Zadehamin

Ahmadinejad’s Visit to Iraq

The significance of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Iraq this Sunday cannot be overstated. It is the first such visit by an Iranian president to Iraq since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Moreover it is the first visit since the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, under the tutelage of Washington and Moscow, mounted an invasion of Iran’s Khuzestan province, which resulted in the eight year Iran-Iraq War. The visit both serves as a reminder of that victory of Islam over western colonialism and underscores the relative power and influence of Iran in Iraq vis-a-vis the United States.

Whilst the United States will no doubt wish to underplay the significance of the visit, the Iranian president will be feted Shiite and Sunnite politicians alike. The United States may accuse Iran of attacking U.S. troops and destabilising Iraq but this accusation does not find favour amongst those that matter in Iraq, the lever’s of power in Iraq now rest in the hands of Iran’s allies and co-religionists, whether the United States cares to admit it or not. Were this not the case the visit would not be taking place.    

Ahmadinejad, more so than any other Iranian president, holds enourmous popular support on the Arab Street. Thus it is hoped that this visit will be a show of unity, as much as a show of strength; the aim is to dispel fears that Sunnite Iraqis may have that Iran supports Shiite secession and to visibly endorse the Iranian brokered truce between Saadah al-Sadr and al-Hakim.