cleric was in Iran. It was unclear however if Sadr was in Tehran or the holy Iranian city of Qom.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini confirmed the delegation was in the country but declined to be drawn as to the whereabouts of Sadr.

"This delegation came to Tehran in the framework of efforts to settle the differences and end the clashes in Iraq," Hosseini told AFP. "The discussions are still under way."

Hosseini stressed that Iran was "opposed to the continuing clashes" and was keen to "find a solution to end the violence".

It was left to Saint Pet to try desperately to spin the narrative so that it fit the original American tale:

Speaking Thursday after an hour-long meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London, Petraeus said there was widespread concern about Iranian backing for attacks in Iraq, despite Tehran's denials.

The Shiite-led Iraqi government "has very rightly" sent a delegation to try to end clashes between coalition troops and fighters loyal to Sadr who have been "armed, trained and equipped" by Iran, he said.

"The important focus has to be on the way ahead and Iran truly wanting its neighbour to the west ... a fellow Shiite-led government, to succeed, so there can be a constructive relationship," Petraeus said.

Again no mention of the evidence that, if anyone is buying arms directly from the Qods Force, then ISCI's Badr Brigade are a chief customer.