“Iraq’s destiny still rests between God, blood and oil”

In three years of Iraq’s occupation, for most western observers, the lies, half-truths and suppressed facts have become part of everyday life. In Iraq, the main concern is whether the country, already divided in three parts, will survive or disappear.
Today, the poems of Mohammed Mahdi Al-Jawahiri, son of a Shia cleric, in which he praises the Iraqi nation, seem old. In fact, the US occupation is heavily dependant on the support of the Shia political parties, especially the Supreme Council for the Revolution in Iraq under Ali Sistani, Iran’s instrument in Iraq. Sistani prevented the Shia and Moqtada Sadr from waging their struggle against the occupation forces. Thomas Friedman of the New York Times demanded that Ali Sistani be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
If the Shia had resisted the occupation, it would have been over a long time ago. The Iranians did not oppose the overthrow of the Taliban or of Saddam Hussein, but they are playing a dangerous game. If the Ba’athists and nationalists had not resisted the invasion, the plan for a regime change in Tehran might have been much more advanced than as it is now. The Iraqi group that has benefited the most from the occupation is the Kurdish, an oppressed minority which has become the oppressor and would be very happy to be a western protectorate after it annexed the Kirkurk oil fields.
However, if the cleric Shia unity is divided, or Iran considered that an independent Iraq is in best interests, everything might change. At the moment, the Iraqi oil is being exploited by private interests. But such exploitation cannot continue without the presence of foreign troops.