 cptenaud says: From BLOG. The meeting with Iranian leaders comes as Maliki's government is negotiating a "status of forces" agreement with the United States that would govern how long U.S. forces would remain, whether permanent bases would be established and what jurisdiction the Iraqi government would have over them. Iran strongly opposes any permanent U.S. presence in Iraq. The Iraqi government maintains close ties with Iran As I have pointed out before, Iraq has very close ties with Iran, politically, socially, and even militarily. Maliki's Dawa Party, as well as the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (the United Iraqi Alliance's second largest political party) and the Badr Organization (which dominates the Iraqi military and police forces) all originated from Iran. It is for these reasons that Maliki has repeatedly traveled to Iran to meet with Ahmadinejad. "A stable Iraq will be a benefit to the security of the region and the world," he told Ahmadinejad in their talks, according to Ahmadinejad's website. Al-Maliki also appeared to signal that Tehran would not be squeezed out by any agreement, saying Iraq's "development and stability will be provided through more bilateral cooperation" with Iran. Ahmadinejad, in turn, underlined that Iran had a key role in Iraq's security. The majority of Iraq's population is Shia, and so too is its government. While some of the Shia groups, such as the Sadrist Trend, are native to Iraq, most of the an... Is he in charge? Really? |
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