Iraq Is Sleeping With The Enemy

For a long time now, I have always said that the insurgents are the real cause of the mess in Iraq. But with recent events in the news and who the new Iraqi government has decided to allied themselves with, the finger of blame should be pointed to Iraq’s leadership.

It should have sent shivers down most people’s backs when Iraqi President Jalal Talabani met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier this week to discuss Iran’s possible help in dealing with the onslaught of violence created by the insurgents. The question is what type of help could Ahmadinejad offer? Maybe he could stop Iran from sponsoring terrorists in Iraq.

And likely, that’s why Talabani called his meeting with Ahmadinejad a “visit was 100 percent successful,” according to Nasser Karimi, an Associated Press Writer. Sadly, neither of the presidents gave any details of the security agreement but as Karimi reported, Talabani said, “"We discussed in the fields of security, economy, oil and industry. Our agreement was complete.”

All Ahmadinejad said in a joint press conference with reporters that the U.S. should pull out of Iraq and not naming any countries, told nations to stop sponsoring Iraq insurgents because "supporting terrorists is the ugliest act that they can do." Apparently, Ahmadinejad did not want to incriminate himself or Iran. After all, he would not want to hurt Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s feelings. The United States has said that Iran has been sponsoring Shiite militants and al-Sadr has a powerful Shiite militia force called Mahdi Army. He also has no great love for America.

And let’s not forget the fact that al-Sadr has loyalists and supporters in high places in Iraq’s government but more on that in a bit. But for more information about al-Sadr, one would only have to go to the Web archives of USA Today’s Nov. 13 issue, and they would see that the people that al-Sadr “helps” into power makes life for Sunnis deadly. It’s a great article by Rick Jervis and I highly recommend it.

What does this deal mean for Iraq and America, besides the fact that Talabani made it with a devil? Well, Bill O’Reilly, FOX News commentator, made some pretty important points last night on his program. It is most likely that part of this deal worked out between the two presidents is about oil and let’s face facts, that’s probably a big part of this deal. O’Reilly believes this will increase Iran’s power by allowing the country to charge any amount of money on an oil barrel. If they do not, Iran will threaten them with terrorist attacks, he theorizes. He continues that Saudi Arabia would be the number one target and Americans will suffer greatly.

Another important point O’Reilly makes is that there would be no stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons because of the oil threat.

Like him or hate him, O’Reilly makes important points that should not be ignored or dismissed by the general public or politicians. Adding Iran into the equation does not bold well for the Iraqi people or Americans. It would be nice to know what happened behind closed doors on that meeting and Bush’s reactions.

If making a deal with Ahmadinejad was not enough, a leaked White House memo questions if Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ability to deal with the crisis that the country is currently facing. A meeting between President Bush and the prime minister was postponed (or canceled, depending on the news source) by al-Maliki himself, as the White House was quickly trying to clean up the mess on Wednesday.

Depending on who you listen to, an alleged royal source claims that talks between Bush and Jordan’s King Abdullah II went longer than expected and the meeting with al-Maliki in Jordan was canceled, reports Peter Wallsten and Solomon Moore, reporters for the Los Angeles Times. The White House also claims this. However, the same source in the LA Times story says that al-Maliki himself cancelled the meeting, in hopes of appeasing al-Sadr’s supporters, who boycotted the government on that same day. And this is when the fun really begins.

And this does cast doubt on al-Maliki’s ability to handle al-Sadr and his supporters. Because al-Maliki supported the group, it helped him win the election of prime minister. The participants of the boycott were 30 lawmakers and six Cabinet ministers, who are loyal to al-Sadr, the LA Times reported.

The cause of the boycott was al-Maliki’s meeting with Bush and it made “provocation to the feelings of the Iraqi people and a violation of their constitutional rights,” the LA Times reports, quoting a statement. How a meeting actually caused these feelings is an interesting question and it would make one laugh out loud if the situation was not so serious.

So, with leaders of Iraq keeping strange bedfellows with known supporters of terrorists, or terrorists themselves, the real question is not how America should be leaving Iraq but how can Iraq fight insurgents when they are welcoming them with open arms? If these are the types of people that the new Iraq government wants to deal with and refuses to control, then Talabani and al-Maliki better be prepared to sleep in the bloody beds they are making for themselves.