Mullahs' hands in Iraq shrine bombing

The precision bombing of the fourth holiest- after Karbala, Najaf and Mashad- shiite site in Samarra, Iraq (February 22, 2006) was clearly aimed at destablization of an nascent Iraqi civil society and at inciting fear and mayhem. To date, the intended consequences of this barbaric act has been more than 150 deaths- mostly sunnis- and desecration of many mosques and places of worship.

Given that, to the Iranian mullahs, Iraq is the ultimate prize and the terrormongers in Tehran would kill (literally) to see their archenemies, the United States and the Iranian Opposition based in Iraq, out of Iraq, one should not discount the mullahs' hand in this gastly crime. Again, the key is the study of pattern.

In 1994, thickly in domestic trouble and a regime running out of gas, it committed itself to a bombing of the 8th Imam's burial shrine in Mahshad, Iran. Scores of worshiper died. It was ultimately revealed the Iran's General Directorate of Special Operations (GDSO) was the responsible party, attempting to turn the tide of discontent and to discredit the Iranian Opposition.

In Iraq, Iran stands to gain from any division among the different religious factions. Unless one is intentionally or naively ignorant of the facts on the ground in Iraq, it should be clear to an observer that Iran will not gain from a democratic society in Iraq. The calculus of this Iraq strategy, as far as the policy planners in Tehran are concened, is acutely simple: stop at all cost, the development of a plural and democratic system of governance in that country. Moqtadar al-Sadr said on February 23, "...if the government cannot protect our places of worship,... we will use our militia to protect them." Sounds eerily familiar. This is precisely how the mullahs unleashed their militia, the Basij and the Revolutionary Guards, on the hapless people of Iran and exacted incalculable revenge.