The sudden eruption of tensions between Iran and Iraq over the oil wells along the Eastern Maysan Province have brought new attention to the region, and are something that Admiral Michael Mullen warns Iraq’s Sunni minority are concerned about with the ostensible US pullout date drawing nearer.
Iran’s Friday “invasion” was certainly an unexpected development, though the border demarcation in the area is far from clear and the Iranian government maintains the well was on their side of the border and the troops were deployed to destroy a barricade erected by the Iraqi government.
But whether it portends a trend of more robust demands from the Iranian government is unclear. The government installed after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq is by all accounts already the friendliest government possible from Iran’s perspective, and it is unlikely they want to threaten this relationship.
It does seem to come at an opportune time for the US, which is looking to make the case for more sanctions against Iran. The argument of Iranian “interference” in Iraq has not gone over nearly so well amid their simultaneous claims of a great victory in Iraq, and the ability to claim that Iran poses a threat, assuming the US ever actually withdraws from region.
Tensions will only grow if the USA persists in it's international meddling. Boy, that would be a hard Habbit to break.
A squad of troops being assigned to tear down a barricade that their nation feels steals a part of their sovereign territory is not an 'invasion'.
What you are of course seeing is a massive propaganda campaign by the Obama administration to attempt to start a war with Iran. Since its their propaganda campaign, its no surprise that it comes at an opportune time for an Obama administration that both wants a war with Iran and which is also trying to find every way possible to delay withdrawing from Iraq.
All we've seen so far is vague promises from Obama to withdraw at some vague day in the future. This of course is identical to Bush, who also always promised to draw down troops after some future 'milestone' or 'turning point' was reached. The only difference so far is that while no one ever believed Bush, there are still deluded people out there who believe Obama. But, he's been in power for a year, and there's been very minimal withdrawals so far.
"Since its their propaganda campaign, its no surprise that it comes at an opportune time for an Obama administration that both wants a war with Iran and which is also trying to find every way possible to delay withdrawing from Iraq."
The two goals do fit together very nicely. I'm already making my bet on a small scale false flag Op along the Iran-Iraq border (Poles…erm, Iranians attacked our radio station!) to justify another push back of the fabled withdraw date and have a long term effect of crushing any international resistance to US hostility towards Iran.
I'm still trying to figure out what the US hopes to gain from conflict with Iran. Sure, there would be an excuse to stay in Iraq even longer, but the US can pretty much do that already. My best guess is that war with Iran would be used to shoe horn through another round of unpopular domestic laws under the cover of wartime politics. Obama himself has made statements where he longs for the dissent crushing "national unity" Bush Jr. had right after 9/11.
Just more sauce for the goose. These "incidents" I believe are set up by the very people who want to lay a propaganda foundation prior to the inevitable. After enough of these "violations" or outright signs of "lack of good will" or "belligerence" you can damn sure mark the countdown as having started. It's all a deadly charade meant to further delude and obfuscate.
This is a great opportune time for US,and a grate reason to stay in Iraq .