At Tehran's bidding? Iraq cracks down on a controversial camp

Acting without informing the U.S., Iraqi troops seized control Tuesday of a camp of Iranian exiles ferociously opposed to the regime in Tehran. It was the most significant operation undertaken by Baghdad since U.S. troops withdrew from the cities last month, and is a likely nod to Iran's ayatullahs, who brand the group as terrorists, as does the U.S. Yet, in the convoluted politics of the region, the U.S., despite tagging the organization on its terror list, had been a sort of guarantor of the safety of the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) because it was the enemy of its enemy, Iran. The MEK, however, had become an embarrassing inconvenience to Baghdad's increasingly cozy ties to Tehran. Although Iraq has repeatedly said that it is in its own national interest to remove the group, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in late February, left little doubt as to what he expected the Iraqis to do. "We await the implementation of our agreement regarding the expulsion of the hypocrites," he was quoted as saying. On Tuesday, Baghdad obliged.