Iraqi Shiites' real voice
Fox News, November 30, 2007
Alireza Jafarzadeh
Since the United States
invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the fall of Baghdad in April of
that year, there was a false consensus created, suggesting
that Iraqi Shiites are represented by clerics who are close
to Tehran, i.e. the Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).
During the parliamentary elections, the United Iraqi
Alliance (UIA) won most of the seats in the 275 member
Council of Representatives of Iraq. As a result, Tehran
claimed victory and sought a bigger share of influence in
Iraq.
The reality, however, was otherwise. There were many
indications that the majority of the Shiite population in
Iraq were secular, independent-minded, and would not endorse
Tehran's Velayat-e Faqih system that is based on the
absolute rule of clerics. Pro-Tehran Shiites, well funded,
trained and armed by Iran, managed to overwhelm the voice of
the Shiite majority who did not have the opportunity to
stand on its feet before being intimidated or eliminated by
Tehran-sponsored Shiite death squads.
There is now a major shift in the balance of power in favor
of the more moderate voices of Shiites in Iraq as opposed to
the more radicals closely aligned with Tehran.
More than 300,000 Shiites in southern Iraq, believed to be
Tehran's stronghold, signed a statement calling for an end
to what they referred to as "Iranian terrorist
interferences," and demanded the United Nations to
investigate the Islamic republic's involvement in Iraq.
Sheikh Jassim Al-Kazim, leader of the Independent National
Democratic Tribes' Assembly, in interviews with major
Western media in Baghdad, said that the statement’s
signatories include 14 clergies, 600 sheikhs, 1,250 jurists,
2,200 physician, engineers, university professors and 25,000
women.
"The Iranians, in fact, have taken over all of southern
Iraq," said a senior tribal leader from the south who spoke
with the Washington Post on condition of anonymity because
he feared for his life. "Their influence is everywhere."
"The most painful stab in the back of the Shiites in Iraq by
the Iranian regime has been its shameful abuse of Shiite
religion to achieve its ominous end," the sheiks said in the
statement. "The only solution and hopeful prospect for Iraq,
and in particular the southern provinces, is the eviction of
the Iranian regime from our homeland."
Contrary to suggestions in recent weeks that Iran was
slowing the flow of bombs, money, and other forms of support
to Shiite extremists in Iraq, a top commander of the U.S.
forces in Baghdad said on November 26, that there has been
no letup in attacks and weapons-smuggling by Iranian-backed
Shiite militants in some parts of Iraq's capital.
Despite a 75 percent decline in overall attacks in his area,
there was an increase last month in the most lethal kind of
roadside bombs — the explosively formed projectiles (EFPs)
that come from Iran, said Army Col. Don Farris who is
commander for coalition forces in northern Baghdad.
The tribal leaders also told the media that their effort is
being supported by the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The group is
the main Iranian opposition, and has headquarters in Iraq's
Diyala province in Ashraf city. Its members enjoy U.S.
military protection in Iraq as "protected persons" under the
Fourth Geneva Convention.
Sheikh Al-Kazim, in an interview with Al-Jazeera TV, said
that the statement condemned the Iranian regime's
allegations against the MEK and declared their support for
the organization.
In an interview with the Iraqi daily, Az-Zaman, Ayad Allawi,
former Iraqi Prime Minister and current head of the Iraqi
National Accord, emphasized the legitimacy of the continued
presence of the MEK in Iraq. Allawi, himself a Shiite, added
that a section of the MEK, as a political movement, exists
in Iraq with limitations on its activities, while other
parts of it operate in Iran and the rest of the world. He
stressed that eviction or expulsion of MEK members (Tehran's
main demand from the Iraqi government) has no place in Iraqi
values or principles.
In addition, Iraqi Vice President Tariq Al-Hashemi told the
Al Hurriyah TV, which is affiliated with the Patriotic Union
of Kurdistan (PUK), the party of Iraqi president Jalal
Talabani, that "the presence of the Iranian Mojahedin [MEK]
in Iraq is based on the international conventions
recognizing members of the organization as political
refugees."
The new realities of Iraq indicate that the United States
should empower the coalition of the more moderate and
anti-Tehran Iraqis, which includes both the Sunnis and the
Shiites. Iraqis believe that the main Iranian opposition has
played a very constructive role in Iraq in order to isolate
Tehran and its proxies; U.S. should recognize and enhance
this role by removing all restriction from the MEK.
Alireza Jafarzadeh is a FOX News Channel Foreign Affairs
Analyst and the author of
"The Iran Threat: President Ahmadinejad and the Coming
Nuclear Crisis" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).
Jafarzadeh has revealed Iran's terrorist network in Iraq and
its terror training camps since 2003. He first disclosed the
existence of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility and the
Arak heavy water facility in August 2002.
Prior to becoming a contributor for FOX, and until August
2003, Jafarzadeh acted for a dozen years as the chief
congressional liaison and media spokesman for the U.S.
representative office of Iran's parliament in exile, the
National Council of Resistance of Iran.
