Posted on 04/30/2007 5:26:31 AM PDT by shrinkermd
BAGHDAD, April 29 -- A department of the Iraqi prime minister's office is playing a leading role in the arrest and removal of senior Iraqi army and national police officers, some of whom had apparently worked too aggressively to combat violent Shiite militias, according to U.S. military officials in Baghdad.
Since March 1, at least 16 army and national police commanders have been fired, detained or pressured to resign; at least nine of them are Sunnis, according to U.S. military documents shown to The Washington Post.
...The dismissals have angered U.S. and Iraqi leaders who say the Shiite-led government is sabotaging the military to achieve sectarian goals.
"Their only crimes or offenses were they were successful" against the Mahdi Army, a powerful Shiite militia, said Brig. Gen. Dana J.H. Pittard, commanding general of the Iraq Assistance Group...
The issue strikes at a central question about the fledgling government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki: whether it can put sectarian differences aside to deliver justice fairly...
Iraqi government officials denied that security force commanders have faced political pressure and said that Maliki is committed to targeting all criminals equally.
Sadiq al-Rikabi, a political adviser to Maliki, said the first two months of the Baghdad security plan show that Maliki "is not working on any agenda but the national agenda."
"The Baghdad security plan is working on a military and professional basis without any regard for any sect or ethnic group or any political factors," he said.
But some U.S. military officials say politics remains among the greatest hindrances to the development of the Iraqi security forces --
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Consider the source. Cui bono is it to portray Maliki as a sectarian stooge of Iran?
It may be true. But we need something more credible that the Compost to know whether it is or is not.
If you were a pro-Iranian Shiite in the Maliki government or even outside it who is distressed that the surge is working and that the Sunnis are actually turning against foreign Al Quaida terrorists and distressed that the Shia are being restrained even when their holy sites are bombed with horrendous loss of life
if you were such a person, what better way to undermine the emerging national solidarity than by accusing Maliki of being too pro-Iran, too-tribally Shia and to portray him as busy arresting members of his own side cooperating with the American-led surge?
You then plant this story with the dumb-as-a-Post WaPo reporter, who can’t decipher on his own just who is who within the Iraq Army or government, can’t tell just who is an Iranian stooge and who is not . . . and the WaPo fish-and-chips wrapper runs with it.
Again, this story may be true and if it is, it’s bad news for our side, but how to decide if it’s trustworthy or not? We need some independent source outside the MSM.
The surge is working very well and hence this article that I am sure the Washington Post took out of contest the information shown to them by the Generals, distorted it, and lied abut it to make it look bad.
On the other hand, it does quote a named US military source. So, maybe it is true. Perhaps aimed not so much at spanking Maliki as spanking some of his underlings and strengthening the incentives for him to play by the rules? Still, the fact that it’s WaPo who went to the US military sources—how do we know Partlow hasn’t spun what they said to him?
We are in this time chasing Al Sadrs folks who have been laying low read “in Iran resting and training”.
Th US needs to crush them now while we still can and ignore the screams from Al Maliki for a few months.
Sounds like they are well on the way to a Western style government.
A US military source probably leaked this info because he/she noticed these 16 Iraqi officers had been removed from command without legitimate reasons. The good news is that by making this purge public the Shia loyalists in Maliki’s government are now on the spot and will probably back off this quiet effort.
General officer assignments announced
Staff report
Posted : Saturday Apr 7, 2007 10:04:32 EDT
Brig. Gen. Dana J. H. Pittard, commander, Iraqi Assistance Group, Multi-National Force-Iraq, is assigned to commanding general, National Training Center and Fort Irwin.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/04/army_generals_070406/
As news arrives of clashes in Baghdad between the US and the Mahdi Army, US officials relayed information to the Washington Post suggesting that the Maliki administration is involved in “purging” senior security officials who went “too far” in challenging Shi’a militias, such as the Mahdi Army.
One question the paper does not ask in its coverage: Why do US officials choose to share the “purges” scoop with the Washington Post at this time? It has been an open secret that the Iraqi security forces are wormholed with sectarian militia activity, and that Iraq’s governing political parties, including PM Maliki’s, are each linked to their own paramilitiaries. In fact, US forces would have been aware of this as the government was formed.
One speculative possibility: Is the revelation, and so the Post’s big scoop, timed to dovetail with events in Washington, as both the Bush administration and the Democrats, each for their own reasons, move to shift the blame to the Maliki government for the faltering security situation in much of the country?
...
The Maliki government has been quietly purging officers from the Iraqi Army and national police, some of whom were “too aggressive” in confronting Shi’a militias, according to US military documents shown to the Washington Post. Joshua Partlow writes in a front-pager that although the Iraqi government appears to have cited “legitimate”reasons for the dismissal, detention, or forcing out of 16 officers, US officials maintain that the Maliki government is purging the officer corps of officer who have been aggressive in combating the Mahdi Army. Maliki’s office denied the allegations, saying that the government is implementing the security plan in the national interest. The Interior Ministry gave a similar denial. US officials’ concern centers on the Office of the Commander in Chief, which advises the Iraqi prime minister on security affairs, and within that office on one official in the office, Bassima Luay Hasun al-Jaidri, who, US officials say, uses her influence to intimidate, harass, and work for the dismissal of “nationalistic and fair” Iraqi commanders, according to US military officials.
Iran said yesterday that it would send a high-level official to the regional conference on Iraq this week in Egypt’s Sharm al-Shaykh, Kirk Semple reports for the Times. In a weekend talk show, Sec. Rice Rice reiterated US complaints against Iran, saying that she did not rule out direct discussions with Iran but did not expect the two countries to broach the topic of Iran’s nuclear program at the ministerial-level meeting of Iraq’s neighbors and “interested parties.” An Iranian spokesperson said that Iran harbored “some questions and ambiguities about the agenda,” according to the AP. The top Iranian national security official, Ali Larijani, was in Baghdad on Sunday, in order to discuss the conference with the Iraqi government. “The spokesperson also said that the decision to attend was not linked to any deal related to the five Iranians seized by the US in Irbil in January and held by the United States.
http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/2560/US_Papers_Monday_PM_Purges_Nationalists
I think the lib American press overdoes the shia sunni thing just as they make everything in America about race.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.