(Talabani says) Iraq militias 'could beat rebels'

[ECH1969]

Iraq's new president has said the insurgency could be ended immediately if the authorities made use of Kurdish, Shia Muslim and other militias. Jalal Talabani said this would be more effective than waiting for Iraqi forces to take over from the US-led coalition.

In my opinion, Iraqi forces, the popular forces and government forces, are now ready to end the insurgency and end this terrorism," he said. "But there is a kind of thinking inside the government that they must not use ."

The Kurds have in the past offered the use of their estimated 80,000 Peshmerga guerrillas for security tasks but have been turned down. So, too, has the Iranian-influenced Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (Sciri) and its Badr brigade, another well-trained fighting force.

"We cannot wait for years and years of terrorist activity because we haven't enough government forces," the president said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4454985.stm

[Muddy Waters Guitar]

1. Formula for civil war

Yeah, that's real smart on Talabani's part. Tens of thousands of bloodthirsty, heavily armed Kurdish peshmerga descending on Sunni Arab homes in Ramadi and rebellious Shiite Arab homes in Sadr City. Besides the fact that the Kurds' forces would be seriously depleted in the fighting (and thus unable to fight in the Kurdish War of Independence which we all know is around the bend), this would inflame sentiments toward civil war in those places and make resistance even worse. Plus they'd attract tens of thousands more foreign fighters. A bad, bad idea.

[KlatooBNikto]

2. He reminds me of the arrogant Nguyen Van Thieu of Vietnam who

used to boast how his 'army' would beat the Vietcong.

[Frederik]

3. Oh Jesus Christ

Things are about to get ugly.

[Voltaire99]

7. Uglier.

They look ugly enough as it is!

[Charlie Brown]

4. Oh, great. He wants us to arm Al-Sadr

That went so well the last time(s)

[NNN0LHI]

5. One of the militias that the US hired was called the Afghan Mujahideen

We all know how well that turned out.

Don

[w4rma]

6. What would be their motivation? Alot of them joined for the training and

to be able to spy on (and counter) US activity in Iraq.

[cal04]

8. Mr Talabani, also told the BBC he would not sign a death warrant

Mr Talabani, a Kurd, also told the BBC he would not sign a death warrant for captured former leader Saddam Hussein. And he warned that any attempt to impose an Islamic government on Iraq would break up the country.

He said the Shia religious parties with whom the Kurds have struck a partnership to underpin the new government have agreed to a compromise whereby Islam will be one of several sources for Iraqi law.

'I won't sign'

If Saddam Hussein is to go to the gallows, as many of his erstwhile foes insist he must, his death sentence will have to be endorsed by the new Iraqi presidency.
We cannot wait for years and years of terrorist activity because we haven't enough government forces

But Mr Talabani, a lawyer and human rights advocate who has always opposed capital punishment, made it clear that his principles would not allow him to sign such a document, despite all the suffering the Baathist regime had inflicted on his Kurdish community. "Personally, no, I won't sign," he said. "But you know, the presidency of Iraq are three people. These three must decide. So I can be absent. I can go on holiday and let the two others decide."
Mr Talabani said all other members of the new Iraqi leadership were in favour of a swift execution for the former Iraqi dictator.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4454985.stm