Syria and Iran accused of aiding insurgency. Interestingly enough, Iran is accused of aiding Abu Mussab Zarqawi's al Qaedi in Iraq movment. Via Chad at In the Bullpen this from the AP:

Iraq's defense minister on Wednesday accused neighboring Iran and Syria of supporting terrorists in his war-ravaged country.

Hazem Shaalan also accused Iran of backing the al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group headed by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and said his country's opponents want "turbaned clerics to rule in Iraq."

Shaalan said Iraqi authorities obtained information about Iran's role in Iraqi's insurgency after last month's arrest of the leader of the Jaish Mohammed (Mohammed's Army) terrorist group during U.S.-led operations in Fallujah.

"When we arrested the commander of Jaish Mohammed we discovered that key to terrorism is in Iran, which this the number one enemy for Iraq," Shaalan told reporters in Baghdad.

It is unlikely that the strict Sunni followers of Zarqawi would like an Islamic Republic modeled after Iran. But they are actively cooperating with the Shia terrorist organization the Islamic Army in Iraq which patterns itself after the Iranian backed terrorists Hezboallah and Hamas. Zarqawi's ideal state would be pre-war Afghanistan, not Iran. However, the two groups do share the same goal of the Islamist state ruled by Sharia law. Further, both groups see a common enemy in the Great Satan of the US.

Iran, then, may be helping al Qaeda based on either the shared goal of the Islamic state or as simply a practical matter of shared interest in ousting the US from the region.

Update: Great analysis by McQ on Iran's involvement in the upcoming elections. Wretchard is equally skeptical that the elections will solve many problems. I agree.

Posted by: Rusty at 02:00 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 330 words, total size 3 kb.