IS IRAQ'S GOVERNMENT TURNING A BLIND EYE TO IRANIAN INVOLVEMENT IN IRAN?: THE ANSWER IS NO

It is interesting that the Sunnis are asking for help against Iran, while the Shiite led Iraqi government is denying the extent of Iran's presence in Iraq.

An Iraqi Sunni delegation on a visit to Cairo on Wednesday urged Arab countries to act against what it called the "Iranian occupation" of Iraq.

"We would like a common Arab position to save Iraq and its people ...(in the face of) the Iranian occupation," Sheikh Majid Abdel Razzak al-Ali Suleiman said after a meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit.

"Such an Arab position, led by Egypt, is necessary to weaken Iran's role in Iraq, because if Tehran occupies this country, it will occupy other Arab countries too," said the head of the Dulaim tribe, which is concentrated mainly in Anbar province, west of Baghdad.

Sunni tribes from Anbar, a onetime stronghold of the anti-US insurgency, have recently allied themselves with US troops against Al-Qaeda militants, while keeping their distance from the Baghdad government dominated by Shiites.

Despite the call for help against Iran from the Sunnis, The Iraqi government is downplaying any Iranian presence.

Iraq said on Sunday it has no evidence that Iran was supplying militias engaged in fierce street fighting with security forces in Baghdad, and rejected US accusations against Tehran as mere "speculation".

"We don't want to be pushed into any conflict with any neighboring countries, especially Iran. What happened before is enough. We paid a lot," Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Sunday.

Asked about US reports that weapons captured from Shiite fighters bore 2008 markings suggesting Iranian involvement, Dabbagh said, "We don't have that kind of evidence... If there is hard evidence we will defend the country."

This most recent denial of Iranian assistance to Shiite militants is somewhat puzzling considering that just days before this denial, the Iraqi PM sent a delegation to Iran to to tell Iranian officials to stop backing Shiite militias. This seeming contradiction raises two questions. Are the Iranians aiding the Shiite militias? And does the Shiite led government of Iraq want to do anything about it? The US claims to have evidence of Iranian involvement and that the decision to confront Iran is up to the Iraqi government.

U.S. military officials have said its evidence that Iran is aiding Iraqi militias includes caches of weapons that have date stamps showing they were produced in Iran this year. The weapons include mortars, rockets, small arms, roadside bombs and armor-piercing explosives — known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs — that troops have discovered in recent months, according to another senior military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the evidence has not yet been made public.

Despite this presentation of evidence of Iranian involvement, and their own previous claims of Iranian aid, the Iraqi government now seems to be backpedaling. And this change in tune is made all the more puzzling in light of recent evidence that Iran may be aiding SUNNI militias and Al Qaeda in Iraq as well.

A Sunni fundamentalist from Kuwait who has been linked by the United Nations and the United States to al-Qaida, said in an interview published Wednesday that Iran is supporting Sunni Arab insurgents fighting American troops in Iraq.

In the interview in Kuwaiti Al-Qabas daily, al-Bathali said that Tehran is supplying al-Qaida fighters and other Jihad movements in Iraq with "weapons and money" and claimed he has personally sent fighters to Iraq by way of Syria.

Al-Bathali alleged that Iran's motivation for backing both the Sunnis and Shiites opposed to Washington, was because Tehran is eager to "place hurdles in front of America" so that the U.S. would be "too busy to fight" Iran. He also said Iran facilitates the entry of fighters into Iraq and Afghanistan.

But is the Iraqi government really changing its opinion? Is the Iraqi government now denying what it has been claiming for years -- that Iran is aiding militias and Al Qaeda in Iraq? The new official position of the Iraqi government, as of just two days ago, is to tread lightly until firm evidence of Iranian involvement is found.

The government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, told reporters Sunday that a committee was formed to find "tangible information" about foreign intervention, specifically Iran's role in Iraq rather than "information based on speculation."

While the Iraqi government has long said they would not be used for a proxy war between the U.S. and Iran at odds over Iran's nuclear aspirations, the statement came as the Iraqi government had taken tough stances towards Iran in the past week. This included sending a delegation last week to Iran to urge them to stop the flow of weapons and to refrain from funding to Shiite militias battling Iraqi Security Forces.

I am not of the opinion that the Iraqi government has suddenly changed its opinion as to Iranian involvement in Iraq. Nor am I of the opinion that Iraq fears being drawn into another protracted war with Iran. It is my opinion that this apparent change in stance is a deliberate attempt by the Iraqi government to add the appearance of legitimacy to the United States' allegations of Iranian involvement. I have no doubt that in the coming weeks, the Iraqi government, via the aforementioned "committee", will indeed find tangible evidence of Iranian involvement. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that the Iraqi government is somehow complicit in some grand fabrication by the US to provide an excuse for military action against Iran. That is not what I'm saying. Rather, it is my belief that this "legitimacy" is needed in the wake of the WMD fiasco and the hit America's credibility took as a result. The Iraqi government, as well as the US, knows very well that Iran is meddling in Iraq. So the case for world opinion is being built. And an independent Iraqi finding of Iranian involvement in Iraq will carry far more weight than a decision that appears to be one that is unilaterally American. I suggest you keep an eye on what this "committee" finds in the coming weeks. If I had money, I'd bet that Iranian assistance is found to exist.