'Removing Saddam strengthened Iran'

[CHIMO]

Political Islam expert Vali Nasr says the removal of Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq by the US during the invasion of the country in 2003 strengthened Iran's strategic viability and increased its regional popularity, especially among Iraq's Shia majority.

Nasr, author of the recently published book The Shia Revival, says despite its defiant rhetoric Iran is really seeking open and wide-ranging normalisation talks with Washington.

Professor of Middle East and South Asia Politics at the Naval Postgraduate School in California, Nasr was one several Middle East experts recently invited by George Bush, the US president, to brief him on internal Iraqi religious and political dynamics.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/0F303D0C-E154-4D09-88D4-F79CC9BFBF63.htm

[Avalux]

1. My father, a history buff, told me the same thing recently.

We can thank Bush's invasion and destabalization of Iraq for Iran's surge of popularity. When Saddam was there, the countries kept each other in check.

[ovidsen]

2. A foregone conclusion

The Bush cabal should have seen this coming.