Simplistically thinking that since both are Shia majority, that Iran should rule Iraq (but why not vice versa?), some here view the Ahmadinejad visit to Iraq as evidence of this domination. Indeed, war critics deride President Bush for having secret visits that last hours to avoid getting shot at while Ahmadinejad strolls the streets. The idea is that the Iraqis love Ahmadinejad more than Bush.
What rot. Ahmadinejad can tell his thugs to stop bombing while he visits while our troops aren't going to shoot at him. That's quite the advantage, don't you think? And don't rule out the possibility that the man is quite nuts and may believe a green glowing aura shields him from harm, or something.
Iran's Ahmadinejad may have thought his recent visit to Iraq was the visit of a future leader of a Persian satrapy, but the Iraqi people rolled out the unwelcome wagon:
Weeks of hard work by Iranian emissaries and pro-Iran elements in Iraq were supposed to ensure massive crowds thronging the streets of Baghdad and throwing flowers on the path of the visiting Iranian leader. Instead, no more than a handful of Iraqis turned up for the occasion. The numbers were so low that the state-owned TV channels in Iran decided not to use the footage at all.
Instead, much larger crowds gathered to protest Ahmadinejad's visit. In the Adhamiya district of Baghdad, several thousand poured into the streets with cries of "Iranian aggressor, go home!"
The visit's highlight was supposed to be a pilgrimage to Karbala and Najaf, the "holiest" of Shiite cities in Iraq. There, Ahmadinejad was supposed to become the first Iranian government leader since 1976 to pray at the mausoleums of Imam Hussein and Imam Ali.
In the end, however, the tour was canceled amid reports that Shiite pilgrims, including thousands from Iran, were planning to demonstrate against his presence at the "holy" cities.
The result was not the tour of the conquerer:
Ahmadinejad had come to Iraq to show it was an Iranian playground. He ended up by showing that Iran's influence in Iraq is widely exaggerated.
To be sure, Tehran exerts influence through a number of Shiite militias it has recruited, trained and financed for years. And some insurgent groups depend on Iran as their main source of weapons, especially sophisticated explosive devices. Iran also remains Iraq's biggest trading partner and the second-biggest investor in the Iraqi economy. Iranian pilgrims account for more than 90 percent of all foreign visitors in Iraq.
Yet the visit highlighted one crucial fact: Few Iraqis wish to see their country dominated by the Khomeinist regime in Tehran.
Iraq proved too hot for Ahmadinejad. He had to get out as fast as he could.
A free Iraq will be a nightmare for mullah-run Iran. Iraq will have the military power to resist Iran, a powerful American ally, and an example of Shia-dominated democracy to inspire the Iranians who increasingly despise the cruel regime they live under.
But our press missed this story in their haste to paint the liberation of Iraq as a gift to Iran.
