Ahmadinejad: 'Major powers' should quit Iraq

U.S. officials have tried to brush aside Ahmadinejad's visit, and the White House on Monday disputed Ahmadinejad's dismissal that Iran was not aiding terrorists.

"Nice words for him to say in the middle of Baghdad, but the facts on the ground prove otherwise," Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for Bush's National Security Council, told reporters traveling with Bush back to Washington.

Despite the friendly atmosphere between Ahmadinejad and Iraqi officials, it remained unclear what specific, long-term effects Ahmadinejad's visit would have on curbing the violence and bringing stability to Iran's neighbor.

Talabani, who speaks Farsi, and al-Maliki, who spent time in Iran under Saddam, may now have a more direct pipeline to Tehran to pressure it into playing a greater role in ending the conflict among Iraq's rival Shiite groups and stemming the violence in Iraq.

But it was unclear just how strong Iran's influence is among the powerful Shiite factions.

Iran has appeared to cut political ties to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and thrown its full backing behind his rival, the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council of Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the country's most powerful Shiite political insider. Ahmadinejad met with al-Hakim during his visit.

While the U.S. military has said the flow of Iranian weapons into Iraq has slowed, it has stepped up its accusations that Iran is backing so-called "special groups," the term the U.S. uses for Shiite factions that have broken away from al-Sadr and are responsible for a flurry of deadly rocket attacks recently.

Richard Russell, who teaches national security at the National Defense University, said he'd be suspicious of the Iranians' motives.

Iran's agenda includes establishing "a clandestine infrastructure in Iraq," and Tehran is "planning to have more influence domestically inside Iraq as Americans downsize their presence," he said.

Video   Better ties March 2: As far as Iraq is concerned, many Iranians want bygones to be bygones. NBC's Ali Arouzi reports from Tehran. NBC News Web Extra

But some Iraqis — both Sunnis and Shiites — say it is precisely that influence and power struggle between the U.S. and Iran that worries them.

About 1,000 protesters in a Sunni-dominated neighborhood in Baghdad protested his visit Monday, a day after scattered demonstrations greeted his arrival. "Your mortars preceded your visit," one placard read.

"We do not want our country to pay the price of the current U.S.-Iraq disputes. The Iraqis' decisions should be independent and not tied to any other country," said Sheik Salah al-Obeidi, a spokesman for al-Sadr in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf.

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