More militia members join army, police

 

By Alwan Hussain

 

Azzaman, November 11, 2007

 

In a surprise move, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has issued a ruling under which 18,000 members of Shiite militias are to merge with the country’s army, police and security forces.

 

The decision sparked anger and deep concern from several political factions particularly Sunni groups who believe that major Shiite factions have infiltrated the country’s armed forces and police.

 

The new militia recruits belong to the Dawaa party which Maliki leads and the Badr corps, the militia faction led by the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, Maliki’s main Shiite ally in the government.

 

The decision is bound to anger the Madhi Army, the powerful militias headed by the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr whose fighters Maliki has excluded from his decision.

 

Maliki’s Dawaa and Badr Corps’ Islamic Council have aligned themselves with the two major Kurdish factions currently ruling northern Iraq.

 

Kurdish militias of Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani, the regional president of the semi-independent Kurdish enclave in the north and those belonging to Patriotic Union of Kurdistan headed by Jalal Talabani, currently the Iraqi president, also have the right to merge their fighters into separate army formations.

 

The Kurds are expected to set up new brigades of their own to be financed and armed by the government.

 

The problem of factional militias has bedeviled Iraqi politics and is seen as a main hindrance to national reconciliation.

 

The newly formed army and police units normally owe their allegiance to their political factions rather than the national flag.