A close aide of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has confirmed today that the government has begun holding talks with Iran in an attempt to convince their neighbor to help mediate the rising political dispute that threatens to split the nation apart, as well as to help decide the fate of Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who Maliki wants arrested as a “terrorist.”
The Kurdistan bloc has also confirmed talks with an Iranian delegation, which reportedly included one of the top figures in Iran’s Quds Force, but reports suggest that disputes on where to hold talks have not been resolved.
Maliki’s control over the defense and interior ministry gives him de facto control over all the national government’s troops, and a number of top officials, including Kurdistan President Massud Barzani, were afraid to go to Baghdad for fear of being captured by Maliki’s troops. Maliki, by the same token, is said to have rejected going to the Kurdish stronghold of Arbil, where the regional government’s Peshmearga hold sway.
The situation in Iraq is deteriorating rapidly, with Maliki ruling out leaving power even though his coalition government appears to have collapsed, and warning of “rivers of blood” if the nation’s Sunni Arabs seek to establish a Kurdistan-style autonomous region. Hashemi is in hiding in Kurdistan, while Maliki is demanding that parliament remove deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq for publicly criticizing him.
Can't be. We spent a trillion dollars for Iraq to be our friend and listen to us. There is no way Iran could mediate this dispute instead of the U.S. If I didn't know any better I would say Justin Raimondo has been right about everything during the last 8 years. I do know better and he was right.
Maybe we should invade again. Or better yet, seeing how the Iraq War went swimmingly, we should jest invade Iran. How much worse ccould it be than Iraq? (sarcasm intended)
US bases permanent in Iraq — Bet your 401k plan on it
So, a civil war take shape, as Maliki turns to Iran, while the Kurdistan part of Iraq turns to Empire USA, for as reported by Press TV,
“Still in Iraq are 8,000 US troops along with 14 warplanes,
125 helicopters and 28 drones have remained, mainly
based in Iraq’s Kurdistan region in the north.”
. http://www.presstv.ir/detail/218122.html
WHAT IS AN ACT OF WAR
Iran sovereign territory, the Strait of Hormuz
12 miles of sea around USA is sovereign territory that no one but USA ships may enter without permission. So, would it not be an act of war if Iran sent a battle ship into this sovereign territory? And so, does not Iran also have that right?
If USA allowed Iran battle ships to sail through its sovereign territory for hundreds of years, and then decided to blockade this sovereign territory to all foreign ships, would it not be an act of war for Iran to run the blockade by firings its guns and missiles at the US Coast Guard? So, does not Iran have that same equal right?
For what is an equal right, if it is not equal?
Ah, ha! This would explain why the US is barking all over the place and threatening to send in the Fifth Fleet. Funny how sometimes, the answer to the question you haven't asked is in the way of two headlines, one right after the other.
I suppose Maliki knows that if he were to venture to Arbil it might be an early ticket to paradise.