US defers to Baghdad on Hashd al-Shaabi

State Department spokesman, John Kirby, affirmed that the US supports any moves Baghdad might take to transform Iraq’s Shia militias, the Hashd al-Shaabi, into a regular armed force. “This is an Iraqi decision,” he stated, adding, “We support those forces working under the command and control of Iraqi security forces.”

WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan24)  – On Thursday, State Department spokesman, John Kirby, affirmed that the US supports any moves Baghdad might take to transform Iraq’s Shia militias, the Hashd al-Shaabi, into a regular armed force. “This is an Iraqi decision,” he stated, adding, “We support those forces working under the command and control of Iraqi security forces.”

Some local people agree. “The move will be good if the militia becomes a formal military force under the direct command of the Defense Minister,” said Mohammad Fayeq, a city official in Khurmatu, a Kurdish town south of Kirkuk that has often been a victim of abuse from the Hashd al-Shaabi.

“Then even if they violate human rights and commit war crimes, they will be investigated and punished,” Fayeq told Kurdistan24.

Zalmay Khalilzad, America’s ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan under George W. Bush, suggested to Kurdistan24 that Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi may hope to exert control over the militias by formalizing their status. But Khalilzad cautioned, “Hashd factions” may, instead, try to translate their military successes into “an independent military” or into “political gains.”

Others see even more serious risks. “The militia is 100 percent Shia and doesn’t reflect other components of Iraq, like Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Christians and Turkmen. It could be in the interest of the Shia people of Iraq, but a threat to all other ethnic and religious groups in the country,” Shakhawan Abdullah, head of the Iraqi parliament’s security and defense committee, told Kurdistan24.

“Whenever they want, they will threaten all of Iraq, since there is no balance,” Abdullah added.

He explained that the Iraqi government wants to “legalize” the crimes and human rights violations committed by the militia.

Moreover, Abdullah noted that Baghdad is in a rush to formalize the militias’ status within the Defense Ministry to gain their support for the Mosul offensive.

The US now shows Baghdad unusual deference. That was not always so.

In 2005, Ibrahim al-Jafaari became Iraq’s first post-liberation Prime Minister. However, the Bush administration had problems with him and helped engineer his ouster the following year.

Now Jaafari is Foreign Minister. He vetoed any truly meaningful representation of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in the international conferences on Iraq that were held July 20 and 21 in Washington DC.

KRG President Masoud Barzani complained, “Unfortunately, the host of that summit went along with the Iraqi foreign minister”—the same man whom the Bush administration had helped remove from office!

The KRG hosts two-thirds of the three million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees in Iraq. Another one million IDPs are expected to arrive in the Kurdistan Region with the Mosul offensive.

In one of the Washington meetings, $2.1 billion USD was pledged for the IDPs and refugees. The US says that the entire $2.1 billion in humanitarian relief should go through Baghdad.

The KRG, however, does not expect to see any of that money. As Falah Mustafa, head of the KRG’s Foreign Relations Department, explained, “How much money has Iraq got so far from the IMF, from the World Bank? They have not provided anything to the Kurdistan Region. Maybe they have given something to some NGOs or organizations but to the KRG, no.”

The head of the Hashd al Shaabi, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, previously led an Iranian-backed militia, Kata’ib Hizbullah, which was involved in attacking US troops in Iraq with powerful Iranian-supplied bombs.

In 2009, the US Treasury Department declared Muhandis a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist." He was described as “an advisor” to Qasem Soleimani, head of Iran's Qods Force, which supports Hizbullah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command.

According to Baghdad’s plan, Falah Fayaz, Iraqi National Security Advisor, will formally head the Hashd al-Shaabi, but Muhandis will be his deputy, and, most likely will be the one who will run the organization.

Muhandis was convicted in Kuwait of helping to plan attacks on the US and French embassies there in 1983. In 2003, he returned to Iraq and became a security adviser to Jaafari. Later in 2005, he was elected to Parliament. In 2007, after US officials learned of his history, they protested to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, prompting Muhandis to flee to Iran. But he returned to Iraq after 2011, when US troops withdrew from the country.

Some officials worry that the militia will become a vehicle for Iranian influence in Iraq, like Hizbullah in Lebanon. “The move will increase the support of Iran to an Iraqi component against the rest,” Abdullah added.

Indeed, the Iranian press has welcomed Baghdad’s formalizing the status of the militias, while the Saudi government has called for disbanding them. The danger exists that by so readily acquiescing to Baghdad’s decision, the US risks further exacerbating sectarian tensions in Iraq and the greater region.

 

Editing by Delovan Barwari
(Mewan Dolamari contributed to this report from Erbil)