Hizbullah in Iraq

The New York Times has an article about the presence of Hizbullah agents in southern Iraq. I actually know something about this topic, as I wrote an early graduate school paper on the political mobilization of the Shi'ites in southern Lebanon. Much of what I have to say, however, has already been pointed out by Juan Cole. One thing the article did over an over was treat Hizbullah as simply an Iranian puppet, which is simply not true; their relationship is more about collaboration in areas of common interest than anything else. As Cole points out, the Lebanese Shi'ite leaders come from Najaf, and that's where their personal and ideological connections are. Tehran is mostly a bank account useful for building social services and obtaining weapons to use against Israel. Especially since everyone admits Hizbullah isn't doing anything hostile to the U.S., I think analysts should fold their presence into the larger issue of Iraq's Shi'ites and their attitudes toward the occupation - Hizbullah can support the Iraqi Shi'ites, but is unlikely to lead them anywhere.