Brother From Another Mother

Is it supposed to be a good thing that Iran is cozying up to Iraq like Tom Cruise to Katie Holmes?

Former enemies Iran and Iraq say they will launch broad military co-operation including training Iraqi armed forces.

....

Tehran has asked Baghdad not to allow the US to establish long-term military bases on its soil, fearing that it would consolidate what Iranians see as the American and Israeli military domination of the region.

Tehran has also been making the usual PR stops, and was last seen jumping on Oprah's couch proclaiming its undying love for Baghdad -- or more specifically, its Shia majority brethren in the south.

Rumor has it that the Tehran-Baghdad love affair has taken a turn for the creepy, with Tehran having several Scientologists accompany Baghdad at all times, even to take a dump.

Before long, Baghdad may be secretly wondering why she dumped Chris Klein, and hoping to God that these Xenu weirdos can't read her mind.

Anyway, more seriously, given the clear message sent by supposedly pro-western Iranians in their recent election, can this possibly be anything more than naked opportunism on their part? As this article attests, Iran is amazingly a net importer of oil, because they consume considerably more than their refinery capacity. With their newly-elected ultra-orthodox Robin Hood at the helm, continuing to subsidize 40¢/gallon gasoline, what better way to secure a cheap supply than to cozy up to their sworn enemy of scarcely a generation ago, now lying prostrate on their back porch?

Between this situation, and Tehran's backing of Sistani, who in turn backs a plurality in the new Iraqi parliament, the borders don't have to change an inch for Iran to become a very real force in Iraqi politics in the very near future.

Did PNAC dry-run this scenario in their re-invention of the geopolitical wheel?