Hat in Hand , BEGGING TO BE HEARD

Iran [is] skillfully waging a proxy war against the United States in Iraq that, if current trends continue, could well leave Iran as the dominant player in most of the country. The Iranians are doing with the Jaish al Mahdi and other front groups in Iraq what they have already done with Hezbollah in Lebanon: expanding their sphere of influence. Why Ayatollah Khameini and his inner circle would voluntarily want to end this policy, which is achieving their objectives at relatively low cost, remains a mystery. The thing most likely to dissuade them from their current path would be the threat of serious military and economic retaliation, ranging from air strikes to an embargo of refined petroleum imports to Iran. …

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[1] Actually there have been earlier meetings such as that of National Security Advisor Robert C. McFarlane in what developed into the infamous “: Iran-Contra Scandal” as well as those held starting in November 2002 and running to the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003 in which the US attempted to secure an Iranian promise to stay out of Iraq. These meetings were clandestine at the time but later on were acknowledged.
[2] http://www.usip.org/isg/iraq_study_group_report/report/1206/iraq_study_group_report.pdf.
[3] Ibid, p.7 (see first sentence on page)
[4] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/18/AR2007011801273.html (see 6th paragraph).
[5] http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4939.
[6] http://www.ncr-iran.org/content/view/3712/167/ , and http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=21442 ( see paragraph 12)
[7] http://news.uk.msn.com/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=5630333.
[8] http://www.africasia.com/services/news/newsitem.php?area=mideast&item= 070720101627.ge4xyyxm.php, http://media.ledger-enquirer.com/static/frontpage/071707tuesday.pdf, http://lieberman.senate.gov/newsroom/release.cfm?id=278654&&. http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=11831, http://lieberman.senate.gov/newsroom/release.cfm?id=278350, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19620899/, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/02/AR2007070200174.html, http://www.worldsecuritynetwork.com/showArticle3.cfm?article_id=14581, http://www.nypost.com/seven/07032007/news/worldnews/iran_tie_to_iraq_attack_worldnews_lee _ keath__ap.htm, http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070728/NATION/107280053/1001, and http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/88749.pdf (see p. 4)
[9] http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/rm/2007/88999.htm.
[10] Ibid, and http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/world/iraq/bal-committee0724,0,1982306.story.
[11] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/25/AR2007072501507.html?sub=AR.
[12] http://www.radicalislam.com/Show_Article.asp?DynamicContentID=2305&MenuID=827, and http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,290391,00.html.
[13] http://www.ncr-iran.org/content/view/3846/152/ , and http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=11763.
[14] http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2083387,00.html.
[15] http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=11932, and http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/25/AR2007072501085.html.
[16] http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2127115,00.html.
[17] 67 year-old Haleh Esfandiari (director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars), Kian Tajbakhsh (had ties with the Open Society Institute of U.S. billionaire George Soros), Parnaz Azima (journalist for the U.S.-funded Radio Farda), and Ali Shakeri (a founding board member of the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding at the University of California at Irvine). See also: http://www.payvand.com/news/07/jul/1301.html.
[18] http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2007/January/focusoniraq_Janu ary91.xml&section=focusoniraq. Actually Iran attempted to obtain five military hostages in the deadly raid in Karbala on January 20, 2007, but failed to do so successfully, the IRGC agents needing to execute their American captives in order to make good their escape among the general population.
[19] See http://www.radicalislam.com/Show_Article.asp?DynamicContentID=2305&MenuID=827 for Dr. Boot’s testimony concerning dialogue, and http://armedservices.house.gov/pdfs/OI071207/Boot_Testimony071207.pdf for the full report.
[20] http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=11939 , and http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2798521.ece.
[21] http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=11962.
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