Iranian Dissidents’ Fate in Iraq Shows Limits of U.S. Sway

The New York Times ^ | 08/02/2009 | By MARK MAZZETTI and MARK LANDLER

[azadi4iran]

Last week’s bloody melee between Iraqi police officers and the residents of the camp has not only raised fresh doubts in Washington about the worth of these assurances, but has also exposed just how little leverage American officials now have in a country they largely controlled for almost six years.

It has also forced the Obama administration to confront some of the thorny issues that bedeviled its predecessor: how to prevent Iraq from falling deeper under Tehran’s influence, and how to fashion a tough Iran policy amid delicate negotiations to dismantle the country’s burgeoning nuclear program. Officials in Washington have wrestled for years over the fate of residents of the camp, known as Camp Ashraf. The Iranians are followers of the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, a group that vehemently opposes Iran’s theocracy. The group remains on the State Department’s list of terrorist groups, but it has given United States intelligence agencies a stream of information about Iran’s nuclear program, American officials say.

From 2003 until the beginning of this year, American troops provided protection for Camp Ashraf, and American diplomats blocked Tehran’s demands for the dissidents to be sent back to Iran.

CBS News report: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW6WvzDMFe4

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

I thought the Times was upset because we had “too much sway” in Iraq. You know, it’s not a “real Democracy” until we let the Iraqis have complete control.

Now they complain we don’t have enough sway?

They complain more than a 14 year old girl at the zoo:

It’s too hot... where are the monkeys?... I’m hungry... there are the monkeys! Yuck! What’s that smell?... Finally a cool spot, gross, it’s full of snakes... why do they keep it so cold... this food sucks... what do you mean it’s time to go home?

[bustinchops]

Ostammer will lose hold of all of Bush’s and Petraeus’s successes. Iraq will slip back into chaos. It’s just a question of time. He will make no overture to re-work the withdrawal agreement. He can’t - he’s boxed himself in politically by refusing to admit the success of the surge and his promise last year to withdraw all troops in 16 months, which he’s already modified to just a draw down, not a complete withdrawal. He will lose all support from his base if he tries to assert any return of U.S. fire power in Iraq. Our soldiers and their families will have sacrificed for nothing in the end.

[Seruzawa]

Simple answer. Send them more money. That’s what it always boils down to.