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Commentary
by U.S. Alliance for Democratic Iran
Qods
Force: Enemy No. 1 in Iraq
Last July, in the little-noticed Executive Order
13438, the United States made it possible for
the Secretary of the Treasury to block “Property
of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization
Efforts in Iraq” in consultation with the
Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense.
The Executive Order sanctions persons or
entities “to have committed, or to pose a
significant risk of committing, an act or acts
of violence that have the purpose or effect of
threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or
the Government of Iraq; or undermining efforts
to promote economic reconstruction and political
reform in Iraq or to provide humanitarian
assistance to the Iraqi people.”
On January 9, the Department of the Treasury
appropriately blacklisted a top general of the
Qods Force described as “the regime's primary
mechanism for cultivating and supporting
terrorists and Islamic militants” along with
three other individuals and one entity. The
announcement put to rest the recent hype,
primarily fueled by ayatollahs’ apologists, over
an impending “thaw” between Washington and
Tehran given the latter’s “reduced” involvement
in transfer of Explosively Formed Penetrators (EFP).
General Raymond Odierno, the second highest US
general in Iraq, told reporters on Thursday that
Tehran is still training and funding militants
attacking coalition troops in Iraq. "We know
that they continue to train Iraqi extremists in
Iran, we know that they continue to pay some of
these extremists," he told reporters. Last
weekend, Gen. David Petraeus, US top commander
in Iraq, stated that attacks against US forces
using EFP’s supplied by Tehran had in fact
increased “by a factor of two or three” in
January.
Similarly, the Treasury’s report on specific
terrorist acts and operations these individuals
have committed proves beyond any doubt that
there is indeed no “reduction” and the
ayatollahs’ are vigorously intent on advancing
their campaign in Iraq.
The Department of Treasury imposed sanctions on
“Iran-based Ahmed Foruzandeh, a Brigadier
General in the IRGC-QF,” who “leads terrorist
operations against Coalition Forces and Iraqi
Security Forces, and directs assassinations of
Iraqi figures.”
In addition to several of QF’s border garrisons
acting as the command and control centers of
their destabilizing campaign in Iraq, Tehran’s
embassy in Baghdad plays a key role in
distributing funds among various proxy groups
and plotting subversive operations by these
groups. A significant number of the embassy’s
staff belongs to the Qods Force. Tehran’s top
diplomat in Iraq, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, is a Qods
Force commander.
Earlier in the month, nearly 500 Iraqi tribal
leaders and sheikhs called for the closure of
all of Tehran’s diplomatic centers in Iraq and
demanded the complete evictions of the IRG and
Qods Force operatives and proxy groups from
Iraq. Iraqi tribal leaders who figure
significantly in the political and social
landscape of their country correctly targeted
the main culprit in the ongoing bloodshed and
insecurity there.
Gathering in the first "Congress of Iraqi Tribal
Alliance for Support of Nationalist Alternative"
they declared their support for a national
reconciliation government. Calling for early
national elections under the auspices of the
United Nations the transfer of security to local
tribal leaders, the tribal leaders also demanded
the continued presence of Iran’s main dissident
group the People’s Mojahedin (MEK) in Iraq as a
strategic counter-weight to Tehran’s
fundamentalist regime.
The MEK whose members, residing in the Camp
Ashraf northeast of Baghdad, were granted
“protected person” status under the Forth Geneva
Convention in July 2004, has dedicated its
facilities and resources to the national
reconciliation in Iraq and promotion of a
non-sectarian democratic and independent Iraqi
political alternative.
Given its growing success to raise awareness to
the clear and immediate threats the clerical
regime poses to the integrity of Iraq and
sovereignty of Iraqi people, the MEK has
increasingly been the target of Tehran’s
multi-faceted campaign aimed at pressurizing or
at best expulsion of this potent
anti-fundamentalist Iranian group from Iraq.
Tehran’s anti-MEK campaign has been primarily
advanced by its surrogate groups and officials
in all three branches of the Iraqi government.
More than a year ago, the flow of water,
electricity, fuel, and basic food staples to the
Camp Ashraf were reported to have been cut off
by the government.
A good number of these ploys have, however,
failed and, on many occasions, have severely
backfired on Tehran and its proxies, thanks to
the deep roots the MEK has established among
independent Iraqi political dignitaries, tribal
leaders and ordinary Iraqi of all religious and
ethnic background.
The Times of London yesterday published the
statement by nearly 300,000 Iraqi Shiites of
southern provinces who denounced efforts by
Tehran’s Iraqi surrogates against the MEK and to
meddle in Iraq. The statement, calling for the
complete eviction of Iran’s regime from Iraq,
said that the Iranian Mojahedin, adhering to a
democratic and anti-fundamentalist Islam, acted
as an alternative and counter-balance against
the regime in Iran and that it was a bulwark
against Tehran’s meddling in Iraq.
Washington should heed to these calls and thwart
Tehran’s ploys aimed at undermining the
admirable contribution the MEK – despite the
limitation of resources and the sever pressure
it is subjected to by the Nuri al-Malki’s
government - is making to the very same
political and security objectives the United
States and independent Iraqis are working for.
Revoking the blacklisting of the MEK will remove
the main justification Tehran and its Iraqi
proxies are using to undermine the MEK in the
ongoing battle for a democratic Iraq free of
ayatollahs’ dominance.
(USADI)
USADI
Commentary reflects the viewpoints of the US Alliance
for Democratic Iran in respect to issues and events
which directly or indirectly impact the US policy toward
Iran |