Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi Prime Minister was intereviewed by the Iraqi State Channel two days ago. Here are some of the questions and answers with a comment from me at the bottom of each question and answer.
"Q. Since the security plan was announced, the security situation has gotten
worse especially after what happened in Karada where rockets and bombs were
launched at the same time whereas there are always reports that terrorists were
captured, what do you think?
A. The first side of the plan is to
continue in our security operations which will be conducted by Iraqi forces and
the government because the terrorists, those who are Iraqis and those who come
across the borders, know that we are able to bring their activities to an end,
although there have been complications. There are no fears any more that our
security entities are able to protect the country. There are no fears that the
insurgents are going to occupy areas in Baghdad. The other side of the plan is
to stop these cowardly operations which target innocent civilians in the markets
and universities. There should be cooperation between the people and the
security forces. We need intelligence information to help us reach the
terrorists."
Comment: Maliki here seems very confident. He speaks with the same tone he used when he was first announced as a Prime Minister. It's been months now and nothing of what he said was carried out or succeeded.
Maliki, like other Iraqi officials, says that there should be cooperation between the people and the security forces. The question is: do people trust the security forces? There are several neighborhoods in Baghdad get alerted when one Interior ministry vehicle enters. Everyone takes a weapon and get ready to kill the distrusted visitor. I don't blame them. Iraqis do not differentiate between their enemy and their protectors now. Both wear the same uniform and maybe both are one group and run by one specific party! It's a big problem facing Maliki: how is he going to make the people trust the security forces?
"Q. People are suffering from the insurgents and at the same time terrorists are
released which makes these people angry, what do you say?
A. People have
every right to be angry. Some of those who were released are criminals but there
wasn’t enough evidence to convict them. We have a committee consisting of two
members from MOI, two members from MOD, two members from the CF and two members
from human rights organizations. The committee is responsible for reviewing the
detainees files every six months, then every 12 months and then after 18 months
they can decide if those detainees are criminals or not. Six percent of those
who were released went back to committing terrorist acts. This time our
punishment for them is going to be a harsh one and there will be no review for
their files any more. We gave them the opportunity to participate in the life of
the new Iraq but they returned to evil ways. The committee is responsible of
releasing 400 inmates from detention. We are going to change the committee and
the new committee will be in charge of reviewing the detainee’s files."
Comment: "Hang them" is the word on the tongue of Iraqi concerning the ones who are caught in blood hand. No Iraqi believes in this procedure, reviewing the cases of the terrorists and then release these terrorists! What does he mean by saying that the punishment is going to be "harsh?" is he going to use the emergency law and execute the criminals in public to make them a lesson to whoever intends to be the same? I doubt it. However, I am glad he is going to change the committee. It proved its failure. The question is when and how?
"Q. There is political and social support for the reconciliation, what fruits has
it borne for the Iraqis so far?
A. There is a trend forming between
the religious leaders and the prominent tribes to condemn terrorism. We have
connections with high ranking old Baath members to join the political life
because the weapons only are not enough in our war and no is going to benefit
from the blood we lose every day. It is a foolish dream for the old regime to
come back to power and the former Baath party members realize this. There are
people who want to volunteer helping the police and the army to eradicate
terrorism. When we say reconciliation we mean that there are enough numbers of
police and Iraqi Army and the security forces have reach a level of self
sufficiency."
Comment: It's good to hear that the reconciliation plan is moving forward although slowly. As for Baathists, I don't think the plan is going to be done well. You know why? I tell you! There is a jerk in Iraq, a very powerful jerk called Abdul Aziz al-Hakim who appeared in public last week and gave orders to his men to kill Baathists. Now, there will be no space for the Baathists to join Maliki's process because most of them will be either dead or away, living in another country. I wonder if it is a joint plan of Hakim and Maliki! There is no hope we trust them. However, we can hope at least.
Concerning the number of police and army, is it really a matter of numbers? I can make most of Baghdad's young men join the police and army, but the question is are all of them educated? Are they loyal to Iraq? Are they going to study military studies or join a police academy? Or it's a matter of teaching them how to use a pistol in two months and then send them to the streets?
"Q. The Americans yesterday hit Sadr City although they had agreed to the
reconciliation. Why?
A. I heard the explosions in Sadr City with
pain. I ordered them to stop because we are in a reconciliation stage. The
American operation used excessive force when they used airplanes which were too
much to arrest suspected insurgents. We are going to fully compensate the
people, although we cannot replace compensate the loss of life. Sadr City is a
poor area. I immediately contacted the U.S. forces to stop the attacks as
they didn’t have my permission to carry out this operation."
Comment: Here we go! Now my question, infact questions, are: did the Americans ignore the Prime Minister? Really? Maybe! But what if he has agreed with them secretly to raid Sadr City and then appear on TV to condemn. If he has agreed on the assault, I salute him because Sadr City people exceeded the limits and needed to be stopped. And let's be frank, Iraqi security forces are unable to stop the Mahdi Army thugs. On the contrary, they helped them a lot in killing people like what happened in al-Jihad neighborhood.
"Sadr City is a poor area" Jeeeeeeeeezuz! As the Americans say it… every spot on the Mesopotamia is poor now! Oh he is going to compensate the people there as well!! Poor people of Adhamiya! There is no one going to compensate you because you are Sunnis.
"Sadr City is a poor area" Jeeeeeeeeezuz! As the Americans say it… every spot on the Mesopotamia is poor now! Oh he is going to compensate the people there as well!! Poor people of Adhamiya! There is no one going to compensate you because you are Sunnis.
"Q. People say that the reconciliation is connected with disarming the militias,
is this operation targeted at Mahdi Army, which the Americans view as a militia,
and after that they come to the reconciliation?
A. There are
numerous rumors that the plan is targeting Sadr City to target Shiites and some
went further and said that the plan is to hit the Sunnis. Both Shiites and
Sunnis are worried and I want to calm them down. The reconciliation plan aimed
at resettling the displaced families in their neighborhoods which after they
received threatening letters from insurgents. The reconciliation plan is a plan
to restore peace although it has a military side which is the integration side
of the plan. It is designed so all Iraqis concentrate on rebuilding their
country and the government will have everything under its control and would be
no need for any militias. When I say militias I also mean the security companies
and all those who use violence to make other parties do what they want. We have
reached some armed groups and we reached an agreement with them to participate
in building the country and when the reconciliation project succeeds there will
be no need to carry weapons."
Comment: Militias, bla bla bla bla bla bla bla…Is he really going to disband the militias? How? Is he going to make a deal with Hakim about Badr? Will they stop killing the Sunnis? Or the Mahdi Army fighters who are in every single house in Sadr City? Someone tell me that something has been achieved since he said that the first day he swore the oath and the first day he announced his reconciliation plan. Is he really going to get rid of the security companies? C'mon! who is going to protect our "friends" from the terrorists in the streets then?
"Q. People have two major problems: the deteriorating security and the poor
services provided by the government in spite of the budget allocated from
ministry of finance?
A. We inherited a damaged Iraq from the old
regime as there were wars and the embargo and its penalties which affected
peoples’ lives more than the government itself. We have a duty to rebuild the
country and we have to start from scratch in a very unhealthy environment.
People deserve better services and as you said that there is a huge budget and
we are able to give more for the services. There is a problem in
accomplishing these projects so people can feel the difference. We need time to
build a power station and I am going to talk to my brothers the ministries to
come on TV and talk to people about the different projects they are working on.
Terrorism is a common threat in all our projects as they always target power
stations and the oil pipelines. I have disbursed money from day one to the
provinces governors and the councils but there are problems with executing these
projects and there are complaints that there aren’t enough contractors."
Comment: Same Cliché we used to hear for the last the three years and nothing has changed.
"Q. Administrative corruption is a common threat for our economy, what are you
doing to stop this?
A. We have two threats in the road to
democracy: security and corruption. Iraq was known for administrative corruption
since the old regime. We are going to end it. According to the constitution, I
am not able to mention names of those who were involved in corruption cases
because it is illegal. However, after the judgments I will be able to release
names of those who were involved in corruption cases. Corruption is there but it
had been weakened. The anti-corruption laws are tough and going to help us get
rid of this illness."
What about the officials who were proved corruptive while they were fleeing the country? Were they brought to justice? If yes, it's a big problem because no Iraqi knows about it and if No, the disaster is bigger!!!
