Wizdom
14-07-07, 20:07
Iraqi official slams US policy in Iraq
Sat, 14 Jul 2007 18:02:32
According to US military, A US helicopter raid wounded seven children in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul last Wednesday.
Iraqi senior official has accused US forces of human rights violations, embarrassing the government and cooperating with 'gangs of killers.'
Hassan al-Suneid who is a key adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has also said that al-Maliki has problems with the top US commander Gen. David Petraeus, who works along a "purely American vision," AP reported on Saturday.
Al-Suneid said the US strategy "is to arm whoever is against Qaeda. These are gangs of killers.''
He was referring to US overtures to groups in Anbar and Diyala, encouraging former insurgents to join the fight against al-Qaeda in Iraq.
"There are disagreements that the strategy that Petraeus is following might succeed in confronting al-Qaeda in the early period but it will leave Iraq an armed nation, an armed society and militias,'' said al-Suneid, who is also a member of the Security and Defense Committee in parliament.
Al-Suneid warned that these armed groups will retain their weapons in the future because of the US overtures.
"We insist that we don't need militias but we need Iraqi army and police battalions, brigades and divisions in order to be able to control in the future and not be pulled to conflicts among themselves (armed groups) and between them and the government,'' he noted.
He said that the US authorities have embarrassed al-Maliki' government through acts such as constructing a wall around Baghdad's neighborhood of Azamiyah and repeated raids on Shia militias in the capital's eastern Sadr City.
Al-Maliki has criticized such acts in the past and asked the US troops to inform Iraqi authorities before any raid.
"Al-Maliki has difficulty in understanding Petraeus because he moves with a purely American vision, and reality needs a coordinated mutual vision,'' he said, adding, "Therefore there is difficulty in dealing with him but there is determination at the Iraqi leadership to find a common place in dealing with Petraeus.''
Al-Suneid strongly criticized the heavy use of arms by US troops against suspected insurgents, saying they violate human rights by endangering civilians.
"American warplanes bomb areas where terrorists are suspected to be in and as you know the bombing is not a good method in detention
operations because they lead to civilian casualties among innocent people,'' he said.
He said the Americans use the methods that produce results fast, including "building walls, random killings, detentions in ways that are far from human rights and this embarrasses the government in front of its people.''
"We cannot imagine that a neighborhood is bombed with an excuse that we are searching for a terrorist, " he said.
DT/IS
Sat, 14 Jul 2007 18:02:32
According to US military, A US helicopter raid wounded seven children in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul last Wednesday.
Iraqi senior official has accused US forces of human rights violations, embarrassing the government and cooperating with 'gangs of killers.'
Hassan al-Suneid who is a key adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has also said that al-Maliki has problems with the top US commander Gen. David Petraeus, who works along a "purely American vision," AP reported on Saturday.
Al-Suneid said the US strategy "is to arm whoever is against Qaeda. These are gangs of killers.''
He was referring to US overtures to groups in Anbar and Diyala, encouraging former insurgents to join the fight against al-Qaeda in Iraq.
"There are disagreements that the strategy that Petraeus is following might succeed in confronting al-Qaeda in the early period but it will leave Iraq an armed nation, an armed society and militias,'' said al-Suneid, who is also a member of the Security and Defense Committee in parliament.
Al-Suneid warned that these armed groups will retain their weapons in the future because of the US overtures.
"We insist that we don't need militias but we need Iraqi army and police battalions, brigades and divisions in order to be able to control in the future and not be pulled to conflicts among themselves (armed groups) and between them and the government,'' he noted.
He said that the US authorities have embarrassed al-Maliki' government through acts such as constructing a wall around Baghdad's neighborhood of Azamiyah and repeated raids on Shia militias in the capital's eastern Sadr City.
Al-Maliki has criticized such acts in the past and asked the US troops to inform Iraqi authorities before any raid.
"Al-Maliki has difficulty in understanding Petraeus because he moves with a purely American vision, and reality needs a coordinated mutual vision,'' he said, adding, "Therefore there is difficulty in dealing with him but there is determination at the Iraqi leadership to find a common place in dealing with Petraeus.''
Al-Suneid strongly criticized the heavy use of arms by US troops against suspected insurgents, saying they violate human rights by endangering civilians.
"American warplanes bomb areas where terrorists are suspected to be in and as you know the bombing is not a good method in detention
operations because they lead to civilian casualties among innocent people,'' he said.
He said the Americans use the methods that produce results fast, including "building walls, random killings, detentions in ways that are far from human rights and this embarrasses the government in front of its people.''
"We cannot imagine that a neighborhood is bombed with an excuse that we are searching for a terrorist, " he said.
DT/IS