Sure Sounds Like Partnership To Me

Our "partner in piece" Iran couldn't be sending a clearer message:

Iran and neighbouring countries are ready to fill the "power vacuum" emerging in the Middle East as US power in Iraq wanes, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday.
"You (the United States) cannot preserve your power over Iraq with a few tanks, artillery and weapons. Today, you are prisoners of your own quagmire. You have no choice but to accept the rights of the Iraqi people," he said.

"I can tell you there will be a power vacuum in the region. We are ready with other regional countries, such as Saudi Arabia, and the people of Iraq to fill this vacuum."

The United States has expressed its discomfort over the increasingly strong relationship between Iran and Baghdad, disapproving of comments made by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on a recent visit to Tehran.

At this point, I think we need to wonder whether the Iranian Intelligence Service, one of the best in the world, has not successfully infiltrated and fatally compromised the CIA and State Department, whence comes all the chatter that Iran does not mean what it says and does not do what it does.

The reference to the Saudis is another very dangerous sign. And we all know that a nation influential enough to have its foreign minister playing racquetball with Colin Powell routinely is influential enough to warp American foreign policy to its advantage.