That’s the thesis of this Baltimore Sun story today about the prospect of American withdrawal from Iraq in the near future.
Iran has consistently opposed the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq, but new prospects of a stepped-up American withdrawal are prompting growing unease in the Islamic republic, where many fear the repercussions of a dangerously unstable neighbor.
Officially, Iran’s policy remains flatly opposed to American troops in Iraq and characterizes them as a key contributor to the escalating violence. Iran’s government says it wants the United States to withdraw at the earliest possible opportunity. But the elections this month that swept a Democratic majority into the next Congress and subsequent talk of the beginning of a phased pullout, possibly within the next year, have touched off a discussion in Tehran about the anarchy that could result.
Perhaps this is the Iranian regime’s set-up to promote the proposal of a regional conference that some expect to come from the Iraq Study Group.