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Iraqi sources in Kuwait: Iran increasing its influence in southern Iraq
 On a recent visit to Kuwait as part of a high- level delegation, several Iraqi figures revealed to their Kuwaiti counterparts classified information about the current social and political situation in Iraq and the extent of Iranian meddling. They also confirmed that a mass exodus of Sunnis was taking place and said Iranian designs were being assisted by this migration and the continued boycott of the political process by some Arab Sunnis as well as their support for the insurgency.According to the Iraqi figures, security and municipal establishments in southern Iraq have fallen under the control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Iranian agents were now focusing on garnering ideological support after ensuring their security control over the area through a number of militias and the purging all those opposed them, politically, socially, and culturally. The visiting delegation pointed out that Tehran was putting pressure on schools and universities, and appointing teachers that were loyal to it. It was also flooding educational establishments with books and manuals from Iranian-financed publishing houses, radio stations, and television channels as well as distributing publications by the Lebanese group Hezbollah which it has long backed. Of the estimated two million Iranians to have traveled to Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein, the delegation indicted that 1.6 million have returned home while the others are alleged to have settled in Iraq and obtained identity cards. Posted by: Fred 2005-10-08 |
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