Leaked Cache of Diplomatic Cables Proves How Thoroughly Iran Has Corrupted and Co-Opted the Iraqi Government

Iraq is essentially a client state of Iran.

Now leaked Iranian documents offer a detailed portrait of just how aggressively Tehran has worked to embed itself into Iraqi affairs, and of the unique role of [Iranian Quds Force leader General Qassim] Suleimani. The documents are contained in an archive of secret Iranian intelligence cables obtained by The Intercept and shared with the New York Times for this article, which is being published simultaneously by both news organizations.

The unprecedented leak exposes Tehran's vast influence in Iraq, detailing years of painstaking work by Iranian spies to co-opt the country’s leaders, pay Iraqi agents working for the Americans to switch sides, and infiltrate every aspect of Iraq's political, economic, and religious life.

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According to one of the leaked Iranian intelligence cables, [Iraq's current prime minister] Abdul-Mahdi, who in exile worked closely with Iran while Saddam Hussein was in power in Iraq, had a "special relationship with the IRI" -- the Islamic Republic of Iran -- when he was Iraq's oil minister in 2014. The exact nature of that relationship is not detailed in the cable, and, as one former senior U.S. official cautioned, a "special relationship could mean a lot of things -- it doesn't mean he is an agent of the Iranian government." But no Iraqi politician can become prime minister without Iran's blessing, and Abdul-Mahdi, when he secured the premiership in 2018, was seen as a compromise candidate acceptable to both Iran and the United States.

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Cultivating Iraqi officials was a key part of [Iran's intelligence services and Revolutionary Guards'] job, and it was made easier by the alliances many Iraqi leaders forged with Iran when they belonged to opposition groups fighting Saddam. Many of Iraq's foremost political, military, and security officials have had secret relationships with Tehran, according to the documents. The same 2014 cable that described Abdul-Mahdi's "special relationship" also named several other key members of the cabinet of former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi as having close ties with Iran.

A political analyst and adviser on Iraq to Iran’s government, Gheis Ghoreishi, confirmed that Iran has focused on cultivating high-level officials in Iraq. "We have a good number of allies among Iraqi leaders who we can trust with our eyes closed," he said.

Bush's failure to anticipate Iran joining the fight in Iraq, and his attempt to downplay the extent to which Iran was actively killing US soldiers, led to Iran becoming more brazen and more powerful in Iraq.

I have trouble envisioning how the "verdict of history" will ever conclude that this war benefited the US. Iran seems to be the winner, and all it cost them was some IEDs and bribe-money.

Video report here, which says that none of this is exactly a shock, but the cables do confirm what we expected, and suggest that maybe it's worse than we imagined. Skip to 2:50 to see some footage of the protests in Iraq against the government, over rising fuel costs. (France 24 blames this on Trump's sanctions against Iran because of course.)

posted by Ace of Spades at 03:42 PM

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