BAGHDAD — Shi'ite leaders have rejected a U.S.-led effort to restore
security in Iraq.
Instead, Shi'ites were ordered to join militias and establish local
squads to stop Sunni attacks on their towns and neighborhoods. Shi'ite
leaders have rejected a joint U.S.-Iraqi campaign to bolster security in
Baghdad.
"Our forces are not complete to take on this wide terrorism,"
Iraqi parliamentarian Hadi Al Amiri, head of a Shiite militia, said.
Al Amiri called on Shi'ites to establish neighborhood committees to
ensure protection, Middle East Newsline reported. He said Shi'ites should protect their homes while Sunnis
assume responsibility for their neighborhoods.
In mixed neighborhoods, Al Amiri said, Sunni and Shi'ites should set up
joint patrols. He said the committees were more reliable than police.
"If the situation stays as it is, this will mean the continued existence
of militias," Al Amiri said in a television debate on Aug. 13.
About 60,000 Iraqi and U.S. troops were participating in Operation
Together Forward. The operation has entered its second phase.
"Abating the extremists in the capital will neither be easy nor rapid,"
U.S. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, said.
"Challenges will ensue, but efforts will march forward block by block."
Under Operation Together Forward, 3,000 buildings were cleared, more
than 20 suspects detained, more than 50 weapons and eight cars seized and
more than 330 weapons registered, Caldwell said. The general praised the
Iraqi contribution to the joint operation, particular in the area of
tactical intelligence.
"Iraqi army and police personnel understand the hierarchy of Iraqi
family relations, the interaction with neighbors, male versus female
attitudes, and all the likeliest places that perhaps one would stash weapons
or something else that is illegal," Caldwell said.
Sunni representatives have dismissed the neighborhood committees. Haidar
Al Mulla, a representative of the Sunni Iraqi National Dialogue Party, said
the groups proposed by Shi'ites were militias.
The U.S. military said Iraqi and U.S. units began establishing a barrier
to protect a Baghdad neighborhood targeted by Al Qaida and Sunni insurgents.
The military said Dura, a mixed Sunni-Shi'ite neighborhood, has been the
target of daily killings and bombings.
"On average we were finding about 25 IEDs [improvised explosive devices]
a week in and around Dura before we started this operation," Master Sgt.
Ronald Loebel said. "So far this week, there has only been four IEDs in the
area. We have been very successful up to this point."
Meanwhile, the U.S. military has reported gains by the Iraqi National
Police.
Officials said the Iraqi police have taken significant strides toward
training and equipping goals. They said the police were being mentored by
hundreds of U.S. and other instructors.
"So, with regard to Iraqi police and police services, and also the
National Police, you can see that they're doing very well right now," U.S.
Maj. Gen. Joseph Peterson, commander of the Civilian Police Assistance
Training Team, said.
Peterson told a briefing on Monday that 92 percent of Iraq's 188,000
Interior Ministry forces have been trained and equipped. He said 90 percent
of Iraqi police were trained and 83 percent were equipped.
The army general said Iraqi police were working with U.S. troops in nine
Iraqi cities. He said those police units were 99 percent equipped.
The unit with the highest readiness was the National Police, formerly
the Special Police. Peterson said the National Police was 98 percent trained
and 92 percent equipped.
The U.S. military also reported gains by the Border Enforcement
Department, which oversees Iraq's borders with Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi
Arabia, Syria and Turkey. Peterson said 92 percent of the department's
nearly 30,000 officers were trained and 56 percent of them were equipped.
Officials said the Interior Ministry has enabled U.S. efforts to train
the Iraqi police. Iraq contains 12 police academies, with Iraqis comprising
80 percent of instructors. Another 185 trainers were from abroad, most of
them from the United States.
On Monday, the U.S. military unveiled a new digitized-print uniform for
the Iraqi police. The uniform was similar to the U.S. Army green uniform but
with small Iraqi flags embedded into the pattern.
Officials said the uniform was meant to prevent militias from easily
copying Iraqi police and army uniforms. They said the uniforms would be
issued in October to all Iraqi National Police officers.