In the past few weeks, the Iraqi backlash against Iranian influence has become quite visible and pronounced.

The recent furor over the disputed Iraqi-Iranian oil reserves -- especially the now-notorious Well No. 4 at the southern Fakkah field -- only exacerbated the unease many Iraqis express over Iran's long tentacles in Iraq. I once heard the Lebanese journalist and political observer Rami Khouri insist that Iraq does indeed have a unity government, "one that's two-thirds American and one-third Iranian." Many Iraqis say the same thing, that Iran's meddling constitutes "a second occupation."

These thoughts most often were voiced privately, in conversations over dinner, say. But in the past few weeks Iraq has witnessed maimed veterans of the Iraq-Iran war marching in southern cities with signs reading, "I lost my feet in the war so that Iran can come occupy us?" And these are not disgruntled Sunni Baathists who haven't gotten the memo that their place in Iraq is gone. These were mostly Shiite veterans who share the same sect and many of the same religious practices of the neighbors to the East.

On televised call-in programs, such as the popular show "The Silent Majority," caller after caller rails against Iran live in primetime, accusing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of buying the Iraqi legislature or complaining that it's Iranian influence behind the crackdowns in some cities on alcohol, music, nightclubs and other vices that are banned in Iran.

This week, a telling cartoon appeared in one of the main Baghdad newspapers, Azzaman (which is generally pretty good, though it should be noted it's run by a businessman who served as a media chief under Saddam before defecting to the West). The cartoon, shown below, depicts an Ahmadinejad lookalike tugging the boundaries of Iran across neighboring Iraq.

There was no caption, and none was needed. The cartoon plays on the fears that, if left unchecked, Iran is going to keep expanding its presence until it swallows Iraq whole.