U.S. says Iraqis help Iran skirt sanctions over nuclear program

[AttackPlanR]

WASHINGTON — When President Obama announced last month that he was barring a Baghdad bank from any dealings with the American banking system, it was a rare acknowledgment of a delicate problem facing the administration in a country that American troops just left: for months, Iraq has been helping Iran skirt economic sanctions imposed on Tehran because of its nuclear program.
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The little-known bank singled out by the United States, the Elaf Islamic Bank, is only part of a network of financial institutions and oil-smuggling operations that, according to current and former American and Iraqi government officials and experts on the Iraqi banking sector, has provided Iran with a crucial flow of dollars at a time when sanctions are squeezing its economy.

The Obama administration is not eager for a public showdown with the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki over Iran just eight months after the last American troops withdrew from Baghdad....

Link

Oh the irony. History looks like it may be repeating itself. I mean, they were our friends before they were our enemies, before they were our friends, before they were our enemies, again.

Maybe we'll have to force a different democracy on them, next time.

[octoburn]

That is strange. I thought for sure that they would have adopted and embraced Western cultural ideas and views by now.

[AttackPlanR]

~bump~

No one's bothered by this? Our money is going to a government that is supporting the evil, evil Iran. Apparently in some capacity to help them overcome the sanctions we put on them.

What will the US do about it? Probably keep setting up governments so we can later take them down again. Good for the economy you know. All those defence contractors and armed servicemen and women need something to do after all.