Political meddling, no Iraq polls worry US

Baghdad, June 11: Poor provincial governance and political interference in security matters are two of the biggest obstacles US and Iraqi forces face in the fight against Iraq's insurgency, a top US commander said.

Major-General Rick Lynch, commander of US forces in an area stretching from Baghdad's southern suburbs south through a region known as the ''Triangle of Death'', said political decisions were being made along sectarian lines at all levels.

He said of the three tiers which comprise the US strategy in Iraq, governance issues worried him more than security matters and transition work towards handing control back to Iraqi institutions.

''I am concerned about the capacity of government,'' General Lynch told reporters yesterday.

''As I deal with the government at a provincial level, I have a concern about whether or not that government is truly a representative government that respects the human rights of all the Iraqis in that province,'' he said.

His command includes three of five extra brigades deployed as part of a four-month-old Baghdad security plan seen as a last-ditch attempt to drag Iraq back from the brink of sectarian civil war between majority Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs.

The crackdown is also designed to give Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government more time to reach political targets set by Washington. These are aimed at promoting national reconciliation and drawing Sunni Arabs, who form the backbone of the insurgency, more firmly into the political process.

Among those targets are constitutional reforms, a revenue-sharing oil law and a provincial elections law that sets a date for the polls.

Political Interference

Iraq's parliament last month chose an election commission, seen as a big step towards calling local polls, but Washington is still pressing for a date for the elections before parliament rises for its summer break.

General Lynch said US commanders believed the elections were crucial if Iraq was to have a truly representative government in which decisions were not made along sectarian lines. Sunni Arabs boycotted the last provincial elections in 2005.

''That has to happen. We'll facilitate an election, but the government of Iraq has to schedule those elections,'' he said.

''You do have leaders in very high positions who are making sectarian-based decisions, no doubt about it. I see indications of sectarian decisions and not Iraqi decisions.'' Sunni Arabs are represented in the government and parliament after taking part in national elections in December 2005, but the main Sunni Arab bloc has threatened to pull out, saying corruption and sectarian violence has increased under Maliki.

General Lynch said he was also concerned about corruption within parts of Iraq's police force and by interference from the national government in security issues, particularly in the release of suspected insurgents held by Iraqi security forces.

In one instance about three weeks ago, General Lynch said 42 detainees held in Hilla, capital of Babil province south of Baghdad, were released ''on the direction of the national government''. He gave no indication who gave the order.

The Hilla police had cited ''examples after examples'', of government interference. ''That's a problem,'' he said.

Reuters>