If the American administration truely planned to quell the violence in Iraq they would openly and publicly declare opposition to the recent Israeli request for a "corridor" through US-occupied Iraqi airspace in case of a decision to bomb Tehran.

The February 25 telegraph.co.uk article by Con Coughlin anonymously sites a "Senior Israeli defence official" who commented that negotiations had begun to prevent the possibility of "American and Israeli war planes [start] shooting at each other", should the Israeli Defense Force decide to bomb Iran. This proposition puts the US mission in Iraq entirely at risk; sending such significant signals to Iran could heat things up in Iraq. There is great potential for the Badr Forces, the armed wing of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq- to take offense to the US colluding with Israel in the bombing of Iran. Such an event could cause a catastrophic strain on the already tense relations between the Iraqi populace and the US presence there.

With the new US-Iraqi security plan coming into effect now is the wrong time to send mixed signals to the Iraqi populace. The combined Coalition militaries needs to take strong leadership roles and set the record straight as to their intentions in regard to Iraq and it's negihbours, most particularly Iran. Are they going to allow Iran to be bombed and deal with the repurcussions in Iraq, or are they going to cut and run afterwards? Will they be able to stabilize the country after Iran was bombed, if they are struggling to do so now? These are questions which should be cleared up before they answer themselves.

Labels: Coalition, Iran, Iraq, Israel, plan, security, USA