Obama's 'success story' - Iran and Iraq must create alliance to become a great power, says Iranian official.

Obama's 'success story' - Iran and Iraq must create alliance to become a great power, says Iranian official.(AA).Iran’s first vice president Mohammed Ridha Rihaimi said that if Tehran and Baghdad were to create an alliance, they will “form a great international power,” the Iranian Mehr News Agency reported on Sunday. Rihaimi’s comments came after a meeting with Iraqi President Nuri al-Maliki during his two-day visit to Tehran. He pointed out to the two countries’ “special relations,” and how both were facing “international conspiracies due to their beliefs and goals.” He did not elaborate on what these beliefs or goals include. The two countries’ trade agreements must be speedily fulfilled, he added. The agreements include railway projects connecting the two neighboring countries and cooperation between their oil and airline industries. On Monday, after Maliki’s meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, both leaders reiterated Rihaimi’s statement and said that it is “necessary” to execute these trade agreements. Head of the secular Iraqiya bloc, Ayad Allawi, who won the parliamentary election in 2010 by one seat but did not take premiership due to Maliki forming a coalition with other political parties, said he does not “accept” Maliki’s visit. Allawi was quoted by Iraq based TV station Sumaria News as saying that he feared Iranian intervention in Iraqi politics similar to what had happened in 2010.
Massud Barzani, the president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan, said he opposes the sale of F-16 warplanes to Iraq while Nuri al-Maliki is premier, as he fears they would be used against the region. The United States has agreed to sell 36 F-16 jets to Baghdad in a multi-billion-dollar deal aimed at increasing the capabilities of Iraq’s fledgling air force, a weak point in its national defenses. “The F-16 must not reach the hand of this man,” Barzani told reporters at his residence near the Kurdistan region’s capital Arbil on Sunday, referring to Maliki. “We must either prevent him from having these weapons, or if he has them, he should not stay in his position,” Barzani said. Barzani alleged that Maliki had discussed using F-16s against Kurdistan during a meeting with military officers. “During a military meeting, they talked about problems between Baghdad and Arbil,” Barzani said. “They told him, ‘Sir, just give us the authority, and we would kick them out of Arbil,’” Barzani said. “And (Maliki) answered: ‘Wait until the arrival of the F-16.’” Critics claim that Maliki was able to become Iraq’s prime minister due to foreign support from countries like Iran, something Allawi was perhaps unable to gain.Hmmmm.......Obama: "If We Work Hard, Afghanistan Could Be a Success...Like Iraq!"Read the full story here.