Sounding like a Democrat or a left-wing blogger, Iran's Supreme Leader told Al-Maliki that the US is the cause of Iraq's instability. CNN: The biggest hurdle standing in the way of peace in Iraq is the presence of American troops there, Iran's Supreme Leader told Iraq's visiting prime minister on Monday, according to Iranian media reports.Photo credit: AFP
Iran's semi-official FARS news agency reported that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during their meeting on Monday that the U.S. role in Iraq is the same as that of Iraq's former British rulers -- to create divisions after Iraq's independence.
"We are certain that the Iraqi people, through their will and unity, will cross the current difficult conditions and will reach the place that they deserve, and the Americans' dream about Iraq will not come true, " said Khamenei, according to FARS.
"The occupiers who, without having any rights, interfere in Iraqi affairs through their military and security powers, imagine that the Iraqi people and government are indebted to them," he said. "These are the greatest threat."
Al-Maliki wrapped up his three-day visit to Iran on Monday, returning to Baghdad hours after meeting with Khamenei, an Iraqi government spokesman said.
Iran's Student News Agency (ISNA) also reported that the Supreme Leader told al-Maliki that the U.S. military presence in Iraq is the most fundamental problem the country faces.
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Al-Maliki knows, or should know, the US helped bring stability to Iraq by working with Iraqi forces to rout out al-Qaeda and al-Sadr's militia. And he knows Iran is funding al-Sadr's militia that is a de-stabilizing force in Iraq. Seems to me Al-Maliki has a strong argument that Iran is weakening stability in Iraq. I hope he had some private words with Iran's leadership about funding the Mahdi Army and sending weapons into Iraq.
