By Michael Georgy
Reuters, 26 January 2006
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Unfazed by accusations of killings and torture made against them,
Iraq's heavily armed militias speed along streets in police vehicles as the political parties they are tied to negotiate a new government.
It is a reality that has human rights groups and Iraqis wondering how Iraqi leaders who promise better security can ever stabilize the country while sectarian and ethnic militias rule the streets.
Sunni Arab politicians have accused the Shi'ite-led government of sanctioning militia death squads.
Shi'ite leaders, who run the Interior Ministry and will remain powerful in the next government, have denied the accusations and promised to investigate abuses.
The militias, which developed from groups fighting against different factions of Iraq's sectarian society, have thousands of members and are accused of infiltrating the police and security forces, as well as carrying out killings and kidnappings.
The militia rule has been overshadowed by a Sunni Arab insurgency of suicide bombings and shootings that has killed thousands of mostly Shi'ite security forces and civilians.
But Sunnis who boycotted January 2005 polls are now in a stronger position to raise the issue after contesting December 15 polls and winning 58 seats in the 275-seat parliament.
"This will be one of the hottest issues. We will press this in the negotiations, and if the Shi'ites are not flexible on this it will be a problem," said Sunni politician Hussein al- Falluji.
Militias have proliferated since the fall of
Saddam Hussein in 2003. Their loyalties lie with their political parties, not the state, complicating Iraq's violent chaos.
"They have been responsible for serious crimes like illegal detentions, torture, and killings, and they appear to be operating with complete impunity," said Joe Stork of New York- based rights group Human Rights Watch.
"The parties involved in negotiating the new government should make sure that key posts like Ministry of Interior go to individuals who are completely independent of such groups."
Purging security forces of militias would be an explosive task that cuts across volatile sectarian and ethnic lines entrenched in strategic ministries such as interior and defense.
DOMINATION OF MINISTRIES
"Shi'ite militias completely dominate the Interior Ministry. They have the power to get anyone fired. I want to quit," said a police lieutenant colonel in Baghdad who asked not to be named.
One of the most powerful militias is the pro-Iranian Badr Organization, which is tied to the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), part of the main Islamist Shi'ite alliance that won the most seats in parliament.
Badr officials say they are only a political group, but they can be seen riding police trucks in Baghdad wearing green military uniforms and clutching AK-47 rifles.
Its Shi'ite rival Mehdi Army, which staged two uprisings against U.S. troops, belongs to the same alliance. The Kurds also have their own militia, the peshmerga.
The scale of the problem is evident in Iraq's second city Basra, where the Badr Organization and Mehdi Army are active. A Reuters reporter tried to interview Basra residents about the militias but they said they were too scared to talk.
In December, Britain's military commander in Iraq, Major General Jim Dutton, said Basra police had been infiltrated by sectarian militia.
Hundreds of British and Danish troops staged raids on the homes of Iraqi policemen in Basra on Tuesday to root out rogue elements of the police force in connection with corruption and a number of unsolved murders in the city.
"Corruption has become so bad that policemen rent their cars out to anyone for $3,000 an hour. Suicide bombers rent them. Insurgents rent them. And the militias run the force," said a police major in Baghdad.
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Citation: Michael Georgy. "Iraqi politicians talk security as militias thrive,"
Reuters, 26 January 2006.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060126/wl_nm/iraq_militias_dc
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