Iraqi Shiite Leaders Denounce Ahmadinejad Visit

More than 130 tribal leaders from the predominantly Shiite provinces of southern Iraq signed a letter denouncing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to their country.

The letter states: “Since five years ago Iraq has turned into the scene of the Iranian regime’s meddling and aggression. Everyday hundreds of Iraqis are victims of the Iranian exported terrorism. In southern Iraq we are witnessing the murder of our children and ransack of our oil and other national wealth by the criminal elements of the Iranian regime.”

It is difficult to be much more clear than that concerning the current troubles faced by the Iraqi people.

The statement mirrors a petition signed last year by more than 300,000 Iraqi Shiities condemning the Iranian government’s interference in Iraq and supporting the asylum of the main Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), in Iraq.

The Iraqi people deserve to be able to live in peace.  The Iranian government is providing terrorists with money, weapons, and training — and then smuggling them across the open border into Iraq.  For the security of Iraq, this traffic of death must be stopped.