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Iraqi Interior Minister Says Security Forces Have "200,000 Trainees"

Posted on: Tuesday, 22 November 2005, 12:00 CST

Excerpt from live satellite interview with Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr Solagh in Baghdad by Tawfiq Taha at the Doha studio carried within Al-Jazeera's "Midday guest" programme, carried by Qatari Al-Jazeera satellite TV on 21 November; subheading inserted editorially:

[Taha] Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr is our guest for today and we will try in the following minutes to discuss with him the Iraqi situation against the background of the preparatory meeting of the National Accord conference that ends its meetings in Cairo today. [Passage omitted] What I understand from what you say Mr Minister is that when the Iraqi government decides to end the presence of the foreign forces in Iraq, it will tell the Americans that it no longer needs these forces and that they have to leave the country. Will they leave?

[Jabr] Yes, we agreed on this...

[Taha, interrupting] But this is not what the US President says. The US President says to his people and the world day and night that the US forces are in Iraq to combat terrorism and prevent the terrorists from reaching the United States. This means that they are fighting in Iraq to serve US interests and when there are no longer any such interests, the mission of the US forces ends?

[Jabr] We believe that terrorism will end when the Iraqis reach agreement among them. The terrorist actions will end when the security forces are completely reorganized. Then, one can tell the US forces that we have completed the formation of our forces. They are helping us train and arm the forces so that we may stand on our own feet. If this takes place, there is no reason for them to help us and form Iraqi security forces whose number has now reached 200,000 trainees and this is a major step. We need an additional force. When this is completed, we can say that we do not need foreign forces to protect our people for our people can protect themselves. Therefore, those who want to end the presence of the occupation forces should be part of the security system.

[Taha] Let us assume that the Americans will respond to your demand at that time. You link the withdrawal of the US forces to the extent of the progress in building the Iraqi forces. Why not get rid of the party militias that act sometimes and carry out acts of vengeance on sectarian and ethnic bases?

Militia

[Jabr] These are just stories and not facts and these stories need to be substantiated and proved. I am speaking to you as head of the committee that is charged with merging the militias in political life. I am the elected chairman of the committee. I started my work by merging these militias. We already gave some of them retirement salaries and we will give retirement salaries to another segment while we will merge a third segment in civilian ministries. I sent letters to the ministers in this respect. We merged 200 members from each militia into the defence and interior ministries. We still have a limited number and we will merge them later, God willing. This is a methodical operation that we carry out as part of an agreed upon policy in accordance with decision No.91 issued by the coalition authorities. We agreed to distribute the members of these militias and assimilate them. There will be no militias in Iraq. The presence of militias in any country means the destruction of that country. As interior minister, I will not permit for any militia to exercise its work here and there.

[Taha] But these militias, so far, are still there. Yesterday, there were reports about the liquidation of two guards, former Ba'thists, in southern Iraq. Is this not an act of vengeance by the militias?

[Jabr] Brother, the terrorists carry out such actions daily. They kill, assassinate, and blow up scores of people in the Baghdad streets. Are these militias? These are terrorists and outlaws and we stalk them. If people from any side kill other people, these too are outlaws and we stalk them and arrest them. This is what we are doing as best as we can. I cannot say that we can stop all the car bombs and all the killing that is taking place in Iraq.

[Taha] Mr Minister, you said that you open the door to merge the militias in the Iraqi forces...

[Jabr, interrupting] Not in all the Iraqi forces. Some of the members of these militias go to the ministries, to the ministry of agriculture, reconstruction, health, for example and the rest are retired. Many members of these militias are merged in the armed forces and are deployed in many locations.

[Taha] My question is why you do not open the door to those who seek to make the occupation forces leave through resistance and merge them into the armed forces to build the Iraqi forces. They can take the place of the foreign forces?

[Jabr] I appeal to you to contact them to merge. I have a training course for 1,200 members. I ask some of them, those who call themselves resistance men to come and join us in a class which I called the class of national unity. This class will be attended by Kurds, Shabak, Yazidis, Shi'is, Sunnis, and Turkoman. We will hold other classes like the class of national unity. However, many refuse to merge and say that we are agents of the occupier. They say: Therefore, we will not merge with you and will continue to fight from outside to kill and slaughter the occupier with our own means while actually they kill our sons.

[Taha] Mr Minister, the discussion perhaps needs more time. We are compelled to end this interview. Thank you very much.

Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

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