Bush pre-empts Al-Sadr’s Return - International Imperialism

In character, al-Sadr delivered a scorching anti-American ‘sermon’ at Friday prayers, attended by approximately 5000 faithful -- a fraction of the militia force that consider al-Sadr leader. Squeezed between the usual scathing rhetoric was an appeal for a unified front with Sunni forces, “I say to our Sunni brothers in Iraq that we are brothers and the occupier shall not divide us. They are welcome and we are ready to co-operate with them in all fields. This is my hand I stretch out to them.”

Shia and Sunni leaders may have finally realised that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” but limited, inbred Muslims also tend to paralyse themselves with distrust and suspicion. Unification against a common enemy is supremely sensible but sense and reason is a lost cause with inbred tribalists. Shia representatives also applied pressure on the Iraqi puppet prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, to set a date for the withdrawal of occupation forces. Maliki promised to respond just as soon as he received instructions from Washington!

Iran is no doubt making its move in response to U.S./Israel backed Lebanese army efforts to eliminate militants from neighbouring refugee enclaves. It seems the U.S. is undertaking an undisguised direct effort to eliminate its enemies after the bungled proxy attempt by Olmert, which resulted in the deaths of more Lebanese children than combatants on either side.

June may indeed prove to be a very critical month for all concerned, a unified ‘Iraqi’ force would have little difficulty removing invaders from their homeland. However, the U.S. is loath to surrender its stolen oil, its response would therefore be disproportionate and extremely revealing of the real criminals in the conflict!

May 26, 2007 11:08AM EDT

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran wants to develop previously untapped oil fields shared with neighboring Iraq, a move that will benefit the two countries which fought a war in the 1980s, an Iranian oil official said on Saturday.

"We hope to start working together. Both countries stand to gain. We would strengthen investment and make the best use of our shared fields," Gholamhossein Nozari, managing director of state-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), told reporters.

Iran and Iraq have been strengthening ties since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, arousing concern among Iraq's once dominant Sunni minority and other Arab states as well as in the United States.

Washington accuses Iran of stirring up violence in Iraq. Tehran blames the presence of U.S. troops for the unrest.

"There is a general agreement between us (on the fields)," Nozari said, adding that the two countries had already held two rounds of discussion on developing the fields.

"We want to use 'green' fields," he said, referring to previously untapped fields.

"We have many joint fields like Naftshahr, Paidar-e Gharb, Azar, Azadegan and so many others," he said on the sidelines of a conference in Tehran organized by Iran's Ravand Institute for Economic and International Studies.

Iraq has already invited Iranian firms to bid for contracts to build at least four oil refineries in the country, Iraq's Oil Ministry said this month. Iraq needs to attract investment from foreign firms to develop fields and boost output.

Iran, OPEC's No. 2 oil producer which is under U.N. sanctions because a row about its nuclear program, is also keen to draw in new investors.

© Reuters 2007

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