Iraq looks for distractions, blames ills on neighbors
Iraq-Iran, Politics, 1/8/2005

Defense minister in the Interim Iraqi government Hazem al-Shalan renewed his accusation to each of Iran and Syria over supporting the armed operations inside Iraq by weapons and money. He threatened to transfer the battle to the lands of the two countries.

Shalan, who repeated before similar accusations especially against Iran over what he considered a vast intervention in the Iraqi internal affairs, showed journalists a video tape for a prisoner, said to be a leader of an armed group called "Jeish Muhammad" ( Muhammad army) in which he admits he got support from Iran and Syria.

A man appeared in the video tape introduced himself as col. Mu'ayad Yassin Aziz al-Nuseiri. He said his presumed organization called " Muhammad army", got in particular, large support from Iran which also supports several other armed groups in Iraq. The credibility of the video tape is not verified yet.

Despite his accusations to Syria and Iran and warning them not to interfere in Iraq's affairs, Shalan said he does not want to have a conflict with the two countries. Washington had repeatedly warned Iran of interfering in the Iraqi affairs and imposed partial sanctions against Syria under the pretext of permitting the sneaking of gunmen into inside Iraq. The two countries deny any links to the armed groups inside Iraq.

Previous Stories:
  Syrian out-of- country voting for the Iraqi National Assembly election   (1/6/2005)
  Iran boycotts Iraq's neighbors conference   (1/4/2005)
  Iraqi minister of the Interior: Accusations against Damascus are irresponsible   (1/3/2005)
  Rafsanjani and Iraq's occupation   (12/6/2004)

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