Scholar warns Iran on Iraqi meddling

BAGHDAD, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- The opposition movement against U.S. forces in Iraq will succeed in thwarting the campaign of occupation by the Iranians, an Islamist scholar says.

In an interview with the Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars of Iraq, Egyptian Islamist Muhammad Moro said victory is close for the Iraqi resistance movement.

The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, he said, is a 21st century crusade that cost Washington far more in lives, global reputation and general combat fatigue in the American public than in actual financial expense.

He blamed U.S. forces and military strategists for encouraging sectarianism in Iraq and called on the people to join in solidarity to oppose the occupation in order to avert a sectarian and ethnic cleansing in the country.

Calling the resistance a "beautiful light in a dark tunnel," Moro said that even the smallest village can rise to victory because faith and will are stronger than military might. To this end, he called on the Sunni population to resist Shiite efforts in Iraq to control the country, issuing a sharp warning to Iran.

"If the occupation of Iraq by Iran is completed," he said, "then the resistance will crush it (like it did) the U.S. army."