Iranian influence in Iraq growing...what a tangled web Bush has woven.

[Clarkie1]

It's going to get even uglier in Iraq when the bombing starts over Iran. Does Bush have any conception of the magnitude of the forces he has set into motion? I am feeling very pessimistic today.

U.S. Study Paints Somber Portrait of Iraqi Discord
By ERIC SCHMITT and EDWARD WONG
Published: April 9, 2006

"The city of Basra has widely been reported as devolving into a mini-theocracy, with government and security officials beholden to Shiite religious leaders...Police cars and checkpoints are often decorated with posters or stickers of Moktada al-Sadr, the rebellious cleric, or Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, a cleric whose party is very close to IRAN. Both men have formidable militias."

"the report rates as "moderate" the two provinces at the heart of Shiite religious power, Najaf and Karbala, and points to the growing IRANIAN POLITICAL PRESENCE there. In Najaf, "IRANIAN INFLUENCE on provincial government of concern," the report says. Both the governor and former governor of Najaf are officials in Mr. Hakim's religious party, founded in IRAN in the early 1980's. "

Immediately to the north, Babil Province, an important strategic area abutting Baghdad, also has "STRONG IRANIAN INFLUENCE apparent within council," the report says. There is "ethnic conflict in north Babil," and "crime is a major factor within the province." In addition, "unemployment remains high."

Gen. Qais Hamza al-Maamony, the commander of Babil's 8,000-member police force, said his officers were not ready yet to intervene between warring militias, should it come to that, as many fear. "They would be too frightened to get into the middle," he said in an interview.

If the American troops left Babil, he said, "the next day would be civil war."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/world/middleeast/09report.html