Iran's Contribution to the Civil War in Iraq, Occasional Paper Released
WASHINGTON, DC (Moldova.ORG) -- The Jamestown Foundation, a Washington, DC-based think tank, has released a new Occasional Paper titled "Iran's Contribution to the Civil War in Iraq." The paper is authored by Mounir Elkhamri, Middle East Military Analyst at the Foreign Military Studies Office at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Having recently returned from an 18-month tour in Iraq where he worked with a logistics brigade, a maneuver battalion and a Special Forces ODA team, Mounir Elkhamri brings a unique and first-hand perspective to Iran's growing involvement in Iraq.
Acording to the paper, it is essential to understand the complexities of the civil war on the ground, more specifically Iran's interactions with the Shiite militias and various political parties. The new paper chronicles the Iranian presence in Iraq from before the U.S. invasion to today's reality of growing sectarian violence. By examining Iran's regional ambitions to secure a regime that is friendly to the Islamic Republic, Mr. Elkhamri paints a vivid picture of Tehran's byzantine meddling in Iraq.
While the press debates whether or not there is a civil war in Iraq, there is a strong history of Iranian-sponsored unrest in Iraq that continues to the present. Captured Iraqi intelligence documents, now maintained by the Foreign Military Studies Office, show Iran’s deep penetration in Iraqi society and institutions. Iran clandestinely supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq and took measures to turn it to her advantage.
The author argues that the Iranian government maintained armed formations, such as the Badr Corps, inside Iraq prior to the U.S. invasion. While Saddam Hussein felt that he could dissuade a U.S. invasion through world opinion and the United Nations, Iran anticipated and welcomed the U.S. invasion since it would destroy her chief enemy in the region. Iran has now moved covertly and overtly onto Iraq to subvert Iraqi institutions and eventually to assume total control. Iran has now entered a wider and more dangerous game by subverting the Iraqi police and armed forces into a “greater Shia” cause, which Iran hopes will lead to the fragmentation of Iraq and the inoration of oil–rich Shia lands into Iran, states the paper.
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The full paper can be downloaded here (in PDF format).
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