Author: alan131210 » Tue Jul 10, 2012 8:16 am
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region -- Hakim Sheikh Latif, a Kurdish MP from the Change Movement (Gorran) in Iraqi Parliament, says that, in less than a year, the Iraqi government will attack the Kurdistan Region.
Latif says he has details but cannot reveal them to the public.
Under Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s leadership, the Iraqi army has been equipped with heavy weaponry. The government is currently looking to purchase 36 F16 fighters, worth US$32 billion.
According to statistics, the Iraqi army has half a million soldiers who report to Maliki, the chief commander.
Latif points out that a strong Iraqi army is dangerous for the Kurds and says, “Sadly, under the new Iraqi government, Kurds are still not guaranteed that the Iraqi army will not do what the former army did in Kurdistan.”
The MP believes that what the current prime minister is doing now is not much different from the Baath regime’s early steps, and that Maliki is arming Iraqi forces in order to impose his power.
“My words are the result of certain things I have seen and heard in Baghdad,” Latif said, emphasizing to Rudaw that there was no personal motivation behind his statements.
“I do not know what day exactly, but in maybe less than a year the Iraqi government will attack the Kurdistan Region,” he added.
Najiba Najib, a member of the finance committee in Iraqi Parliament, told Rudaw, “The Iraqi government has allocated 17.1 trillion Iraqi dinars from the budget for defense expenditures. The government is to allocate another 1 trillion Iraqi dinars (nearly US$1 billion) from the complementary budget to the Ministry of Defense.”
Najib also revealed that “Maliki has suggested setting up a finance box, outside the Iraqi budget, for the purchase of heavy weaponry.”
Hassan Jihad, an MP from the Kurdistan Alliance and member of Iraqi Parliament’s security and defense committee, said that the Iraqi government does not notify his committee when buying or signing arms deals.
Latif believes the building up of the army is being done for one purpose. “The Iraqi government believes the Kurdistan Region has taken double its rights,” he says.
“There are several things that pose real threats [to Kurdistan]. I cannot talk about these things to the newspapers. I will inform my party [Gorran] about them,” the MP added.
In the recent attempts to remove Maliki from his post, Gorran MPs have remained neutral, not signing the petition for a non-confidence motion that opponents tried to bring to parliament at the beginning of June.
Latif points to several areas he believes the Kurdish leadership should work on before Maliki carries out his attack. Kurds need to prepare by uniting themselves, carrying out reforms and eradicating corruption, he says.
He adds, “We have to defuse the plans and attempts made against the Kurds. We have to inform our allies about the issue and ask for support.”
Besides arming Iraqi forces, Maliki is also working on creating armed units for the Arab tribes in Kirkuk. After his visit to disputed area, Maliki promised tribal leaders that he would establish “support groups” for them.
Ahmed Askari, head of the security committee in Kirkuk Provincial Council, told Rudaw, “We have not received any formal notice, but during his visit to Kirkuk Maliki promised the Arab tribes and several Arab Sunni parties that he would help them with financing and arms. Maliki promised to create awakening council forces for them.”
Askari, a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), adds, “Creating such forces will not benefit the public. If one group is helped in becoming armed, other groups will arm themselves. This, eventually, will put the security of the region in danger.”
Najib says the “support groups” and “awakening forces” are being directly paid for by Maliki’s office. The budget allocated to the “awakening forces” is 400 billion Iraqi dinars.
she adds, “These forces do not report to the Ministry of Defense; they report to Maliki’s office directly. This is very dangerous. Maliki is placing all these forces under his own command.”
Najib also believes an Iraqi army attack on Kurdistan is possible. “It is not impossible that the army is being equipped to attack Kurds,” he says.
According to statistics from the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, of the country’s half a million soldiers, 70 percent are Shia, 25 percent are Sunni and 5 percent are Kurdish. The commanders of all 21 army divisions are appointed by Maliki. Only two division commanders are Kurdish.
One of the critiques against Maliki is that, when appointing division commanders, he did not seek parliament’s approval. He appointed them unilaterally.
A Kurdish brigadier general, who spoke to Rudaw on the condition of anonymity, said, “Maliki is doing all he can to eliminate the Kurdish presence in the Iraqi army, or at least weaken it.”
He added that, in order to eliminate Kurdish officers from having any authority, Maliki issued a decree two months ago to remove General Anwar Muhammad, the chief commander of the Iraqi Air Force, from his post. Maliki divided the air force into two units, moving Muhammad to the air defense unit and placing a Shia general in command of the air force unit.
Regarding the military capability of the Iraqi army, the Kurdish brigadier general said, “In order to carry out an attack, the Iraqi government needs six to eight months of research. However, any military movement, even if it involves moving forces from Basra to Kurdistan Region borders, only requires 25 days.”
He added, “Iraq has more than 20 divisions, all trained by the Americans. But the Kurdistan Region does not have even one division.”
Regarding the capability of Peshmerga troops to respond to Iraqi army attacks, the Kurdish brigadier general said, “The Kurdistan Region has 16 brigadiers, and only eight of these are united. The Kurdish forces could not face the Iraqi army in plain landscapes. The Iraqi army has advanced weaponry and modern training.”
Rudaw
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KERKUK is the Heart of Kurdistan
Kurdish state is on the horizon with WK now freed great kurdistan is closing in.
. All they talk about is pulling cheap stunts against KRG and which arab and turkman groups they should cooperate with . You might even see some arabs and turkmans in their meetings too .
