Iran as the previous government of Saddam Hussein. Syria has long been Iran's ally, mainly because both of them felt threatened by Iraq. Both nations still consider Iraq a threat, but for a new set of reasons. Democracy in Iraq would threaten the dictatorships in Iran and Syria. While Syria, which is run by the Assad family, is comfortable supporting Iraqi Baath Party loyalists, the Iranians have a major public relations problem if they openly support the Baath Party (which was led by Saddam Hussein.) In Iran, Saddam is a major bad guy, as Saddam was responsible for invading Iran in 1980. This war lasted eight years and killed several hundred thousand Iranians. But in Iraq, the only people willing to fight the Americans are the Sunni Arab Baath Party and Islamic radicals (including al Qaeda). Shia Iran prefers that the Iraqi Shia majority run Iraq, but is trapped, by it's hatred of America, into supporting the Sunni Arabs who are killing Iraqi Shias. Iranian Islamic conservatives have long called for world wide Islamic conquest, with everyone on the planet being a Moslem, but a Shia Moslem (over 90
