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| Iraq |
| Sons of Iraq and the Iraqi Budget |
| 2009-03-30 |
| The news over the last several days has covered the arrest of a prominent Baghdad leader of the Sons of Iraq, and complaints about the lack of pay. The media are reducing a complex issue to sound bites and that does a disservice to both the Iraqi government and the Coalition. I interviewed Col. Roy Gray, director, Finance and Contracting Directorate, Ministry of Interior Transitional Team, today for a Bloggers' Roundtable. I asked about the media reports. The Iraqi government is into its third month without a budget. Parliament failed to pass a budget before the fiscal year began on January 1, then chose to defer any action until the results of the provincial elections were known. Iraq is operating under a "continuing resolution" at this time. The Sons of Iraq have all been transferred to Iraqi control, through the Ministry of Defense. Their payroll, however, was coming from the National Reconciliation budget. About a month ago, the decision was made to run that payroll through the Ministry of Interior instead. Because Iraqi law regulates Ministry payroll, and the Ministry had no budget for payroll, there was a delay in paying the SoI. Most of the SoI are paid via a contract with their leadership. Those contracts had to be run through the Interior Ministry process, and Parliament had to pass enabling legislation. |
| Posted by:Chuck Simmins |