Safeguarding Lives and Sending the Right Signals in Iraq
Fox news, November 21, 2008
Alireza Jafarzadeh (Foreign Affairs Analyst)
After months of intense
negotiations, heavily hindered by Tehran, the Status of
Forces Agreement (SOFA) which would define the presence of
American forces in Iraq after their UN mandate expires on
December 31, was signed by the United States and Iraqi
governments. Upholding this pact and safeguarding those in
the Iraqi government who are distancing themselves from
Tehran’s influence will be among the imperatives of the
incoming U.S. administration.
To be sure, the ayatollahs’ regime made the most of its
network within Iraq’s political and security agencies to
exact concessions. Still, the agreement marked the end of
months of paralysis, and that runs counter to Tehran’s
strategic objectives of prolonged instability and insecurity
in Iraq.
One senior U.S. official in Baghdad told Agence France
Presse, “Iran strategically wants to be the dominant actor
in this country in every sphere, economics, political,
security. They have pulled out every stop to block this
agreement.” In the midst of the sectarian bloodshed of
September 2007, the ayatollahs’ president, Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, declared “the collapse of the occupiers of
Iraq” was imminent. He ominously vowed that his regime
“would be prepared to fill this power vacuum.”
While the jury is still out on Tehran’s official position,
there are signs that the hard-line establishment is having
hard time hiding its dismay. The former Revolutionary Guards
commander and current Parliament speaker called on Iraq’s
parliament to reject the agreement which, he said,
strengthens “US hegemony in Iraq.”
The state-run dailies Kayhan and Jomhouri Islami, both
intimately affiliated with the regime’s Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called the agreement a
“capitulation.” Jomhouri Islami wrote, “The agreement
provides for all the Americans’ exploitative intentions.”
Kayhan asserted that SOFA “is without any doubt America’s
new strategy to continue its occupation.”
Provincial elections are planned for next January in Iraq.
Independent politicians running against the influence of
Tehran’s Iraqi proxies are sure to be targeted. The
ayatollahs’ will not hesitate to use their terror network to
assassinate and intimidate. To defuse this nefarious
campaign, Washington needs to isolate Tehran’s network in
Iraq especially within the government agencies and cultivate
independent, non-sectarian Iraqis.
In the meantime, security forces must also confront Iran’s
terrorist network which, as many senior US military
commanders in Iraq have stressed, is the number one
strategic threat to Iraq’s security and stability. Success
on this front will go a long way to empower Iraq’s
independents and reduce pressure on the nascent government.
Tehran meanwhile has been pressuring the Iraqi government
for an end to US protection for members of the main
opposition People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in Camp
Ashraf in Iraq. The United States has confirmed that it is
negotiating a handover. The announcement prompted families
and friends of Ashraf residents to take their case to the
United Nations Secretary General and human rights
organizations in September, to prevent a “humanitarian
disaster in the making.” According to Reuters, “a group of
Iranian exiles has demonstrated for weeks outside the United
Nations building in New York to highlight the plight of the
people at Camp Ashraf.”
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern to the
Iraqi government about “forcible deportation, expulsion, or
repatriation in violation of the non-refoulement principle,”
after which, according to Associated Press, the “Iranian
demonstrators ended a 65-day vigil outside U.N. headquarters
Monday [17 November] and headed to Washington to seek
assurances the United States will continue protecting” the
unarmed Iranian dissidents in Camp Ashraf. The Fourth Geneva
Convention requires the U.S. to provide protection as long
as American forces are in Iraq.
Against this background, the U.S. administration must commit
to the protection of Camp Ashraf, thus warding off a
potential humanitarian disaster against the lives of nearly
3,500 Iranian dissidents. Only this approach accords with
International Humanitarian Law, and equally important, sends
the right signal to non-sectarian, independent Iraqis that
Washington is not going to kowtow to Tehran’s demands in
Iraq. Washington and Tehran have absolutely zero strategic
goals in common in Iraq.
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.
