BAGHDAD — Officials said the Defense Ministry and Interior Ministry have detected
evidence of sustained infiltration in the Iraqi military and police. They
said the infiltration was being conducted by both agents linked to Iran as
well as the former regime of Saddam Hussein.
"Our Iraqi security forces in general, and these in particular and in
many parts of Iraq, I have to admit that they have been penetrated by some
of the insurgents, some of the terrorists as well," Iraqi National Security
Adviser Muwafaq Al Rubaei said. "So I can't deny this."
[On Sunday, the U.S. military said 70 insurgents were killed in Ramadi
during a series of clashes with coalition troops, Middle East Newsline reported. The military said U.S.
aircraft bombed one group of insurgents and 20 people were killed.]
In an interview to the London-based BBC, Al Rubaei said he could not
estimate the degree of insurgency infiltration. He said the government in
Baghdad has been battling infiltration efforts.
Officials said that in late 2004 the Defense Ministry and Interior
Ministry began a vetting procedure to purge suspected insurgents and their
supporters from civil service. They said insurgents in government have
relayed Iraqi funding to Saddam elements for attacks on police and the
military, which number 200,000 people.
In other cases, insurgents in the police and military provided
information on patrols and site security that facilitated mass-casualty
strikes by Saddam and Al Qaida forces. Officials said the
degree of infiltration appears to have declined somewhat over the last few
months.
"We are putting in place a very scrupulous and meticulous vetting
procedure in the process of
recruiting a new batch of police and Iraqi Army [personnel], which will, if
you like, cleans our security forces as well as stop any penetration in the
future from the insurgents and terrorists," Al Rubaei said.
Officials said the infiltration of the Defense Ministry and military
continued throughout 2005. Earlier, this year, a shipment of AK-47 assault
rifles bought from Poland arrived in Umm Qasr in southern Iraq and
disappeared. Weeks later, officials said, the rifles were found to have been
used in insurgency attacks against Iraqi forces in the Basra area.
"I can't give you a percentage of the extent of the penetration," Al
Rubaei said. "But I have to admit that the Iraqi security forces are
penetrated. To what extent, I don't know."
U.S. commanders acknowledge that they have been careful when discussing
sensitive issues with their Iraqi counterparts. But they said the U.S.
military could not work with Iraqi security forces unless they shared data
and intelligence.
"You certainly have to be cognizant of some things that you say and do,"
Maj. Gen. Stephen Johnson, commander of Multinational Force West, told a
Pentagon briefing on Oct. 7. "We don't tell everything we know to everybody
on our own side, either."
"And fighters, whether they be coalition force or Iraqi security force,
know they have to be able to trust the guy on their right and left flank,
and they know that they if you got to be able to trust a guy watching them,"
Johnson said. "And you can't develop that kind of trust without sharing
information and trusting each other."
A Defense Department report acknowledged insurgency infiltration of the
Iraqi security forces. But the report, released last week, said the
inability of suicide bombers to infiltrate military and police facilities
and checkpoints indicate a drop in infiltration.
"Some insurgent infiltration of ISF undoubtedly occurs, both through the
recruitment process and through bribery and intimidation," the report,
entitled "Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq," said. "Although it is
reasonable to believe that it would be more prevalent in Sunni-majority
provinces, the precise extent of such infiltration cannot be known."
"The inability of suicide bombers to penetrate police and military
facilities regularly is an encouraging indicator," the report added.
"Greater vetting of recruits makes infiltration more difficult."