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Iran's meddling in Iraq is on the rise |
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Friday, 24 June 2005 |
 EventsDr. Abdullah Al-Jabouri, Former Governor of Diyala province in Iraq:
Chief among the enemies of a democratic and secular Iraq are those who
want Iraq to be an Islamic fundamentalist dictatorship. Islamic
fundamentalism is an imported problem in my country.
Iran has played a major role in this. Tehran has been behind much of
the violence in Iraq against civilians and anti-fundamentalist
politicians.
Day after day, the Iraqi police and intelligence agencies have arrested
Iraqis and non-Iraqis who have either been paid a lot of money or
crossed the border to create unrest and whip up religious and ethnic
tensions in my country. In Diyala province where I served as a Governor
until last April, we managed to capture many Iranian agents, and Iraqi
and foreign nationals who were receiving money and arms from Tehran.
On the Mujahedeen-e Khalgh and their terrorist listing by the US State
Department I must say that the Mojahedin has been based in my province
since 1986, prior to the war in Iraq. In all these years, the Mojahedin
enjoyed enormous support among the local population. While the
government of Saddam Hussein restricted the contact between the
Mojahedin and the Iraqi people, the limited contact were nevertheless
quite helpful in giving us Iraqis an understanding of what Islam is
really about, because the Mojahedin presented an anti-fundamentalist
interpretation of the religion.
The restrictions on the Mojahedin left our province wide open to
external meddling and interference. There has been much propaganda
about the Mojahedin’s relations with the Saddam regime and allegations
that they helped the regime with its suppression. The source of all
allegations is the Iranian regime.
Why should we judge the Mojahedin on the basis of what their enemies
say? If there was any evidence of the Mojahedins wrongdoing with
respect to any Iraqi citizens, including the kurds, I am sure two years
after the fall of Saddam it would have come to the fore. There has been
no such evidence, because the Mojahedin has never interfered in the
affairs of Iraqis. I must emphasize that among the 2.8 million Iraqis
who signed the petition of support, there are many kurds, turkomans,
shias and Christians.
The sheer presence of the Mojahedin was providing security to the
region, because the people in the province have complete trust in them. |
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