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Insurgents, 'terrorists' from Iran infiltrating Iraq forces

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Monday, October 17, 2005

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."


Copyright © 2005 East West Services, Inc.

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