Iraq-Iran border post: From 'Checkpoint Charlie' to tourist gate?

At a remote Iraq-Iran border post, US forces watch Iranians watch them. Iran's spy drones circle overhead. But there are plans to make this border crossing a new gateway for tourism between the two countries.

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In January, Dorado said, U.S. troops noticed a surveillance drone hovering above their camp in broad daylight. The Americans checked with their command and were told that no U.S. drones were in the area. They realized it was an Iranian aircraft spying on their post, a rare provocation. The drone stayed overhead for a few minutes and then left.

Iranian supplied utilities

The Americans' security concerns aren't unfounded. Until 2007, the crossing at al Sheeb was wide open, with Iranian-backed Iraqi Shiite militias in control of traffic, U.S. and Iraqi officers said. Smugglers carried on a bustling cross-border trade in everything from racing camels to explosives, and their bribes for safe passage went straight into militia coffers.

"The governor sent us here in 2006 to see the situation, and it wasn't good. The militias controlled everything," said Staff Brig. Gen. Waleed al Qaisi, the head of al Sheeb Port of Entry Directorate, which answers to the Interior Ministry in Baghdad.

Interviewed in his office in the half-finished official crossing of al Sheeb, Qaisi credits his U.S. advisers with being instrumental in helping the Iraqis regain control of the area after Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's anti-militia campaign of 2008.

Although he still has doubts about whether Iran can be a good neighbor to Iraq, Qaisi said security seemed stable enough to shift focus to tourism possibilities at al Sheeb. Every week, cargo imports alone bring Iraq $95,000 in tariffs, or about $4.6 million a year. The money generated from the crossing will increase exponentially when the border opens to busloads of Iranian religious tourists headed for Iraq's legendary gold-domed Shiite shrines.

"This place is like an oil well that's just not open yet," Qaisi said.

Also not open yet: restaurants, hotels, public bathrooms and other basic services that will be needed to support so many travelers. On the security side, the Iraqis are still waiting for baggage scanners and other equipment to prevent weapons or drugs from being smuggled in.

Every time progress stalls at al Sheeb, Iran steps in to help, to the Americans' consternation. They're sure that the assistance will be repaid with lucrative contracts for Iranian investors and tourism companies, including a bus service that's operated by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.

"There's a lot of soft Iranian influence here through utilities. Now we have water and electricity that's Iranian, so you have another country providing utilities. What does that say about sovereignty?" Dorado said. "Yes, there will be economic benefit in the future, but at what expense?"

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