Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
June 9, 2008 By Nazila Fathi and Richard A. Oppel Jr.
TEHRAN — Iran’s supreme leader told Iraq’s prime minister on Monday that the American forces in Iraq were the biggest obstacle to Iraqi stability.
The message from the Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was the most authoritative public word to date on Iran’s objections to long-term security agreements currently under negotiation between the Bush administration and the government of Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.
The American military has been operating in Iraq under a United Nations resolution that expires at the end of this year.
At a meeting with Mr. Maliki as part of the Iraqi leader’s three-day visit to Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei told him that “the most fundamental problem of Iraq is the presence of the foreign forces,” according to excerpts of their meeting reported by the news agency ISNA.
“The Iraqi government, Parliament and all the authorities who have been elected with public vote should take charge,” the ayatollah said.
Iranian officials strongly oppose the American military presence in Iraq, which they consider a major threat on their border. Yet it was the American-led effort that overthrew their hated enemy, Saddam Hussein, and brought about a coalition government in Baghdad dominated by Shiite political leaders, including Mr. Maliki, with strong ties to Iran.
“When a foreign force gradually increases its interference and domination in all the affairs of Iraq, it becomes the most important obstacle in development and prosperity of the Iraqi people,” the ayatollah said, without directly referring to the security agreements.
The Iranian accounts of the meeting between Ayatollah Khamenei and Mr. Maliki did not give Mr. Maliki’s response. But he had assured Iranian authorities on Sunday that his country would not become “a platform for harming the security of Iran and its neighbors.”
Tensions between the governments in Tehran and Washington have escalated under the Bush administration, which has accused the Iranians of working on a nuclear weapons program in secret and of financing and supplying deadly weapons to anti-American militants in Iraq. Iran denies the accusations.
In Iraq, negotiations over the security pact have become a major political issue, further splitting Shiite allies of Mr. Maliki and the political movement of Moktada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric.
The New York Times reported last month that aides to Mr. Maliki from his Dawa Party said that American negotiators were demanding continued control of Iraqi airspace, immunity for American soldiers and security contractors, authority for more than 50 long-term bases, and the right to continue to carry out unimpeded military operations.
Iraqi officials object to those terms, and are particularly insistent about limiting immunity for security contractors and ensuring that future American military operations are restricted and have the blessing of the Iraqi government, according to Ali Adeeb, a senior Dawa official close to Mr. Maliki. Some Iraqi officials have also complained that while the American military would maintain a large presence under the pact, it would not be obligated to protect the Iraqi government from aggression, either from outside or inside its borders.
American officials have denied any plans for long-term military bases, but have acknowledged that they are seeking some other terms that Iraqi officials object to. The Sadrists have long opposed the occupation, and they also complain that Mr. Maliki’s recent operations against Sadr militiamen in Basra and Baghdad never would have succeeded without the backing of American military forces.
During Friday Prayer last week, Sadrist clerics excoriated Mr. Maliki’s political allies over their recent criticism of elements of the proposed security pact, saying that their public comments were only a pretense and that they were sure to sign the agreement after making minor changes.
“Shall we follow those who refuse the agreement totally, or shall we follow those who temporarily refuse it, but who will later agree to it after making some amendments?” Sheik Salah al-Obaidi, a top Sadrist official, said during prayers in Kufa, where he singled out Mr. Maliki’s Dawa Party and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, another powerful Shiite party.
Also on Monday, Iraqi security officials said three people were killed, including an Iraqi soldier, and 12 were wounded by a car bomb in central Baghdad. Gunmen also killed three people during a robbery at two gold shops in Baghdad. And three unidentified bodies were found in the capital.
In the northern city of Mosul, gunmen killed two sheiks from nearby Tal Afar who were visiting the city and who had been important leaders of reconciliation efforts in Tal Afar and in the fight against Sunni militants, according to Tal Afar officials.
Nazila Fathi reported from Tehran, and Richard A. Oppel Jr. from Baghdad. Reporting was contributed by Qais Mizher, Tareq Maher and Mohammed Hussein from Baghdad, and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from Mosul.
June 9, 2008 By Nazila Fathi and Richard A. Oppel Jr.
TEHRAN — Iran’s supreme leader told Iraq’s prime minister on Monday that the American forces in Iraq were the biggest obstacle to Iraqi stability.
The message from the Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was the most authoritative public word to date on Iran’s objections to long-term security agreements currently under negotiation between the Bush administration and the government of Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.
The American military has been operating in Iraq under a United Nations resolution that expires at the end of this year.
At a meeting with Mr. Maliki as part of the Iraqi leader’s three-day visit to Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei told him that “the most fundamental problem of Iraq is the presence of the foreign forces,” according to excerpts of their meeting reported by the news agency ISNA.
“The Iraqi government, Parliament and all the authorities who have been elected with public vote should take charge,” the ayatollah said.
Iranian officials strongly oppose the American military presence in Iraq, which they consider a major threat on their border. Yet it was the American-led effort that overthrew their hated enemy, Saddam Hussein, and brought about a coalition government in Baghdad dominated by Shiite political leaders, including Mr. Maliki, with strong ties to Iran.
“When a foreign force gradually increases its interference and domination in all the affairs of Iraq, it becomes the most important obstacle in development and prosperity of the Iraqi people,” the ayatollah said, without directly referring to the security agreements.
The Iranian accounts of the meeting between Ayatollah Khamenei and Mr. Maliki did not give Mr. Maliki’s response. But he had assured Iranian authorities on Sunday that his country would not become “a platform for harming the security of Iran and its neighbors.”
Tensions between the governments in Tehran and Washington have escalated under the Bush administration, which has accused the Iranians of working on a nuclear weapons program in secret and of financing and supplying deadly weapons to anti-American militants in Iraq. Iran denies the accusations.
In Iraq, negotiations over the security pact have become a major political issue, further splitting Shiite allies of Mr. Maliki and the political movement of Moktada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric.
The New York Times reported last month that aides to Mr. Maliki from his Dawa Party said that American negotiators were demanding continued control of Iraqi airspace, immunity for American soldiers and security contractors, authority for more than 50 long-term bases, and the right to continue to carry out unimpeded military operations.
Iraqi officials object to those terms, and are particularly insistent about limiting immunity for security contractors and ensuring that future American military operations are restricted and have the blessing of the Iraqi government, according to Ali Adeeb, a senior Dawa official close to Mr. Maliki. Some Iraqi officials have also complained that while the American military would maintain a large presence under the pact, it would not be obligated to protect the Iraqi government from aggression, either from outside or inside its borders.
American officials have denied any plans for long-term military bases, but have acknowledged that they are seeking some other terms that Iraqi officials object to. The Sadrists have long opposed the occupation, and they also complain that Mr. Maliki’s recent operations against Sadr militiamen in Basra and Baghdad never would have succeeded without the backing of American military forces.
During Friday Prayer last week, Sadrist clerics excoriated Mr. Maliki’s political allies over their recent criticism of elements of the proposed security pact, saying that their public comments were only a pretense and that they were sure to sign the agreement after making minor changes.
“Shall we follow those who refuse the agreement totally, or shall we follow those who temporarily refuse it, but who will later agree to it after making some amendments?” Sheik Salah al-Obaidi, a top Sadrist official, said during prayers in Kufa, where he singled out Mr. Maliki’s Dawa Party and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, another powerful Shiite party.
Also on Monday, Iraqi security officials said three people were killed, including an Iraqi soldier, and 12 were wounded by a car bomb in central Baghdad. Gunmen also killed three people during a robbery at two gold shops in Baghdad. And three unidentified bodies were found in the capital.
In the northern city of Mosul, gunmen killed two sheiks from nearby Tal Afar who were visiting the city and who had been important leaders of reconciliation efforts in Tal Afar and in the fight against Sunni militants, according to Tal Afar officials.
Nazila Fathi reported from Tehran, and Richard A. Oppel Jr. from Baghdad. Reporting was contributed by Qais Mizher, Tareq Maher and Mohammed Hussein from Baghdad, and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from Mosul.