DONALD RUMSFELD, the US Defence Secretary, has
issued a blunt warning to Iraq’s new leaders against
purging the country’s security forces and filling
key posts with their own allies.
“My concern is they’ll come in and clean house,” Mr
Rumsfeld said yesterday before he went to meetings
with Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the Shia Prime Minister,
and President Talabani, a Kurd. “You can’t do that
if you are trying to create a chain of command in
the Iraqi security force and defeat a doggone
insurgency.” |
photo:Times |
Last
week Adel Abdel Mehdi, the newly appointed Shia
Vice-President, called for an inquiry into
allegations of corruption in the outgoing caretaker
Government, which was installed by Washington last
summer. He claimed that cronies had been used to
fill senior positions in the Defence and Interior
ministries.
Abdelaziz al-Hakim, clerical leader of Mr Abdel
Mehdi’s party, told The Times in January that he
wanted to remove any officers from the security
forces who had links to the outlawed Baath party of
Saddam Hussein. |
photo:AP |
|
This raised concerns that he could fill their
positions with members of his own militia, the
Iranian-trained Badr Corps. While many officers do
have links to the former regime, the US-installed
Government chose them for their security experience
and many have proved themselves to be Iraq’s most
efficient forces.
Mr Rumsfeld said that such a purge could endanger
efforts to end the Sunni insurgency that has cost
thousands of lives.
“Anything they do in the Interior and the Defence
ministries ought to be with an eye to the fact that
Iraqis are getting killed and they better have a
good reason for doing what they are doing,” he said.
Mr Jaafari, Iraq’s first elected prime minister in
half a century, tried to allay Mr Rumsfeld’s fears.
“I don’t deny there are challenges, but I’m sure we
are going to have very good ministers,” he said.
“All of them are good technocrats, they are very
efficient, from different backgrounds. I hope we
face these challenges successfully and we will fight
corruption.”
Mr Rumsfeld arrived days after an anti-United States
protest in central Baghdad. Thousands of Iraqis,
most of them supporters of Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr,
the radical Shia cleric, marked the second
anniversary of the US-led invasion by demanding the
removal of American troops. There were more anti-US
protests in the violent Sunni town of Samarra to the
north of Baghdad yesterday.
Mr Rumsfeld said that Washington had no exit
strategy drawn up, although American commanders
believe that they may be able to start to scale down
troop deployments soon. The US has been reluctant to
offer any timetable for a withdrawal, fearing that
it could inflame the insurgency and incite rival
militias, which still exert huge control, to try to
grab more power.
On Monday, dozens of gunmen attacked an American
outpost on the Syrian border, using two suicide car
bombers and attempting a ground assault. Ten people
were killed in suicide attacks yesterday in and
around the northern town of Mosul.
In Baghdad, where guerrillas ambushed the car of a
senior interior ministry official, security forces
set up checkpoints to search for an American
contractor kidnapped the day before.
Meanwhile Poland said yesterday that it would
withdraw its troops from Iraq at the end of this
year. Jerzy Szmajdzinski, the Defence Minister, said
that the decision was in line with an earlier plan.
Poland has about 1,700 soldiers in southern Iraq.
www.timesonline.co.uk
دۆناڵد ڕامسڤڵد لهگهڵ ڕێبهرانی عێراقیدا كۆبۆتهوه
بهڕێز دۆناڵد ڕامسڤڵد دهڵێت زۆر گرنگه كهوا حكومهتی
نوێی عێراقی كهسی شارهزا و لێهاتوو بۆ بهڕێوبردنی
كاری وهزارهتهكان دهست نیشان بكات و لهو ڕهوشه
پهشێوییه نا پێویسته خۆیان دووربخهنهوه.
بهڕێز ڕامسڤڵد ئهمڕۆ سێشهممه، له ماوهی سهردانێكی
كتوپڕدا بۆ عێراق ئهم تێبینیانهیدابوو.
بهڕێز ڕامسڤڵد له ماوهی سهردانهكهی بۆ عێراق، به
جودایی لهگهڵ سهرۆكی كاتی عێراق جهلال تاڵهبانی و
سهرۆك وهزیری نوێی كاتی ئیبراهیم ئهلجهعفهری
كۆبۆتهوه.
دوای ئهنجامدانی ئهو كۆبونهوانه، بهڕێزان تاڵهبانی
و ئهلجهعفهری گوتیان بهڕێز ڕامسفڵدیان دڵنیا
كردۆتهوه لهوهی كه بهو پهڕی توانایانهوه ههوڵی
نهمانی فرت و فێڵ و كاری گهندهڵی و پێك هێنان و
دامهزراندنی حكومهتێكی دهستوری له كاتێكی
دیاریكراودا دهدهن.
ههندێ له كاربهدهستانی ئهمهریكا نیگهرانی خۆیان
بهرامبهر به ههڵوێستی سیاسی ژمارهیهك له لایهنه
سیاسیهكان نیشانداوه كه دهبنه هۆی ژێركهوتنی كارهكانی
دژ به یاخیبوان.
دۆناڵد ڕامسڤڵد دوا به دوای ئهم كۆبونهوانهش لهگهڵ
فهرماندهكانی لهشكری ئهمهریكی و سهربازه ئهمهریكیهكانیشدا
ڕێكخست.
له ههمان كاتدا، ئۆتۆمبیلێك له شاری موسڵی باكوری
عێراق تهقیوهتهوه كه ئامانجهكهی كاروانێكی ئهمهریكی
تێپهڕبوو بهو ناوهدا بووه. له ئهنجام ئهو هێرشهشدا،
پێنج كهسی سیڤیڵ كوژراوه و چوار كهسی دیكه بریندار
بووه. دوا به دوای ڕوودانی ئهو هێرشهش، بۆمبێكی تر
تهقیوهتهوه، بهڵام هیچ قوربانیهكی لێنهكهوتۆتهوه.
له بارهی ئهم سهردانهوه، پهیامنێر بهشی كوردی
دهنگی ئهمهریكا سروه عهبدولواحد ڕاپۆرتێكی بۆ
ناردووین
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