Asking the arsonist to help put out the fire

Voice of Reason


...Amid heated debate in search of a viable Iraq solution, there is a growing chorus from supposed foreign-policy "realists" to bring the Iranian regime into negotiations, failing to realize that Iranian regime, facing acute crisis at home, has a direct interest in seeing Iraq in chaos.
Since it took power in 1979, Iran's clerical regime has coveted its neighbor Iraq. Article 11 of Iran's constitution stipulates, "All Muslims are one nation, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is duty-bound to rest its general policy on the unity of Islamic nations and undertake efforts to realize the political, economic, and cultural unity of the Islamic world." (I had alluded to this constitutional article in my previous entries)

For many historical reasons, Iraq was the most strategic target. The appetite of Iran's ayatollahs is no secret: They want to establish a proxy regime in Iraq, which has the world's second-largest known oil reserves and a majority Shiite population.
Despite the countries' eight-year war in 1980s, Ayatollah Khomeini failed to fulfill his dream of "liberating Jerusalem via Karbala." He died in 1989, but his disciples pursued the dream. Iraqi opposition groups were trained, financed, and nurtured for years, waiting for another opportunity. Even in his political will, Khomeini urged his successors to continue their efforts to foment an Islamic revolution in Iraq.

The 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq provided Tehran's mullahs the ideal moment. For the first time since Iranian and Iraqi guns fell silent along their 900-mile common border in July 1988, the Iranian theocracy saw a historic opportunity to extend its influence in Iraq.
Inviting Iran to participate in negotiations on the future of Iraq is like inviting the foxes to join the discussion on how the chicken coop should be managed. One does not have to be a rocket scientist to see the fallacy of such an idea...

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