Monday, November 05, 2007

The Opening Gambits

As the Surge was being considered early in 2007, the advice of those representing themselves as foreign policy "adults" was to "engage" Iran. Iran would pull America's irons out of the fire. It would guarantee an orderly exit. Every meeting with the Teheran was hailed as a triumph of reason. Today the Iranians have described their plan for a stable Iraq. AFP reports:

Iran on Monday said it had drawn up a plan to restore stability to Iraq, including suggestions for the expulsion of private security firms and the integration of militias into the security forces.

Foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Iranian diplomats had proposed the plan at a weekend conference in Istanbul on Iraqi security. But this was the first time its details had been made public.



According to Hosseini, the plan emphasises the necessity for driving armed militant groups out of Iraq, and also for expelling the various private security firms working there.

"Particularly Blackwater," said Hosseini, referring to the US firm whose guards were involved in a shooting incident September 16 in Baghdad that left 17 Iraqis dead.

The plan also proposes the integration of some militia groups into the security forces. However there was no mention of any names such as the Mehdi Army of militant Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. "All the militias who have not cooperated with any organised terrorist groups should be forgiven and give up their arms. The government of Iraq should make use of some of them in the military and the police," Hosseini said.

It's interesting to speculate on whether the Hosseini's proposal would have been different without the Surge. Although the details described in the AFP report are too vague to be fully analyzed, the emphasis on "driving armed militant groups out of Iraq" and the proviso to allow only "the militias who have not cooperated with any organised terrorist groups" sounds tantalizingly like an Iranian concession. It's also interesting to wonder whether the expulsion of Blackwater would have made the list of Iranian demands at all without recent publicity.

However that may be, the publication of the Iranian demands provides a datapoint against which future Iranian positions can be compared. As the security operations in Iraq proceed it will be enlightening to see how the Iranian position subsequently shifts, if at all.

9 Comments:

Blogger Cannoneer No. 4 said...

Qods Force is an organized terrorist group.

Who Haditha'd Blackwater?

11/05/2007 06:32:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

In a related development, the wolf has proposed a means of securing peace for the sheep. If they would climb into the pot of water on the fire all would be well.

11/05/2007 06:45:00 PM  
Blogger NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

IIRC, the Iranians stopped supporting the Iraqi Kurdish rebels in the 70s for an Iraqi territorial concession in the Shatt-al-Arab. There is some history of them making, and keeping, deals. Of course, that was the Shah...

They do have a bargaining chip in the form of their support for Iraqi rebels. What would we give up for a quiet Iraq? What should we give up?

11/05/2007 08:11:00 PM  
Blogger Barry Meislin said...

Tee-hee.

Finally, long sought after proof that them mullah-folks does have something approximating a sense of humor.

(Of course, this'll have all the usual suspects falling over themselves and crying, "See, they are reasonable people. Told you so!" On the other hand, I wonder how much this has to do with that raid up in Syria....)

11/05/2007 11:18:00 PM  
Blogger Valentine Smith said...

Of course it would be the Iranian backed militias integrated into the security forces. "All the militias who have not cooperated with any organised terrorist groups..." sure sounds like their people. I mean Hezbollah isn't operating in Iraq, is it? I mean Qods isn't a terrorist group, is it? I mean Iran has nothing to do with terror, do they?

Ah, I see, it depends on how you define organized and terrorist. More half-assed bullshit from the mad dwarf.

11/06/2007 12:09:00 AM  
Blogger ledger said...

Iran is just spreading more taqiyya.

Watch Iran’s actions not their words.

They will be trying to kill more Americans and will be supplying more EFP's to the terrorists.

It’s time for the Quds to leave Iraq or be killed (if necessary in Iranian territory).

11/06/2007 02:39:00 AM  
Blogger Peter Grynch said...

I'm old enough to remember Richard Nixon's "Peace With Honor". We pull our troops back 1500 miles, they pull their troops back 50 miles. Guess who now has a strategic advantage?

11/06/2007 04:24:00 AM  
Blogger Eric said...

Well, the proposal has increased my respect for Blackwater.

11/06/2007 06:16:00 AM  
Blogger Doc99 said...

Get Qods out of Iraq or Blackwater will provide security on Iranian campuses.

11/06/2007 08:55:00 AM  

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