February 07, 2024
The New York Times engages in a mischievous attempt to depict Iraq's popular mobilization forces as an element that is foreign to Iraq and under Iranian control.
Iraq Hosts Both U.S. and Iranian-Backed Forces. It’s Getting Tense. (archived) - New York Times, Feb 7 2024
As Iranian-backed groups and American forces, both of which have bases in Iraq, lock horns around the Mideast, things are becoming uncomfortable for the Iraqi government.
This is from the get go of the headline blatant nonsense:
For years, Iraq has managed to pull off an unlikely balancing act, allowing armed forces tied to both the United States and Iran, an American nemesis, to operate on its soil.Now things are getting shaky.
When Washington, Tehran and Baghdad all wanted the same thing — the defeat of the Islamic State terrorist group — the relationships were fairly tenable, but in recent months, as the war in the Gaza Strip sends ripples across the region, American and Iranian-backed forces have clashed repeatedly in Iraq and Syria. A U.S. strike on one of those militias last week killed 16 Iraqis, and Iraq is saying it has had enough.
“Our land and sovereign authority is not the right place for rival forces to send messages and show their strength.” the office of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement on Sunday.
For many years, both Iran and the United States had their proponents within the Iraqi government, and the Iranian-backed armed groups and the American troops lived in a tolerable if uneasy balance.
...
Now, Mr. Sudani’s government is sounding increasingly tough.Its statement Sunday denouncing the fighting on its soil was particularly pointed in its criticism of the United States, describing last week’s attack in western Iraq as “a blatant aggression” that had jeopardized talks on reducing the number of American troops in Iraq. “Violence only begets violence,” the statement warned.
How is the U.S. foreign occupation force, that has been ordered by a majority in the Iraqi parliament to leave the country, comparable to militia groups of Iraqis founded by the Iraqi government, paid by it, and under its direct control?
It ain't.
The Popular Mobilization Force ...
... is an Iraqi state-sponsored umbrella organization composed of approximately 67 different armed factions, with around 230,000 fighters that are mostly Shia Muslim groups, but also include Sunni Muslim, Christian, and Yazidi groups. The Popular Mobilization Units as a group was formed in 2014 and have fought in nearly every major battle against ISIL.
...
The People's Mobilization Forces (PMF) were formed by the Iraqi governmenton 15 June 2014 after top Iraqi Shia cleric Ali al-Sistani's non-sectarian fatwa on "Sufficiency Jihad" on 13 June. The fatwa called for defending Iraqi cities, particularly Baghdad, and to participate in the counter-offensive against ISIL, following the Fall of Mosul on 10 June 2014. The forces brought together a number of Shia militias, most of which receive direct support from Iran, along with a small number of Sunni tribesmen by uniting existing militias under the "People's Mobilization Committee" of the Iraqi Ministry of Interior in June 2014.
The forces would fall under the umbrella of the state's security services and within the legal frameworks and practices of the Ministry of Interior. On 19 December 2016, Iraqi President Fuad Masum approved a law passed by parliament in November that incorporated PMU in the country's armed forces.
The Iraqi PMF groups were founded by the Iraqi government and are under its control. Some of them are Shia and some may have an ideological affinity to Iran.
In 2014 and later many of these groups, Shia as well as others, received equipment and training from Iran to fight against ISIS. This help was delivered following requests from the Iraqi government.
That does not make those groups into an Iranian element or into something outside of the Iraqi security forces. They are an integral part of the Iraqi state.
To depict these as 'Iran-backed' outside groups comparable to the unwanted U.S. occupation forces in Iraq is pure falsehood designed to allow for attacks on those groups even when such attacks are in fact attacks on the security forces of Iraq and condemned by the Iraqi government.
Posted by b on February 7, 2024 at 17:51 UTC | Permalink