.Iraq premier: No politics in Sunni crackdown
BAGHDAD (AP) - Last weekend's crackdown on a government-allied Sunni paramilitary group in Baghdad was not politically motivated and followed a six-month investigation that tied the commander to crimes and subversion, Iraq's prime minister said Thursday.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in his first public comment on the two-day gunbattles in the Fadhil neighborhood, told Iraqi state television that the crackdown sends a message that those who want to undermine the political process "will face the same fate."
Members of the Awakening Council in Fadhil launched an uprising Saturday after police arrested their leader on charges of terrorism, murder, extortion and leading a cell loyal to Saddam Hussein's banned Baath party.
The move alarmed leaders of other councils - made up of Sunnis who turned against the insurgency and help provide security in their neighborhoods along with Iraqi police and soldiers.
Other leaders feared the Fadhil operation, as well as the arrests of other Awakening members, signaled a bid to disband the groups by the Shiite-led government, which has never fully trusted the paramilitaries because their ranks include ex-insurgents.
In his television interview, al-Maliki, who is a Shiite, said the U.S. military and the Iraqis had been discussing the crackdown for the past six months.
U.S. authorities were initially skeptical of the allegations until "documents were presented in the joint (U.S.-Iraqi security) committee" showing that the Fadhil leadership was involved in crime and underground Baath party activities.
"The issue was not for political or media purposes," al-Maliki said.
He said the operation sends a message "to those who are following the same path taken by the gang in Fadhil that their fate will be the same."
The crackdown followed widespread complaints by Awakening Councils, which the U.S. calls Sons of Iraq, that the government had stopped paying their salaries despite a promise to the U.S. to do so.
U.S. and Iraqi officials said the pay delays were due to bureaucratic red tape and would resume shortly.
On Thursday, the Iraqi military spokesman for Baghdad told The Associated Press that council members in the capital would receive their pay this week, including those in Fadhil who handed in their weapons last Sunday.
The government began taking control of the councils from the Americans last October. The last group, in Salahuddin province, came under Iraqi command Wednesday.
As part of the transfer, the government pledged to take 20 percent of the more than 90,000 members into the police and army and pay the rest until civilian jobs could be found for them.
Although attacks are down to unprecedented wartime levels, violence continues.
In Baghdad, two gunmen firing from a car killed an Iraqi army officer in the Mansour district Thursday afternoon, police said. One of the gunmen was killed and the other captured, police said.
Police said gunmen broke into the home of a Christian family in Baghdad's Dora district, robbing them of gold and jewelry and killing two women.
Militants also hurled a grenade at an American patrol Thursday on Palestine Street in east Baghdad, wounding two civilians, police said. There were no reports of U.S. casualties.
In the northern city of Mosul, a roadside bomb exploded near a small restaurant frequented by police, wounding four of them and a civilian, police said.
MyWay
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in his first public comment on the two-day gunbattles in the Fadhil neighborhood, told Iraqi state television that the crackdown sends a message that those who want to undermine the political process "will face the same fate."
Members of the Awakening Council in Fadhil launched an uprising Saturday after police arrested their leader on charges of terrorism, murder, extortion and leading a cell loyal to Saddam Hussein's banned Baath party.
The move alarmed leaders of other councils - made up of Sunnis who turned against the insurgency and help provide security in their neighborhoods along with Iraqi police and soldiers.
Other leaders feared the Fadhil operation, as well as the arrests of other Awakening members, signaled a bid to disband the groups by the Shiite-led government, which has never fully trusted the paramilitaries because their ranks include ex-insurgents.
In his television interview, al-Maliki, who is a Shiite, said the U.S. military and the Iraqis had been discussing the crackdown for the past six months.
U.S. authorities were initially skeptical of the allegations until "documents were presented in the joint (U.S.-Iraqi security) committee" showing that the Fadhil leadership was involved in crime and underground Baath party activities.
"The issue was not for political or media purposes," al-Maliki said.
He said the operation sends a message "to those who are following the same path taken by the gang in Fadhil that their fate will be the same."
The crackdown followed widespread complaints by Awakening Councils, which the U.S. calls Sons of Iraq, that the government had stopped paying their salaries despite a promise to the U.S. to do so.
U.S. and Iraqi officials said the pay delays were due to bureaucratic red tape and would resume shortly.
On Thursday, the Iraqi military spokesman for Baghdad told The Associated Press that council members in the capital would receive their pay this week, including those in Fadhil who handed in their weapons last Sunday.
The government began taking control of the councils from the Americans last October. The last group, in Salahuddin province, came under Iraqi command Wednesday.
As part of the transfer, the government pledged to take 20 percent of the more than 90,000 members into the police and army and pay the rest until civilian jobs could be found for them.
Although attacks are down to unprecedented wartime levels, violence continues.
In Baghdad, two gunmen firing from a car killed an Iraqi army officer in the Mansour district Thursday afternoon, police said. One of the gunmen was killed and the other captured, police said.
Police said gunmen broke into the home of a Christian family in Baghdad's Dora district, robbing them of gold and jewelry and killing two women.
Militants also hurled a grenade at an American patrol Thursday on Palestine Street in east Baghdad, wounding two civilians, police said. There were no reports of U.S. casualties.
In the northern city of Mosul, a roadside bomb exploded near a small restaurant frequented by police, wounding four of them and a civilian, police said.
MyWay
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