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Iran now enemy No. 1, Sunnis say

 
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AmirN



Joined: 23 Sep 2005
Posts: 297

PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 3:24 pm    Post subject: Iran now enemy No. 1, Sunnis say Reply with quote

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051223/NEWS07/512230341/1009


Iran now enemy No. 1, Sunnis say
Fears shift from Israel to Shi'ite nation next door

December 23, 2005

BY NANCY A. YOUSSEF

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS



BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Since results from Iraq's National Assembly election trickled out this week showing Shi'ite Muslims -- many backed by neighboring Iran -- would dominate the new parliament, Sunni Muslims have begun to ask: Is Israel really Iraq's enemy or is it neighboring Iran?

Sunnis are often not comfortable talking openly about Israel, especially in a region where most Arabs won't refer to it by name and blame Israel for the conflict with the Palestinians. But privately, many have said Israel has not done anything lately to harm them, but Iran has.

Apparently, the memory of Iraq's eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s and the more recent attempts by Iran to influence Iraq's majority Shi'ite population have overwhelmed recollections of Israel's 1981 bombing of a French-built nuclear reactor near Baghdad.

Many Iraqi Sunnis say that Iran sent money and fake ballots across the border to support the Shi'ite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance slate. Now that the slate likely has won over a third of the parliament seats, many worry that Iran's influence is there to stay.

"I think that Iran is more dangerous to Iraq than Israel because of the assassinations that the Iranians have been doing," said Added Hamid Hashim, 30, referring to recent killings of prominent Sunnis, even though there is no proof that Iranians were involved.

During Saddam Hussein's time, the Sunni Muslim dictator was considered one of the most outspoken and active supporters of the Palestinians. Indeed, he paid some families of Palestinian suicide bombers as much as $25,000 as a reward.

Iran was no friend of Hussein, who launched an attack on Iran in September 1980 that touched off a war in which a million people died.

While campaigning for a seat in the new parliament, Mithal al Alusi called for stronger ties between Israel and Iraq, and he appears to have won. He said some Iraqis are warming to a stronger relationship with Israel, in part because they are frightened of Iran's influence. "They are afraid of Iran's extremist political system," he said.

U.S. officials have said that Iranian political groups funneled money into Iraq to influence the Dec. 15 vote.

For many Shi'ites in Iraq, the alliance with Iran is natural. Besides sharing a border, Iran is the largest and most powerful Shi'ite-dominated government in the world.

Troop reduction: The United States soon will likely trim its military force in Iraq to slightly fewer than 138,000 troops, the level it has considered its core force this year, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other U.S. officials hinted Thursday.

The reduction would bring the troop level in the insurgency-torn country to just above 130,000 sometime in the spring, said one U.S. Defense Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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