By Hassan Hanizadeh

November 26, 2006
Iran - Tehran Times - Home Page (English)    

Scenes (above and below) from today's bombing attacks in the Sadr City
neighborhood of Baghdad. The carefully executed series of bombings killed
at least 160 people and wounded at least 257. It is the most deadly such
attack since the war began, Nov. 23. (above),

—BBC NEWS VIDEO: Baghdad Bombings bring wave of fear, anger and
fingerpointing as Iraq, 'faces the abyss,' Nov. 23, 00:01:48

[LATEST NEWS PHOTOS: Sadr City Bombings].





The corpses of some of today's Sadr City bombing
victims at a Baghdad morgue, Nov. 23. (above).

An injured woman holds the arm of her wounded son in a
hospital after the Sadr City bomb attacks. (below).





Iraqi women and children in their Sadr City home, which was
raided by U.S. and Iraqi forces earlier in the day, before the
wave of bombings. The newswire photo caption merely says
that they are 'reacting' to the raid. (above).

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The terrorist bombings that killed more than 220 residents of Baghdad's Sadr City on Thursday have caused great concern among Iranians. The bloodshed comes at a time when U.S. forces are responsible for maintaining security in important areas of Iraq's cities.

The increasing insecurity and the focus of the terrorist attacks on Shiites show that there's an organized conspiracy against the Iraqi majority. Vice President Dick Cheney's secret visit to Baghdad and former secretary of state James A. Baker, who is currently the chairman of the Iraq Study Group, are both part of the conspiracy.

[Editor's Note: Although widely reported, Vice President Cheney's office has denied he visited Baghdad].

As these developments were unfolding, it was announced that Tariq Aziz, the former Iraqi foreign minister and close aide of Saddam Hussein, would soon be released from prison.

In fact, these events are all part of a new American plot to topple Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's elected government and hand control of the country to Baathist elements.

After 43 months of occupation, American plans in Iraq have hit a brick wall. U.S. officials believe that the root of their failure is that Shiites are struggling to regain their rights through democratic elections. But the Americans are under the mistaken belief that Iraq's minority [Sunnis] can best guarantee U.S. interests because they enjoy the support of some Arab states [also Sunnis].

Accustomed to military coups as the key method of transferring power, this [Sunni] minority, which held a tight grip on power for over eight decades, refused to grant the majority a major role in society.

Under the influence of certain regional powers [Israel and the Gulf Arab states], at this stage the U.S. has concluded that this minority can help Washington implement its New Middle East Initiative.

This theory appears quite illogical In light of global events over the past decade, since if the minority comes to power in Iraq, international terrorism would likely intensify. September 11 and the terrorist attacks in London and Madrid prove that if they acquire a secure base, Arab terrorists with false religious interpretations having nothing to do with true Islam can threaten global security.

A Baathist return to power could provide just such a base for the very terrorists responsible for the bloodbath in Iraq.

Iraq's new government has been established through free elections. Helping the Maliki government suppress Arab terrorists and uproot terrorism in the country is the only way out of the current crisis.

The United States has no alternative but to hand control over Iraqi security to the Iraqi government and gradually withdraw its troops from the country. The era of military coups, like those that occurred in the 1960s and 70s is over.

If the U.S. intends to bring the Baathists back to power, not only Iraq but the entire region will witness a new crisis, the repercussions of which will be felt in the region and around the world.

VIDEO FROM IRAN: 'AMERICA

DESTROYED IRAN'S ENEMIES'

IRANIAN TV, IRAN: Excerpts from an interview with Mohsen Rezai, Secretary of the Iranian Expediency Council, November 11, 00:04:08, MEMRI

"America's arrival in the region presented Iran with an historic opportunity. The kind of service that the Americans, with all their hatred, have done us - no superpower has ever done anything similar."

Mohsen Rezai, Iranian Expediency Council Secretary