08.06.2004 - Source:

9 militias to disband in Iraq until the end of 2005 ("original source: International Herald Tribune") [ID 10660]

"U.S. and Iraqi officials said Monday that they had received commitments from nine of the largest independent militias to disband, as part of a process the officials here said would rid Iraq of any private armed groups by the end of next year. The announcement, made by the new prime minister, Ayad Allawi, followed weeks of negotiations with the leaders of the nine of the largest militias, which together are thought to have more 100,000 soldiers, nearly all of whom are operating outside any governmental control.

But there were indications that not all the militias named in the agreement believed themselves to be part of it, and that carrying out of the policy might prove more difficult than writing it.

Two of the largest armed groups operating inside the country were not included in the agreement — the Mahdi Army, the radical Shiite group that U.S. soldiers have been battling for weeks, and the Falluja Brigade, a force of former Republican Guard soldiers and anti-U.S. insurgents cobbled together last month to end the fighting there. One indication about the difficulties came Monday, when a senior leader of one militia was shot and killed by unknown assailants in Baghdad. Under the agreement, the militia leaders agreed to a plan that would transfer soldiers to the Iraqi police, army and security agencies according to specific schedules, which will gradually reduce the private armies.

Militia fighters, many of them formed to oppose the regime of Saddam Hussein, will qualify for pensions as if they were members of the regular army. Those who do not want to stay will get job training. All told, the program expected to cost $200 million. The plan announced Monday offered a long-awaited response to one of the most vexing problems here: how to disarm the myriad groups, most of them attached to political parties, that have flourished here in the 15 months of U.S. occupation.

Many Iraqis and Americans have long expressed fears here that the militias, if left unchecked, could derail the democratic elections set for next year or lay the groundwork for civil war. Allawi, named prime minister a week ago, said the agreement would help strengthen the new Iraqi government that is to take over from the Americans on June 30.

‘‘The completion of these negotiations and the issuance of this order mark a watershed in establishing the rule of law, placing all armed forces under state control and strengthening the security of Iraq,’’ Allawi said from the steps of his office, inside the U.S. compound known as the Green Zone.

Indeed, Allawi, also the head of the Iraqi National Accord, a political party, said he had already disbanded the army under his control shortly after the fall of Saddam’s government last year.

‘‘We don’t have any armed militias anymore,’’ Allawi said of his group. U.S. officials said they had secured agreements to disband from the nine largest armed groups, three of which, they said, held the overwhelming majority of fighters: the two Kurdish political parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdish Democratic Party, which have about 75,000 fighters; and the Badr Brigade, the armed wing of a mainstream Shiite political party, which has about 15,000 fighters.

Six other groups are thought to deploy much smaller armies, which together are thought to have about 12,000 fighters. In addition to the Allawi group, the militias of two other political parties have told the Americans that they have disbanded: the Dawa Party, one of the country’s largest Shiite parties, and the Iraqi National Congress, best known for its leader, Ahmed Chalabi, who until recently enjoyed strong U.S. support. Allawi said in a statement that about 100,000 paramilitary soldiers would demobilize and re-enter civilian life or join the country’s security forces. The deal was an initiative of the U.S. occupation authorities and was the culmination of weeks of effort."

Document(s): original source: International Herald Tribune

10.02.2004 - Source:

Iraqi parties refuse to disband militias ("original source: International Herald Tribune") [ID 10661]

"(...) Several of the biggest political parties in Iraq say they are determined to keep their well-armed militias despite American opposition to the idea.

They contend that the militias remain necessary in light of the lack of security throughout the country. Having had scant success so far in persuading the militias to disband, occupation officials are searching for a new policy that will help disarm the groups, whose members total in the tens of thousands, a senior military official said.

But less than five months remain until the scheduled transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi government (...).

Militia leaders say the groups can help stabilize the country, something they argue that American troops have been unable to do. Several politicians say they may push to have the Iraqi Governing Council enshrine the existence of the militias in an interim constitution due on Feb. 28, with the justification that the armed groups can serve as emergency forces. Some suggest that American officials should transfer oversight of security entirely to Iraqi forces, including the militias. (...)

The major militias are attached to parties dominated by Kurds or Shiite Arabs, who make up a majority of the population but were long excluded from real power. The other main group, the Sunni Arabs, do not have political parties with militias and fear retribution for their years in power. (...)

There are three groups the American military considers to be active militias. First, there is the pesh merga, whose 50,000 soldiers are split between the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. Next is the Badr Organization (with approximately 10,000 members), a unit of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a powerful Shiite party. Then there is the Mahdi Army, formed by Muqtada al-Sadr, a virulently anti-American cleric who is Shiite.

The senior military official estimated the number of the Mahdi Army in the "high hundreds to thousands" and said its antioccupation stand "concerns us greatly." But a representative of Sadr said the Mahdi Army helped the police in Sadr City, a Baghdad slum, and guarded institutions like mosques.

"The Americans have failed to provide security, not only in Sadr City but in all of Iraq," said the representative, Sheik Amir al-Husseini. "Sadr City has taken it upon itself to provide peace and security to the people." The Mahdi Army's main rival is the Badr Organization, formerly the Badr Brigade. Leaders changed the name after the group's Iranian-trained members entered Iraq following the American invasion. They now call it a "humanitarian" or a "political" group, though they also boast that its members help the police secure the streets of large cities, sometimes with AK-47s, sometimes through intelligence gathering. Many Shiite Arabs, led by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, are demanding direct elections before the scheduled transfer of sovereignty on June 30. Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Shiite party overseeing the Badr Organization, said the group could help provide security at polling stations if given "special permission" by the Americans. But many people find the idea of using party militias at polling sites disturbing. (...)"

Document(s): original source: International Herald Tribune

04.02.2004 - Source:

Kurds: political interests, military, police and security services ("original source: International Herald Tribune") [ID 10662]

"(...) Until Sunday, the Kurdish lands had been largely free of the terrorism and chaos that has plagued the rest of the country. In April, they protested American demands to dismantle the controls on the border separating them from the rest of newly freed Iraq. They argued that it would let terrorists in.

When the Americans relented months later as chaos grew in the south, many Kurds felt it was too late. The bombings on Sunday will reinforce widely shared doubts about a closer association with Baghdad. L. Paul Bremer 3rd, the American administrator of Iraq, is pressing the Kurds to give up some of the powers they now exercise. The Kurds want to retain control over oil in their region, continue to have exclusive taxation powers and keep the new Iraqi Army out. The Americans, prodded by Turkey, see these demands as setting the stage for secession. For the Kurds, however, the issue is not sovereignty but security.

The Kurds see control of oil and taxation as further insurance against future Baghdad regimes treating them as the regimes of Iraq's first 80 years did. And they are also skeptical of Bremer's request that they take part in a unified Iraqi Army and a reformed internal security organization - the two institutions responsible for decades of repression, culminating in Saddam Hussein's attempted genocide of the 1980's.

The Kurds would rather maintain their own military, called the peshmerga, and want a clause in the transitional constitution requiring regional approval for any entry of Iraqi armed forces into Kurdish areas. The Sunday bombings deprived the Kurds of one of their shrewdest negotiators, Abdul Rahman. And it will probably harden their diplomatic positions as the Kurdish public comes increasingly to feel it must rely on its own institutions - the peshmerga, the local police and security services - to protect it against a danger that most see as coming from the south."

Document(s): original source: International Herald Tribune

16.01.2004 - Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung

Kurdistan: Kurdish peshmerga forces everywhere ("original source") [ID 10663]

Document(s): original source

04.12.2003 - Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung

Iraqi party militias shall assist US-military ("original document (German)") [ID 10664]

US-Military will employ militias from Iraqi political parties to fight against the guerrilla. The US-military wants to establish an "anti-terror force" consisting of 700 to 1000 members from the five to seven existing party militias which gather intelligence and assists in raids. The five parties set to contribute to the new force are: the Iraqi National Accord, the Iraqi National Congress, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

Document(s): original document (German)