Iraqi political parties and coalition authorities are discussing the creation of a 1,000-member militia to bolster the U.S. military’s fight against a guerrilla insurgency, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Wednesday. The militia would be formed by uniting fighters from five Iraqi political parties under the joint leadership of the U.S. military and the emerging Iraqi Civil Defense Corps. If created, the paramilitary battalion would represent a significant policy reversal by Washington. The United States previously declared private militias illegal and called on Iraqi political leaders to disband the groups.
| If they're government-sanctioned, under U.S. military command, they're not private militias. I still don't think it's a particularly good idea, but I heard this morning that they're talking about using peshmergas to patrol the Sunni triangle. "Private" militias can have their uses. |
``We are willing to take people into these forces as long as when they come in they are not operating as members of these other (militia) forces,’’ Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith said in Washington. The militia members would be recruited as individuals, not as intact units, Feith said. ``We are not looking to preserve militias as such."
| So much for the Badr Brigade... |
The current president of the Iraqi Governing Council, Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, a Shiite Muslim, said the idea of a joint militia was a good one. He said the country’s five or so individual militias have won credibility for fighting Saddam’s regime for more than 20 years, and could root out that regime’s remnants now. ``At this stage, we should try to make use of any force, any tribal clan and any individual that can help,’’ he said, adding that the militias should be centrally controlled, as the Americans have stipulated. ``They will have a role to play in the fight against terrorism.’’
Allah help the Ba’athists these guys catch. That said, I’m not sure this is a great idea. We’re training a regular army, let them do it. |