Israel Matzav

What's an Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander doing at the White House

Critics have accused Mr. al-Maliki, a Shiite, of acting at the behest of the Shiite government in Iran. But Mr. Obama told reporters that he believes the Iraqi prime minister when he says that “his interest is maintaining Iraqi sovereignty and preventing meddling by anybody inside of Iraq.”

“And he has shown himself to be willing to make very tough decisions in the interests of Iraqi nationalism, even if they cause problems with his neighbor,” the president said in a thinly veiled reference to Iran.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined to confirm whether Mr. al-Amiri was part of the Iraqi delegation. He referred questions to the Iraqi government.

Mr. al-Maliki’s office listed Mr. al-Amiri as a member of the delegation. A spokesman for the Iraqi Embassy was unavailable to elaborate on Mr. al-Amiri’s role in the White House visit.

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Ali Alfoneh, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said that after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the fall of Saddam, Iran thought it was time to position pro-Iranian Shiite elements in the new Iraqi government.

“All those elements governing Iraq today have at some point been cooperating with Iran,” Mr. Alfoneh said.

“That is true of the president [Jalal Talabani], the prime minister and a good number of Iraqi politicians who previous to their arrival in Iraq were refugees living in Iran,” he added.

Analysts and Western officials say some of those officials still depend heavily on Iran.

U.S. officials say the Revolutionary Guard has had a role in several attacks on U.S. interests worldwide.

“In addition to the well-publicized Arbabsiar case, the IRGC has supported Shia militant groups who attack U.S. forces in Iraq,” said a U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Mansour Arbabsiar, a U.S. citizen and used-car salesman, has been accused of a central role in a suspected plot by the Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington. He has pleaded not guilty.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Iraq

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:33 PM