Thursday, September 28, 2006
U.S. military - suicide attacks hit new peak
Security
With UN and Iraqi officials now estimating the death toll at more than 100 per day, a spokesman for the US-led coalition confirmed that suicide attacks had hit a new peak, three-and-a-half years after the fall of Saddam Hussein. "In terms of attacks, this week's suicide attacks were at the highest level of any given week, with half of them targeting security forces," Major General Caldwell told reporters in a briefing, without providing details. In a bid to quell the violence and combat insurgents, US and Iraqi forces have launched a large-scale security drive in Baghdad, securing the city district by district, hunting for weapons and boosting economic development.
But US commanders say the time is approaching when Maliki will have to bite the bullet and allow his forces to confront Shiite militias, some of which have links to powerful factions within the fragile ruling coalition. "We have to fix this militia issue. We can't have armed militias competing with Iraqi security forces, but I also have to trust the prime minister to decide when it is that we do that," said Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli. Maliki has in the past vowed to disarm militias, such as radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. So far, his forces have made little progress and Sunni and US officers accuse the groups of having links to death squads.
But US commanders say the time is approaching when Maliki will have to bite the bullet and allow his forces to confront Shiite militias, some of which have links to powerful factions within the fragile ruling coalition. "We have to fix this militia issue. We can't have armed militias competing with Iraqi security forces, but I also have to trust the prime minister to decide when it is that we do that," said Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli. Maliki has in the past vowed to disarm militias, such as radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. So far, his forces have made little progress and Sunni and US officers accuse the groups of having links to death squads.
COMMENT: The large Shia political party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revoltion in Iraq (SCIRI), led by Abdul al-Aziz al Hakim also has a militant wing accused of sectarian murder, the Badr Corps. Maliki could be dragging his feet on tackling the militias because SCIRI and OMS (the Office of Moqtada al-Sadr) are unlikely to agree to disarmament of their militias. In a government where Maliki's powers of control are being questioned, he needs every ally he can get. COMMENT ENDS.
