IRAN'S FM VOWS $1BLN WORTH OF PROJECTS IN IRAQ

Irony can be both bitter and sweet--as must be the taste of the events of this past week to the Bush White House as Iran has conducted visits and meetings with the new Iraqi government and with the powerful Shiite leaders of the South. What Irony there is in the fact that the Bush War against Saddam has accomplished what Iran could not during its war against Saddam in the 1980s: building a bridgehead into the nexus of the Arab-Isreali crescent. 2,500 U.S. Soldiers have died, 10s of thousands of U.S. soldiers wounded, 10s of thousands of civilian lives lost, hundreds of billions of U.S. treasure lost for what? So the Islamic Republic of Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran could cement a bulwark of Shiite Power in the Middle-East. In just three years, George W. Bush has destablized our Arab-Speaking allies by empowering Islamists in Egypt and Jordan and he has established a direct threat to the security of Isreal.

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Iran's FM vows $1bln worth of projects in Iraq
Sunday, May 28, 2006 - ©2006 IranMania.com

LONDON, May 28 (IranMania) - Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said his country was ready to help Iraq with an economic investment plan totaling one billion dollars, AFP reported.
"We are planning seven projects in the fields of oil, electricity, hospital construction and other services," he told reporters during his visit to the Shiite holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad.
"The Islamic Republic has set aside nearly one billion dollars to help Iraq," he said, adding that Iranians were ready to come and implement the projects.
He said the projects could be carried out in the southern Shiite provinces or the northern Kurdish ones.
While in Najaf, Mottaki prayed at the Imam Ali shrine, one of Shiite Islam's holiest sites.
He also met with a number of religious leaders, including Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who have a great deal of influence on Iraqi politics.
"Our visit to Ayatollah al-Sistani was not political, but it was just to visit the mausoleum of Imam Ali and religious figures," said Mottaki. "Sistani has an important position and is well-known for preserving the unity of Iraq."
Mottaki was in Baghdad on Friday where he pledged his support for Iraq's new government and promised to aid its reconstruction effort.
Shiite Iran fought a bloody 1980-1988 war against Iraq under now toppled president Saddam Hussein and his Sunni-led regime. Tehran has in the past demanded 100 billion dollars in war reparations from Baghdad.

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