Iranians lied about 'diplomatic' status of Northern Iraqi building
That Iranian 'consulate' U.S. forces attacked recently in Kurdish Northern Iraq wasn't a consulate at all.
It was a building with no real diplomatic status, out of which Iranian Revolutionary Guard units were operating in support of the Iraqi insurgency.
Pants on fire, Mahmoud!
It was a building with no real diplomatic status, out of which Iranian Revolutionary Guard units were operating in support of the Iraqi insurgency.
Pants on fire, Mahmoud!
Comments
Yes but we don't expect any help from him, never mind honesty. It bothers me that the Iraqis are (or were) defending him...any thoughts on what's behind that?
Maliki is a Shi'ite, who heads a nation in which Shi'ites are the overwhelming majority. Hence Maliki's reluctance to go after Sadr and the Shi'ite militias.
Diplomatically he's allied to the United States, but religiously and in terms of regional politics he's allied with Iran, the region's (and the world's) leading Shi'ite power.
Regionally, we're more or less allied with the Sunnis (Egypt, Saudi, Jordan, Lebanon), but since Saddam Hussein was a Sunni who persecuted the Shi'ite majority, the Sunnis in Iraq don't like us much. In fact, to a considerable extent, it's the Sunnis who are responsible for the insurgency. So ironically, the government we're defending are the folks with ties to Iran- and somewhat mixed feelings on matters on which Iranian and American interests conflict.
You may recall the initial Iraqi government response to Iran's nuclear ambitions: "Of course. Iran has every right to become a nuclear power."