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Military budget sours relations between
Kurdish and Arab leaders
25.1.2008
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January
25, 2008
BAGHDAD, -- The relationship between Kurdish
and Arab political forces in Baghdad is on the verge
of slipping down a dangerous slope if the two
parties cannot solve a number of pending issues,
Iraqi military officials and analysts warned.
These issues, they added, include the fate of
article 140 of the Iraqi permanent constitution to
decide the future of the oil-rich northern Kurdish
city of Kirkuk and some parts of Mosul and Diyala
provinces. Kurds want to include it in the
autonomous Kurdistan region because the areas are
inhabited by a Kurdish majority.
Apart from a number of oil contracts, which Kurdish
officials have tried to set up independently of the
central government in Baghdad, the most "explosive"
issue is the Kurdish Peshmerga (Kurdistan forces)
budget, analysts and military officials said.
Jabbar Al Yawer, a spokesman for the Kurdistan
region peshmerga forces,www.ekurd.net
revealed that the region
had applied for a budget for 100,000 Peshmerga
soldiers. A budget to cover pensions for 90,000
retiring soldiers has also been requested.
Surprise
Al Yawer told Gulf News that successive meetings
between Kurdish military commanders were held in
2007 to evaluate the budget and recommendations were
submitted to the federal government office of Nouri
Al Maliki in Baghdad.
Al Yawer added: "These meetings were held in the
presence of Abdul Qader Mohammad Jasem, the Iraqi
Defence Minister, and David Petraeus, the American
Deputy Commander. We agreed to cover the expenses of
76,000 soldiers, besides forming two brigades of
25,000 to be under the authority of the Iraqi
Ministry of Defence," he said.
"In addition, [the agreement included] covering the
expenses of 90,000 Peshmerga soldiers who deserve
retirement
pensions.
"But we were surprised that Al Maliki's office asked
the Kurdistan region presidency to reduce the number
of the Peshmerga from 100,000 to 30,000 soldiers."
According to Al Yawer, the Iraqi government
questioned the purpose of the troops. "Al Maliki's
office asked whether Kurds intend engage in war with
Iraqi opponents or declare their independence,www.ekurd.net
in its reply to the
request of the budget. Kurds responded that
countering terrorism and border controls require
that number of soldiers."
"We are ready to reduce the number of soldiers but
it requires securing new opportunities for dismissed
soldiers," Al Yawer explained.
He warned that any attempt to resolve the issue
without guarantees may lead to a dangerous
situation. Al Yawer said that the issue of Peshmerga
forces is a documented article in the Iraqi
constitution, and the Kurdish request is both
constitutional and legal.
gulfnews com
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