Today, GG reported this...

The Islamic Republic of Iran and Iraq Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on defense cooperation.

The MoU was signed by visiting Iraqi Defense Minister Lieutenant General Abdul Qadir Mohammed Jassim Obeidi and his Iranian counterpart Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar on Monday.

Iran’s First Vice President Parviz Davoudi and Iraqi Premier Nouri al-Maliki were also present in the signing ceremony which was held at the pavilion of Mehrabad International Air Port.

The MoU has called for expansion of defense cooperation between the two countries in line with harmonizing all-out ties between Tehran and Baghdad to help further bolster peace and stability in the region.

Now, I don't see that as a bad thing, but, I find it perplexing on numerous fronts. First of all, it is a clear slap in the face to Darth/Shrub, in the grand scheme of their neocon fueled ME foreign policy. Why is Maliki biting the hand that feeds him? Next, what will be the response from the nationalist blocs within Iraq. The MoU also formalizes other negotiations that further undercuts our current Maladministration's inability to supply electricity and other energy related efforts. As Iran's FARS reports...

Iraq's ministers of finance, defense, water resources, and electricity are accompanying the prime minister.

Increased supply of electricity by Iran will reportedly be also on the agenda of talks between Maliki and Iranian officials.

"During his upcoming visit to Tehran, al-Maliki will be accompanied by Electricity Minister Karim Waheed and will request Iran to provide the country with more electricity," Iraq's ambassador to Tehran, Mohammad Majid Abbas al-Sheikh, told reporters on Monday.

Iran is currently building a 250-megawatt power plant in Baghdad's Sadr City and plans to build other plants in the cities of Najaf and Karbala.

Both sides have already reached an agreement to increase Iran's electricity export to Iraq by 300 megawatts, the ambassador added.

I think that is great for the much beleagured Iraqi populace in obtaining electricity, particularly, when Imams are questioning the GZG as to why they aren't delivering on their promises. To wit...

The Imam of the Friday prayers in Najaf city south of Baghdad ended his speech with a reference to one of the most important issues,the services and especially electricity. He blamed the official for their irresponsibility saying "we used to tell people that terror is the reason of the power failure and they used to believe that because there was real terror. Now the security situation is much better but the services are so bad. People need electricity in this hot summer and they need water". Then the man continued " we cant defend you any more because we don't have any more excuses to tell people. Why don't you try to feel the suffering of your people. You want federation system and you can't even provide people with their basic needs".

That speaks volumes as to why Maliki is facing an electoral upset in the upcoming elections in November. What scares me, tho, is Maliki's reaching out to Iran. Don't get me wrong, I do favor talks and treaties and such with Iran. What I worry about is at what cost to the Iraqis and the implications of closer ties to a once former Arch enemy. I'd like to recap a bit of history on Maliki's past and his ties, along with his political base's ties, to Iran. Here's a bit of history...

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, a prominent Shia leader who is also the head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq announced, “In gratitude to the efforts, sacrifices and heroic positions of our brothers and brave sons from the Badr Organization.”

“We must give them the priority in bearing administrative and government responsibilities especially in the security field,” he added, while the “President” of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, listened on.

The Badr Organization (formerly known as the Badr Brigade) was formed by al-Hakim’s brother in the ‘80’s to fight Saddam Hussein. It has long since received funding and other “support” from Iran.

While civilians in Fallujah, Mosul, Ramadi, Baquba, Baghdad, Haditha and other cities in Iraq continue to complain of being beaten, looted and humiliated by the members of the Iraqi Army who are members of both the Badr Organization and Kurdish Peshmerga, these militias now have the overt backing of the interim Iraqi “government.”

It is also being reported that members of the Badr Organization, who are essentially running much of the “security” in southern Iraq at this point, have been instituting Sharia law. Thus, women are reporting being threatened with death or rape if they attend university, and more conservative clothing rules are being enforced.[...]

Harith al-Dhari, the head of the influential Sunni group the Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), recently accused the Badr of killing members of the AMS, when he bluntly announced, “It is the Badr Brigades which is responsible for these killings.”

One of my Iraqi friends here in Amman recently told me that Sunni who live in the south are being pressured by members of the Badr Organization to relocate elsewhere. It should also be noted that the Badr came back to Iraq on the heels of the invaders.

“You and your (Kurdish) brothers are the heroes of liberating Iraq,” added Talabani at the aforementioned conference.

So we have the US-backed Iraqi “government” overtly (they have been doing this covertly for quite some time) pitting Shia and Kurdish militias against the primarily Sunni resistance. State sponsored/propagated civil war-although most Iraqis continue to fear and loath the idea, and so many Iraqi political and religious organizations continue to work tirelessly to avert the worsening of this now low-grade civil war.

From today's McClatchy's Inside Iraq blog...

When people don't feel safe under the aegis of the law, or if they get the feeling that they are threatened they fall back on more primitive establishments that give them the feeling of security, a feeling that they belong to a group that is able to protect them. It could be a tribe; it could be a sect; it could be a gang or an armed group. This group will cater to their psychological needs by giving them the feeling that they are only averting the violence of others when they pull the trigger. That they are only protecting themselves and their ideals, whatever they may be. They will first stay within their "boundaries" with their guns cocked and ready. Then they will venture farther afield in pretext of securing their boundaries; and farther still they will venture - with their guns still cocked in order that they may protect their ideals and beliefs - and farther still to bring their beliefs to the people "over there'.

How many militias do we have in Iraq?

Badr, that has been incorporated into the security forces - and is still doing the bidding of its masters in making sure that "no harm" is done - by "others".

Mahdy Army - the protector of the poor.

Qaida and related armed groups - upholders of the faith.

Pashmerga, a new army for a fledgling - yet hugely ambitious "autonomous state within a state".

Sahwas - pushed out al-Qaida and are another armed force that have their weapons cocked in defence of the defenceless.

I truly question the motives of Iran, it is in their best interests to see a fractious, loosely confederated Iraq, rather than a strong centralized Iraq as proposed by the Sadrists and others...

I only wonder...!

We've been duped before...

The Defense Intelligence Agency has concluded that for years Iran has used a U.S.-funded arm of Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress to funnel disinformation to the United States and to collect highly sensitive American secrets, according to intelligence sources.

"Iranian intelligence has been manipulating the United States through Chalabi by furnishing through his Information Collection Program (ICP) information to provoke the United Sates into getting rid of Saddam Hussein," said an intelligence source who was briefed on the conclusions of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).[...]

At the center of the alleged Iranian intelligence operation, according to administration officials and intelligence sources, is Aras Habib, 47, a Shiite Kurd who was named in an arrest warrant issued during a raid on Chalabi's home and offices in Baghdad on Thursday. He eluded arrest.

Habib is in charge of the information collection program.

The intelligence source briefed on the DIA's conclusions said that Habib's "fingerprints are all over it."

"There was an ongoing intelligence relationship between Habib and the Iranian Intelligence Ministry, all funded by the U.S. government, inadvertently," he said.[...]

The links between the INC and U.S. intelligence go back to at least 1992, when Habib was picked by Chalabi to run his security and military operations.

An intelligence official said Habib also was the INC official who handled most of the Iraqi defectors, including one code-named "Curveball," who provided much of the fabricated, exaggerated and unconfirmed information about Iraqi weapons programs and links to terrorism that President Bush used in making his case for invading Iraq.

Indications that Iran, which fought a bloody war against Iraq during the 1980s, was trying to lure the United States into action against Saddam Hussein appeared many years before the Bush administration decided in 2001 that ousting Saddam was a national priority.

De ja vu, all over again...?