Iran Plays a Role in Iraq Vote

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran9jan09.story
Iran Plays a Role in Iraq Vote
Connections to Tehran have become a pet target in the campaign, with some alleging meddling.
By Edmund Sanders
Times Staff Writer

January 9, 2005

BAGHDAD — As Iraq lurches toward elections this month, its neighbor Iran is emerging as one of the hottest campaign issues.

Iraq's outspoken defense minister fired one of the first salvos last month, charging that the front-running slate, the Shiite Muslim-dominated United Iraqi Alliance, was controlled by Tehran and was determined to "build an Islamic dictatorship and have turbaned clerics rule in Iraq."

The minister, Hazem Shaalan, is a Shiite, but is running on a rival, more secular slate.

Part of the focus on Iran is pure politics. In light of the nations' history of rivalry and eight-year war in the 1980s, the mention of Iran is a convenient way to attack candidates, spook citizens and galvanize voters, experts say. Many leaders of the alliance's leading party, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, spent years in exile in Iran after fleeing Saddam Hussein's regime.

But the debate is also raising serious questions about what sort of government Iraqis will choose Jan. 30, what role religion should play in the constitution and how much influence Iran will wield over the next crop of Iraqi leaders.<snip>