Iraq shrine bombing: Iran’s “Operation Survival”

Samarra Shrine before the bombing

Samarra Shrine before the bombing


In the early hours of Wednesday, a massive explosion completely devastated a revered Shiite shrine in the Iraqi city of Samarra, the burial ground of Shiite Islam’s 10th and 11th Imams. The religious monument dated back to more than 1,000 years ago.

In the current complicated state that Iraq is in combined with the makeup of the country, which is a society, comprised of a collection of tribes and religions, such actions can only serve to escalate tensions, which would never result in to anything that would be beneficial to the Iraqis as a whole country. From the evidence, we can tell that some mad mind planned this bombing carefully for one purpose only to instigate chaos.
 
Soon after the blast, fingers started pointing in different directions. The Shiites blamed Sunnis. Iran blamed the US and Britain. Some people named Al-Qaeda and some blamed Israel.

The first twenty-four hours were full of fear that everything was going to collapse. More than 150 Sunni mosques were attacked and ransacked and over 180 people including about 60 Sunni Imams were killed. Three prominent Arab television correspondents are also among the dead.

Things went so bad so quickly that the coalition forces had to impose day curfews in many cities to prevent sectarian clashes.

An unprecedented smart move came from Sunni leaders who had boycotted the first elections but entered strongly into the latest one wining a strong minority. They declared the incident to be a plot to create a civil war, and called on all parties to stop blaming each other and said, “Despite the fact that our people are being killed in the streets we will not retaliate.”

As the dust begins to settle, arrows are starting to point to a new and single direction: “Iran!”

How would the ruling mullahs in Iran benefit from such an act? The Iranian regime is from the Shiite denomination and they have been supporting Iraqi Shiite groups like “Badr” all along. Why would they bomb a mosque, so precious and holy to Muslims, especially Shiites?

Before we try to draw a conclusion, let us look briefly at some developments in recent weeks.

  • Iran undergoes increasing international pressure to give up its nuclear ambitions or face Security Council sanctions.
  • Internal dissent in Iran is growing rapidly and to control that the mullahs are resorting to more torture and execution of political opponents.
  • Iran was counting on favorable results from the elections in Iraq to establish a pro-Iranian Shiite government there in order to tie-up American hands in that country so they would not think about possible conflict with Iran.

Well, it seems all that the mullahs in Iran had planed in order to strengthen their grip on power is falling apart.

So now, Tehran has leaped into the next phase of its “Operation Survival.” As the direction of developments is no longer going the way the mullahs had planed, they decide to turn the table upside down and make Iraq “like hell” for Americans so they would not think twice about the nuke thing.

What should we do?

  • Have no doubt for a second, that anyone except Iran is responsible for the Samarra bombing
  • Do not stop, do not allow more time. If we hesitate, the mullahs would advance.
  • Declare all around comprehensive sanctions on Iran and support the Iranian people and their opposition to overthrow the government.

Only this would bring stability and democracy to the region and this is the only scenario that would lead to a triumphant pullout by the United States and the coalition from Iraq.