round up the usual suspects

"The U.S. should encourage the Iraqi government to defeat Iran's proxies and agents, and should provide the requisite assistance."  - Kimberly Kagan, Wall Street Journal.

Um, yeah.  Let's get Nuri al-Maliki, Abd al-Aziz Hakim, and Jalal Talabani on the trail of Iran's proxies and agents immediately!     But they'll need some leads... where, oh where, are they going to find Iran's friends in Iraq? 

Maybe they can ask this guy for help?

Comments

[Duncan in London]

Typical Kagan idiocy, agreed. I can't stand the likes of McCain continually claiming that Iran is the enemy and the Iraqi Government is to be supported at all costs. Why does no one call him out on this ludicrous contradiction? (I fantasise that Obama is saving this to trip him up in the presidential debates, but I fear not).

But I have to ask the question: to what extent is Iran financing and supporting Sadr on the one side and SIIC/Dawa/the Iraqi Government/Badr on the other? And how do they feel about these two movements competing for power? Is that the reason Sadr backed down last week? Is the theory that if they've backed everyone they're sure to end up backing the winner, regardless of the human cost? I'm sure I'm missing something...

[Owen]

Looks like some of the Badr Organization get their pensions from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps: http://www.democracyarsenal.org/2008/04/round-and-round.html (via Matt Yglesias).

[Steve Boston]

Hi Marc,
I wanted to see if you would take a look at my new book, "How to Defeat al Qaeda and Win the War on Terror" and offer your views concerning it. Would you take a look at my book and give me some feedback.
Sincerely,
Steve Boston
www.conflictofbeliefs.com