NYPOST.COM Post Opinion: Oped Columnists: SYRIA & IRAN'S SABOTAGE PLANS By AMIR TAHERI
April 17, 2003 -- TWO weeks before the war to liberate Iraq began, Syria's President Bashar Assad made a visit to Tehran for 12 hours of "dense talks" with Iran's ruling mullahs.
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The anti-reform factions in Tehran and Damascus are working hand in hand to prevent, or at least postpone, the emergence of a democratic system in Iraq. They are active on three fronts.
On one front, they are using their Iraqi Shiite clients as a means of preventing the Shiite community from taking part in U.S.-led plans for a new government.
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On the second front, Syria also controls a number of smaller Iraqi groups, including a breakaway branch of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party. The Syrians hope that, if things do not settle in Iraq, they might be able to set up an Iraqi Ba'athist regime in exile and challenge a pro-American government wishing to seek recognition from Arab and Muslim countries.
On a third front, Iran and Syria are actively campaigning to prevent Arab and Muslim countries from recognizing a new pro-American government in Baghdad.
The opening shot in this joint attack on any such government came earlier this month, when a mob murdered Hojat al-Islam Abdel-Majid al-Khoei, a moderate Iraqi Shiite cleric, in Najaf.
Few may have noticed it, but Iraq has already become the latest battleground between the Tehran-Damascus axis and the United States and its allies.
April 17, 2003 -- TWO weeks before the war to liberate Iraq began, Syria's President Bashar Assad made a visit to Tehran for 12 hours of "dense talks" with Iran's ruling mullahs.
>>
The anti-reform factions in Tehran and Damascus are working hand in hand to prevent, or at least postpone, the emergence of a democratic system in Iraq. They are active on three fronts.
On one front, they are using their Iraqi Shiite clients as a means of preventing the Shiite community from taking part in U.S.-led plans for a new government.
>>
On the second front, Syria also controls a number of smaller Iraqi groups, including a breakaway branch of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party. The Syrians hope that, if things do not settle in Iraq, they might be able to set up an Iraqi Ba'athist regime in exile and challenge a pro-American government wishing to seek recognition from Arab and Muslim countries.
On a third front, Iran and Syria are actively campaigning to prevent Arab and Muslim countries from recognizing a new pro-American government in Baghdad.
The opening shot in this joint attack on any such government came earlier this month, when a mob murdered Hojat al-Islam Abdel-Majid al-Khoei, a moderate Iraqi Shiite cleric, in Najaf.
Few may have noticed it, but Iraq has already become the latest battleground between the Tehran-Damascus axis and the United States and its allies.
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