Hashemi: US must reform Iraqi forces before leaving

Nouri al-Maliki, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, Moqtada al-Sadr,
Harith al-Dhari and Massoud Barzani

One of two Iraqi vice-presidents, al-Hashemi visited Bush weeks ahead of schedule, and directly following reports of efforts to unseat al-Maliki and displace al-Sadr

WASHINGTON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - A senior Iraqi official criticized the United States on Thursday for disbanding the Iraqi army in 2003 and said it should not withdraw without reforming Iraqi security forces heavily infiltrated by sectarian militias.

Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi said he and U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday discussed the idea of forming a political coalition better able to end sectarian violence than Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government...

In a speech at a Washington think tank, Hashemi said any U.S. timetable for withdrawal "can can only be linked to serious efforts to reform the Iraqi military and security forces."

If the U.S. withdrew without such an effort, he said, "The militia and militia-infiltrated government forces will escalate their massacre of innocent people. There will be a security vacuum. This will not lead to stability but further chaos."

U.S. MISTAKE

"The United States has (a) duty to reform the Iraqi government forces because it was the United States forces which mistakenly dissolved the previous Iraqi military and security forces -- so there was, more or less, an obligation -- and created this security void now being filled with ... sectarian militias, terrorists and organized crime gangs," he added.

Hashemi was unsparing in his criticism of the U.S. decision to disband the Iraqi army and other security forces after the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

"Imagine one day waking up and finding out that your nation's leaders had completely dismantled all police and military. As a result, there is (not) one policeman, or state, or federal law enforcement agent, or even one national guard or any soldier to protect you from criminal elements, or terrorists," he said. "It will be total chaos."

"Then imagine that instead of calling back the army and security forces, the authorities in this imaginary scenario decided to form a new army and police from members of the KKK, some racist, (supremacist) militias, some mercenaries and organized crime gangs," he added, referring to the Ku Klux Klan, a loose federation of U.S. groups whose members have included white supremacists.

"With the new government-issued budget and government-issued vehicles, these armed groups begin arresting, torturing, murdering innocent people either because of their faith, or creed, or purely for profit," he added. "This is is exactly what has happened in Iraq."

Read the rest at Reuters/Alternet

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