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| Iraq |
| Shi'ites agree to give up control of Interior Ministry |
| 2006-04-30 |
| Leaders of Iraq's powerful Shiite Muslim political bloc said Friday that they are willing to give up control of the Interior Ministry and its police forces, a move that could ease both the fears of other sectarian groups and the formation of a new government. Under the Shiites' dominion for the last year, the ministry has been accused of providing cover for death squads and militias who have stoked mistrust of security forces among minority Sunni Arabs and spurred the growth of destabilizing militias. In Friday's talks aimed at forming a new government, the Shiite bloc proposed surrendering control over the state's internal security apparatus, top Shiite negotiator Khudair al-Khuzaie said in an interview. In return, the coalition would want control over the Defense Ministry and the country's armed forces, he said. Willingness to give up control of the Interior Ministry, which has far more influence than the Defense Ministry over the lives of average Iraqis, could reassure Sunnis who fear that Shiites plan to wield the country's domestic security apparatus as a sectarian weapon. "We don't want to make obstacles, and we want the negotiations to proceed quickly," said al-Khuzaie, a confidant of Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki. Despite widespread criticism, the Shiite coalition -- composed of political figures who were hunted, jailed and tortured by Saddam Hussein's security apparatus -- had vowed to never give up control over the ministry. But U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and other top U.S. officials have called on Iraqi leaders to name nonsectarian, nonpolitical professionals without ties to militias to head key security posts. With a prime minister, presidential council and parliamentary leadership named, filling the security ministries and other sensitive posts such as the ministries of oil, finance and foreign affairs remains the most significant matter before Iraqis can stand up a functioning government. Iraqi negotiators, often meeting for hours at a time in Baghdad's secure Green Zone or in the well-guarded home of President Jalal Talabani, must balance pressure from party loyalists who demand power and patronage with domestic and international pressure for competent and independent professionals at the helm of government agencies. U.S. and Iraqi officials are concerned that the country will ignite if security ministries continue on their sectarian course, the Interior Ministry becoming the domain of Shiite militias and the Defense Ministry run by equally sectarian Sunni Arabs as well as Kurds. A swapping of ministries, or at least a willingness to shuffle the top posts, could help avoid fears that the country is being carved up into permanent fiefdoms. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 Previous posts indicate that Coalition forces are rather tightly embedded with Defense forces, but were prevented under al-Jafari (spelling probably wrong, I think it's actually "Sadr", or "Iran") from doing the same with Interior. Hopefully, this move will allow us to do the same with Interior, which forces do not appear to be of the same stuff as Defense. |
| Posted by: Perfessor 2006-04-30 06:47 |