As leaders in the Arab world and other countries condemn President Bashar al-Assad’s violent crackdown on demonstrators in Syria, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq has struck a far friendlier tone, urging the protesters not to “sabotage” the state and hosting an official Syrian delegation.
Mr. Maliki’s support for Mr. Assad has illustrated how much Iraq’s position in the Middle East has shifted toward an axis led by Iran. And it has also aggravated the fault line between Iraq’s Shiite majority, whose leaders have accepted Mr. Assad’s account that Al Qaeda is behind the uprising, and the Sunni minority, whose leaders have condemned the Syrian crackdown.
Good grief. The Syrians helped Iran during the long Iran-Iraq War and then pushed Iraq to the verge of civil war by shoveling jihadis into Iraq and supporting the Iraqi Baathists in exile in Syria. And now the Iraqis think Assad is on the right side, here?
It's like the Iraqis got lessons in liberation gratitude from the French.
Hopefully, if we keep an armed presence in and around Iraq, the Iraqis will feel more comfortable resisting the Iranians. In the long run, I don't worry that Iraq will be too cozy with Iran. But there is that short run to worry about.
