SUNNI INSURGENT GROUP THREATS THE "PERSIANS" IN IRAN

Juan Cole of Informed Comment points to this story from Reuters that a Sunni insurgent group in Baghdad threatens "Persians" in Iran for supporting their Iraqi Shia co-religionists:

""We give the . . . Persians in general, and leaders of Iran in particular, two months to withdraw their support and presence in Iraq," Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, said in the 50-minute audio tape posted on Islamist Web site which has often carried al Qaeda statements."

"In the first such threat by his group, Baghdadi said that unless Iran met his demands, the group would wage a "brutal war" against Iranians.

""We announce it today, our hands will not stay far from you," he said. He did not say whether the group would mount attacks inside Iran.

"Baghdadi said his group's decision was the result of Iran's support for its fellow Shi'ite Muslims in Iraq, and accused Tehran of being behind the burning of Sunni Muslim mosques and killings of Sunni leaders."

"Baghdadi said the ultimatum covered financial organisations and banks in Iraq that deal with Iran, without elaborating.

"He warned Sunni businessmen against doing business with Iran and urged Arab states to denounce the Iraqi government.

""We give a precious chance to all countries that host the rejectionist Persians to issue a statement of condemnation denouncing the crimes committed by the rejectionist government (of Iraq)," he said. Sunni Islamists often refer to Shi'ites as "rejectionists".

""They will be safe from our attacks if they do so within two months.""

Now let's get this straight. A Sunni insurgent group in Iraq somehow "affiliated" with "Al Qaeda in Iraq" is threatening the "Persians" (read "foreigners" and/or "not Arabs" and/or "not Sunni Muslims") for interfering in the Iraq civil war and aiding the Iraqi Shia, co-religionists of the Iranians.

Wait! I thought Iran was supplying Al Qaeda with sophisticated IEDs and roadside bombs. That's the reason George Bush ordered the U.S. military to seize those five Iranian diplomats last January in Irbil, right?

I'm confused. Who is the "enemy" in Iraq? When the U.S. generals talk about fighting the "enemy," who exactly do they mean? The Sunni insurgents? Al Qaeda in Iraq? The Shia? The followers of Al Sadr? The Iranians?

Bush continues to repeat the threat that "if we don't fight "them" in Iraq, "they" will follow us home to the U.S." Who is he talking about? Some Sunni insurgent planting roadside bombs in Baghdad who probably has never been on an airplane in his whole life? Some follower of Al Sadr who lives in a farming village outside Basra? An Iranian diplomat?

The answer is, George Bush and Dick Cheney have created their own "enemies" by the foolish invasion and occupation of Iraq, a land long tormented and torn apart by racial and religious differences. As long as there are U.S. military personnel in Iraq, there will be IEDs and roadside bombs and suicide bombers, aimed at the invader. The United States will never be able to bring "order" and civil harmony to Iraq. The Iraqis must reach a state of equilibrium by themselves. The sooner the U.S. pulls out its armies and its airplanes, the sooner Iraqis can sort things out by and for themselves.