Iranian Influence in Iraq

I personally don't think the Iranians have that much political influence in Iraq but many people think the Iranians are wielding a lot of power in Iraq. They sees their own politicians (Iraqi) visiting Iran and paying respect to their dignitaries and generally being friendly towards their eastern neighbor.

An explanation given by them is that these politicians and their parties (e.g. The Dawa party) were backed/supported by Iran in the past when they were fighting Saddam's regime.

There's much corruption in Iraq. Iraq has also been recognized by many to be a failed state. [1][2]

Over a decade after independence from the Butcher of Baghdad, and after having a government in place (even if imperfect), the same old questions about the rule of clerics in politic is resurfacing albeit from a different angle.

In 2003, prior to the election and the establishment of the post-Saddam government, everyone wanted to know (fearfully I might add) if the clerics in Iraq are going to take over the government? Will the the Iranian Political System/ Wilayah al Faqih (ruling by a Jurist) be exported in


Reference
[1] http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2018571162_iraq01.html
[2] http://thegroundtruth.blogspot.com/2009/07/iraq-ranked-no-6-on-failed-state-list.html