I've had several inquiries on this piece, "Behind the Carnage in Baghdad", by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius. According to Mr. Ignatius, Iraq will be a fully-owned Iranian subsidiary in a few years.

Iraq expert Nibras Kazimi over at Talisman Gate has a masterful response to Mr. Ignatius' column. Here is a sample, but read the whole thing. It is spot on.

As for the claim that Maliki travels around in an Iranian jet with an Iranian crew, attributed by Ignatius to an “Iraqi intelligence source who is close to Shahwani,” well, that is blatantly untrue and can be easily checked. The source also claims the Iranians promised Maliki a near-parliamentary majority, which can only be chalked up to bombast.

There is Iranian influence in Iraq, just as there are U.S. and other regional actors who have a say. But over-stating Iranian influence is an exercise in malicious myth-making, geared towards papering over mistakes, policy failures and casting doubt on Iraq’s sovereignty, a thing that many of Iraq’s Sunni neighbors, with close ties to the CIA, would like to underline for a variety of purposes. I’d like Iraq to be completely devoid of regional influence, but that is a fantasy at this stage. Truth is, the general trajectory of foreign influence in Iraq in on the wane, which is great.