Alborz Taha

Who is Adel Abdul Mehdi? A 'Shiite Moderate' or another Iran's Puppet?
Regarding the man after Nouri al-Maliki in Iraq, Bobby Ghosh of Time Magazine wrote on Aug. 22, 2007 :
"The Shi'ite coalition's most likely candidate is Adel Abdul-Mahdi, a French-trained economist and political chameleon. Having been, at various points in his career, a communist, a Ba'athist and a secular liberal democrat, he has switched directions so many times it's hard to know which way he's going. These days, Abdul-Mahdi represents the Shi'ite-fundamentalist Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), which, like Maliki's Dawa Party, is beholden to Tehran. Twice in the past two years, Abdul-Mahdi has told journalists he was on the verge of quitting the SIIC to form his own party, only to change his mind — likely because he knows he has no grassroots support or street cred of his own. As Prime Minister, he would be little more than a puppet in the hand of Iran's ayatollahs, and would be unlikely to do more than Maliki has done to accommodate the Sunnis."
Abdul Mehdi is a top official of Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iran (SCIRI or SIIC) who joined this entity in late 90s. SCIRI was formed in Iran under the supervision and command of the Quds Force.

After joining SCIRI, he was assigned by Iran as a key agent in Iraqi Kurdistan to coordinate activities and affairs among groups associated with Iran such as SCIRI, Badr Corps and Kurdish groups. To this end, he had close relations with Quds Force commanders in Kurdistan; among whom were Muhammad Karami, Mesgari and Majid Qaemi. Qaemi an IRGC high ranking officer was one of the Iranians captured in Irbil by US forces.

During Abdul Mehdi's stay in Kurdistan, one of his activities was to select and recruit agents for Iran. He also advocated Islamic fundamentalism and the Iran's ruling system (velayat-e-faqih) in Kurdish cities.

Following Saddam's Army raid on Irbil in 1997, Abdul Mehdi fled to Iran and lived there for a while. Later on, he was sent to France as the representative of SCIRI.
He returned Iraq after the fall of Saddam and continued his activities in the SCIRI as deputy to Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, head of SCIRI.
Before the war in 2003, Adel was in France and among his other jobs he was in charge of recruiting young Shiite men from various countries including Algeria and sending them to Iran.
Abdul Mehdi regularly travels to Iran. He had 7 visits to Iran since June 2006 up to June 2007. In his visits, he has had meetings with top Iranian officials, especially from Intelligence Ministry(MOIS) and Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).

Conclusion
Back to Bobby Ghosh comment on him as "it's hard to know which way he's going", one should say that it is quite clear which way he is going; he is absolutely playing Iran's card in who-is-after-Maliki game.
If he wins this game, which is the win of Iran's mullahs, not only the U.S. has lost the whole Iraq game, but also many other states in the region that are thirsting for democracy. That would be "Out of Maliki's frying pan into the fire!"

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