Posted on 09/26/2012 10:45:35 PM PDT by Olog-hai
After years of growing influence, a new sign of Iran's presence in Iraq has hit the streets. Thousands of signs, that is, depicting Iran's supreme leader gently smiling to a population once mobilized against the Islamic Republic in eight years of war. …
The posters of Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei first appeared in at least six Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad and across Iraq's Shiite-dominated south in August, as part of an annual pro-Palestinian observance started years ago by Iran. They have conspicuously remained up since then. "When I see these pictures, I feel I am in Tehran, not Baghdad," said Asim Salman, 44, a Shiite and owner of a Baghdad cafe. "Authorities must remove these posters, which make us angry." …
The posters may reflect a push among some Shiite groups for a clerical system similar to Iran's. Tehran is widely believed to be lobbying for a member of its ruling theocracy, Grand Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, to succeed Iraq's 81-year-old Shiite spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Al-Sistani opposes a formal political role for Iraq's religious establishment, while Shahroudi is part of Iran's system of "velayat-e-faqih," or rule by Islamic clerics. Iraq's Sunnis and Kurds, however, have no taste for blurring Shiite politics and religion. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted2.ap.org ...
So Eyeran just got a lot bigger and Hussein approves.
Yes . . . the Iranians did say before the troop pullout that they were waiting for the proverbial “last helicopter”.
Another Obama/Clinton “successful foreign policy achievement”.
Or, from the point of view of those who fought their, “TREASON”.
How Vultures are assigned the title of “Grand”, and no doubt getting Grander every yr.
Khamenei used to be a beggar giving islamic sermons for a dime in Iran before 1979.. no kidding.
U.S. Absents Itself From Ahmadinejad Speech—And From Facing Iran
Posted 09/26/2012 07:06 PM ET
War On Terror: As a candidate, Barack Obama promised “tough, direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions.” Four years later, a desperate, weakened U.S. walks out of the Iranian president’s U.N. speech.
What a difference a few years of reality make. In the summer of 2007, then-Sen. Barack Obama was promising that “I won’t hesitate to use the power of American diplomacy to stop countries from obtaining these weapons or sponsoring terror,” referring to the threat of Iran and other Islamist regimes going nuclear.
“The lesson of the Bush years is that not talking does not work,” he concluded. “Go down the list of countries we’ve ignored and see how successful that strategy has been. We haven’t talked to Iran, and they continue to build their nuclear program.”
Well, that was 2007, and this is 2012.
We still haven’t talked to Iran (not to mention North Korea and the other U.S. adversaries on “the list of countries we’ve ignored”).
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