Iraqi Military Experts Discuss Iraqi Army, Intelligence
From the USG Open Source Center, a translation of a transcript of a disccussion in Arabic by Iraqi military experts, carried by an Arabic-language Iranian satellite channel. Note that some of the things charged here are contradictory or implausible, but this discussion is a good window on what some Iraqis are thinking about the present situation.
Iranian Al-Alam TV "'Iraq Today' Program Views Iraqi Army
Al-Alam Television
Sunday, June 18, 2006 T21:50:25Z
Document Type: OSC Report
Today's edition of Al-Alam TV's "Iraq Today" program was presented by Baghdad-based Qasim al-Ubudi. The subject of discussion was the Iraqi army. The guests were Maj Gen Abd-al-Qazim al-Khuza'i, an "expert in military and security affairs"; Qasim Khudayr Abbas, a "legal expert", and Salah al-Tukmahchi, a "political analyst" interviewed via video link from London. The first two guests were at the studio.
. . . The three guests agreed that the USA was not willing to create a strong Iraqi army to justify the presence of its troops in Iraq and that it was still needed. They were also unanimous that the dissolution of the Iraqi army by Paul Bremer was a "grave mistake".
See the rest.
posted by Juan Cole @ 6/19/2006 12:04:00 AM
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2 Comments:
"Qasim Khudayr Abbas criticized Iraqi politicians for abstaining from discussing the Iraqi intelligence service to which he referred as "non-Iraqi and non-national" [I.e. controlled by the Shiite fundamentalist Badr Corps, trained by Iran]. He strongly criticized the service and its leadership, accusing it of inciting sectarianism . . . He also accused the service of turning the Americans against the Shi'is."
I think the material inside the brackets is incorrect. Abbas appears to be talking about the Iraqi external intelligence service (a.k.a. the new Mukhabarat) and not the Interior Ministry, which is the entity controlled by the Badr Organization.
My understanding is that the new Mukhabarat (I don't know what its official name is, or whether it even has one) is still controlled directly by the CIA, the Americans having refused to turn the keys over to the elected Iraqi government last year. (Democracy, schemocracy.)
Accordingly, the service is still run by the kind of ex-Baathist, ex-old Mukhabarat nomenklatura who flourished during Allawi's interim prime ministership.
So when Abbas charges that the service has "turned the Americans against the Shi'a," he seems to be saying that the former (and future?) Baathists in control of the new Mukhabarat have been trying to sabotage the U.S.-Shi'a alliance of convenience, NOT that the Badr operatives in control of the Interior Ministry have been poisoning it with their secret torture centers and other thuggish acts.
This may simply be SCIRI agitprop. On the other hand, it isn't far fetched to think that many of the operatives in the new Mukhabarat are still working for the OLD Mukhabarat, and are feeding the Americans bogus intelligence designed to create bad blood between them and the Shi'a -- for example, by producing shootouts like the massacre at the Shiite religious center back in March.
Turns out some of the best reporting from Baghdad comes from the US Embassy staff. Here is their letter home, as leaked to the Washington Post. (Blitzer asked Tony Snow about this on Sunday morning; Snow, of course, had no substantive response.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/graphics/iraqdocs_061606.pdf
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