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Iraq's "Rag Tag" Army Units Start Fighting
Against Themselves
Erbil, Kurdistan-Iraq
A gun battle between two units of the Iraqi army has
left one soldier and a civilian dead, underlining
how ethnic and sectarian divisions are crippling the
US-trained force.
The shooting, which took place between Kurdish and
Shia soldiers on Friday near Duluiyah, 45 miles
north of Baghdad, is a bad omen for US plans to hand
over security to the Iraqi army by the end of the
year.
The fighting started after a powerful roadside bomb
exploded as an Iraqi army convoy carrying Kurdish
troops was passing Duluiyah, a small agricultural
town that has long been a centre of armed resistance
to the occupation. Four soldiers were killed and
three wounded in the explosion, according to police,
while the US military said one soldier died and 12
were wounded.
Immediately after the attack the Kurdish soldiers
rushed their wounded to the local hospital, firing
their weapons to clear the streets and killing one
civilian. At this point, going by the police
account, another unit of the Iraqi army, the 3rd
battalion of the 1st Brigade, this time consisting
of Shia troops, rushed to confront the Kurds. They
appear to have thought that the Kurds were going to
retaliate against the local Arab population. Shots
were exchanged, and one Shia soldier was killed.
The Kurds decided to remove their wounded from
Duluiyah hospital, fearing it would not be safe for
them to be left there. But as they tried to leave
the town, a third unit of the Iraqi army set up a
roadblock, preventing them escaping. At this point
US troops, who have a giant military base at Balad
nearby, intervened and succeeded in ending the
confrontation.
The incident shows the deepening divisions and
mistrust within the Iraqi army. Kurdish leaders have
told the IoS that in a real civil war, they believe
the national army would evaporate immediately,
because its units owe their primary allegiance to
their own communities.
Peter Galbraith, the former US diplomat and expert
on Iraq, citing senior Iraqi Ministry of Defence
sources, says the Iraqi army consists of 60 Shia
battalions, 45 Sunni battalions and nine Kurdish
battalions. There is only one mixed battalion. In
fact the number of Kurdish troops, formerly known as
peshmerga, is understated. Apart from Kurds in the
Iraqi army, there are another 60,000 men under arms
within the Kurdish region.
Washington has repeatedly claimed that its aim is to
train Iraqi security forces loyal to the central
government and capable of fighting the armed
resistance to the occupation. This would allow the
US and Britain to reduce their forces in Iraq.
But the Iraqi army has remained a ragtag force. In
2004-05 its entire $1.3 billion procurement budget
was stolen or spent in return for outdated or
non-functioning weapons. Its vehicles, often elderly
pick-up trucks, are very vulnerable to roadside
bombs such as the one which hit the convoy of
Kurdish soldiers on Friday. Even the numbers of the
army are unclear, because it contains many "ghost"
soldiers whose salaries are still drawn by their
commanders.
From the US point of view, however, the communal
divisions in the army are the most worrying
development. When Iraqi security forces tried to
enter the strongly Sunni district of al-Adhamiyah in
east Baghdad last month, local militiamen saw the
incursion as an attack by Shia death squads. They
threw up barricades and militiamen raced from house
to house, calling on each family to send one man
with a gun to defend their district.
Ordinary Iraqis are extremely frightened by the
number of uniformed soldiers and police on the
streets who may in reality be death squads waging
war against one particular community. In Baquba in
Diyala province last week, US soldiers fought
anti-occupation resistance forces who were all
wearing government uniforms and riding in
camouflaged vehicles.
counterpunch org
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