Iraq braces for Ahmadinejad

BAGHDAD —  Hussein Athab visited Iran three times after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The political science professor took in the religious sites and admired Iraq’s bigger, richer and stronger Shiite Muslim neighbor to the east.

But his esteem for Iran’s government has since plummeted over what many here view as Iranian meddling and subversion in Iraq.

“We thought Iran would extend the hand of friendship,” said Athab, a Shiite. “But it looks like Iran considers Iraq a playing card, and we don’t want to be used as a playing card.”

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrives Sunday to an Iraq far more leery of his country than it was after the ouster of Hussein.

Publicly, Iraq’s politicians welcome the hard-line president’s arrival. He is the first leader of a Middle East country to visit Baghdad and grant the government the international recognition it craves.

But privately, Iraqi officials say that Ahmadinejad and his clique are part of the problem. Iraqis would prefer a visit by a less divisive figure, such as former President Mohammad Khatami, a reformist.

“We know that Ahmadinejad is a controversial figure and we have seen some policy changes since the time of Khatami,” Athab said.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who visited Tehran in June, is to play host to Ahmadinejad, most likely at his heavily fortified compound outside Baghdad’s U.S.-protected Green Zone. “The United States has no role in the visit,” said Rear Adm. Greg J. Smith.

Ties between Tehran and Baghdad’s current Shiite leadership run deep and stretch back decades. During the 1980s, Talabani and other Kurds as well as Iraqi Shiite political parties and militias found refuge in Iran and fought alongside Iranian forces against the Iraqi army. Iran was among the first countries to officially recognize the post-Hussein government.

But even among Iraq’s Shiite majority, which has long looked to Iranian coreligionists as protectors and patrons, there is a wariness about Tehran’s ambitions and tactical maneuvers in their country. Many feel that Iraq has become a battleground in the 30-year feud between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic of Iran, and that Tehran has few qualms about sacrificing Iraqi lives and stability for its strategic goals.

“There’s a problem because the Iranians feel threatened by the Americans, and they want to act tit-for-tat with the Americans,” said Haider Abadi, a high-ranking advisor to Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. Both belong to the Islamic Dawa Party, which Iran sheltered during Hussein’s rule. “Whenever Americans pressure Iran outside Iraq, the Iranians respond in Iraq. We’re paying for this in blood.”

Iraq’s Sunni Arabs and former Baath Party loyalists have long resented Iran’s influence and ambitions. But over the last two or three years, tensions have also increased between Iraq’s Shiites and Iran.

Abadi and other Iraqi officials said they would use Ahmadinejad’s visit as an opportunity to warn Iran about its behavior in Iraq, including U.S. allegations that powerful explosives and other arms are smuggled from Iran into Iraq.

“The relationship between Iran and Iraq started off very good after the collapse of the regime,” Abadi said. “But it has become worse because of this. The Iranians must see this. It is not in their interest to have the Iraqis as their enemies. Ahmadinejad will be told that we cannot have good neighborly relations while Iraqis are being killed by Iranian bombs.”

Iraqi officials are also struggling to defuse what they view as the rationale for Iran’s alleged transgressions: the fear that the U.S. presence in Iraq will be used to undermine Tehran. Both Iraq’s Kurds and Shiites have vigorously lobbied leaders in Washington and Tehran to set aside differences, at least when it comes to Iraq.

“Officials in Iraq are still putting great efforts to improve this relationship. . . . Instead of being a place for war, [Iraq] will be a place for peace,” said Sheik Hamid Muala, a lawmaker who is a member of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, which has deep ties to Iran. But Muala and others acknowledged that more Iraqis have grown sensitive to Iran’s role.

“Whether we like it or not, the Iranian influence is at a very high level in Iraq,” said Qassem Dawoud, an independent lawmaker with close ties to the Shiite clerical leadership in Najaf. “We really are looking forward to a period when this influence should disappear.”

Abadi praised Iranian Ambassador Hassan Kazemi- Qomi as one of only two foreign diplomats who regularly make the rounds of ministries to facilitate business deals and increase contacts. Trade between the two countries now totals $8 billion a year, much of it Iranian exports. Iran is also giving a $1-billion loan to Iraq.

But U.S. and Iraqi officials allege that Iran’s positive contributions come with a host of headaches. They accuse Tehran of supplying arms, training and direction to Shiite and Sunni paramilitary groups.

“They are bringing in tomatoes, potatoes, gas and electricity,” said Jawad Bolani, Iraq’s interior minister and a Shiite. “But then we also get rockets, weapons and missiles.”

Abadi also said Iranians are interfering in Iraq’s politics, supporting one faction over another with infusions of cash.

But Iraqi officials point out that even the pro-U.S. Persian Gulf monarchies such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have invited Ahmadinejad on state visits.

“This guy came to power by a democratic election,” said Khudair Khuzai, Iraq’s minister of education and a confidant of Maliki. “Whether he’s radical or moderate, the Iranian people chose him.”

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daragahi@latimes.com

Times staff writer Tina Susman contributed to this report.