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Is it Iraq's army or militia?

Although the United States administration has to contend with a lot of political pressure to set a timetable for the withdrawal of military forces from Iraq, it has refused to do so. President George Bush insists he will begin to thin down the U.S. military presence only when the Iraqi army and police are able to provide security. In a series of presentations, he also sought to demonstrate that the capabilities of these forces are improving by the day. Even American generals do not appear to concur with their President's assessment. For instance, Mr. Bush declared recently that 40 of the 120 battalions of the Iraqi army have the ability to take the lead in counter-insurgency operations. About a month ago, one of his senior generals was of the opinion that only a single battalion could be considered combat-ready. Lower-ranking U.S. military personnel have tended to be caustic in their comments whenever asked about their experience of working with their Iraqi counterparts. That two suicide bombers penetrated the heart of the police academy in Baghdad killing 36 trainees on December 6 only goes to show how far Mr. Bush's assessment is out of sync with reality. Those journalists who are intrepid and independent enough to work outside the protective cover of the occupation forces paint an exceedingly grim picture. In a recent article, Robert Fisk of The Independent wrote he was now practising "mouse journalism." He could not spend more than a few minutes speaking to people in their homes since militants were likely to show up at any moment.

Mr. Bush, true to his record, peddled selective information when he claimed that sizable pockets of Iraq were free of militancy. That claim is meaningless if it pertains to the Kurd and Shia dominated north and south of the country: insurgents have never been very active in these areas. As for the Sunni belt in the centre, almost every town captured in the U.S.-led operations has slipped back into insurgent control once the occupation forces withdrew. The Iraqi forces, composed mostly of Shias, have already shown that they do not believe they have a duty to provide security to all the citizens. There have been several reports of Sunni civilians being executed when the captured towns were briefly under the charge of these security forces. That is no surprise since the Iraqi army is known to have been infiltrated by the militias of Shia political parties such as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution. These militias apparently believe they now have an opportunity to take revenge on Sunnis who for long oppressed the other Iraqi communities. There is no sign that a high command that can control and direct the military without the intervention of foreign masters has been constituted.

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