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Copyright 2004 IPS-Inter Press Service/Global Information Network
IPS-Inter Press SelVice
April 9, 2004, Monday
HEADLINE: IRAQ: NEO-CONS SEE IRAN BEHIND SHIITE UPRISING
BYLINE: By Jim Lobe
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Apr. 9
BODY:
Neo-conservatives close to the administration of President George W Bush are pushlng'for'retribution
aga,~~st Iran for; they'say, sponsoring this'week's'Shiite uprislng'in'Iraq'led by radical'cleriC"Moqtada~al~
s-a~t
Despite the growing number of reports that depict the fighting as a spontaneous and indigenous revolt
agains~ the U.S.-led occupation, the influential neo-cons are calling on Bush to warn Tehran to·cease its
alleged backing for al-Sadr and other Shla militias or face retaliation, ranging from an attack on
Iraniap' nuclear facilities to covert action designed to overthrow the government.
But independent experts say that while Iran has no doubt provided various forms of assistance to Shia
factions In Iraq since the ouster of former President Saddam Hussein one year ago, its relations with
Sadr'have long been rocky, and that it has opposed radical actions that could destabJllse the situation.
"Those el~ments closest to Iran among the ShIIte clerics (In Iraq) have been the most moderate through
all of this," according to Shaul Bakhash, an Iran expert at George Mason University here.
Many regional specialists agree that Iran has a strategic Interest In avoiding any train of events that
risks plunging Iraq Into chaos or civil war and partition.
Neo-conselVatives centred in Vice President Dick Cheney'S office and among the civilian leadership in the
Pentagon have strongly opposed any detente with Iran, and have frequently blamed it for problems the
United States has encountered in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
Neo-conselVatives outside the administration, such as former Defence Policy Board chairman Richard
Perle and his colleagues at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Michael Ledeen and Reuel Marc
Gerecht, called even before the,Iraq war for Washington to support Indigenous efforts to oust the
"mullahcracy" in Tehran, which Is seen as an arch-enemy of both the United States and Israel.
Some neo~conservatives have seized on Sadr's uprising ~s a ,new opportunity both to raise tensions
against Iran and to divert attention from Washington's bungling of relations with the Shia community in
Iraq. .
Top U.S. officials both here and in Iraq have not yet named Iran as the hidden hand behind Sadr,
although a senior reporter at the right-wing 'Washing~on_llmes~, Rowan Scarborough, quoted
unnamed:"militarv.'.sources~WednesdaY'as"te1lifig~hinltthat:SadG:ISihelnQ;!ldea;;:direetly:bY;-lran~s·
Revoliitr{fnaIYGiiard;';:_and:I:iy:Hezbolrah~ciir'iraniari~created terrorist'group-:bijseC:l:rn':tetianon~
Unnamed "Pentagon offidals" gave a similar account to the 'New York Times', although 1lmes reporter
James Risen stressed that CIA offidals disagreed with that analysis, adding, som~ intelligence officials
Iittps:/Iw3 .1eXis.comllawenfsoluti6iis_sectiredlsearchfonns/doBrowse.asp?SearchInfoID=.... 11/16/2004