Militia @ MindSay 
Tonight, I think I gained a true understanding for how much the government of the United States is really despised in this region, and also how hard of a task it will be to repair our image in the Middle East. This occurred while my host father and I were watching BBC World.
When a clip about a bombing in an Iraqi marketplace came on the screen, it caused my host father to say that “this is all the fault of the United States.” Now, I was fervently against the war in Iraq and blame my government for unleashing the chain of events that have lead to the country’s current chaos; however, I could not agree with the statement made by my host father.
In reply to his statement, I asked him how the Americans could be blamed for the violence occurring in Iraq when car bombs and guns used by either Arabs or proxies of Iran, not cruise missiles fired from American battleships, are now causing the vast amount of carnage that is consuming Iraq. Having constantly been asking myself why Arabs do not protest against the Arabs that are killing their fellow Arabs, I was glad that this topic of conversation came up between the two of us. My host father’s response to the question was “as long as America is in Iraq, it will be blamed for whatever is occurring in the country.”
In my eyes this answer was not good enough, but at the same time it allowed me to see and truly understand the Arab perception of the American government. Because of its past interactions with the region’s politics, anything that goes badly in the Middle East is blamed on the United States, even if it is a Shiite militia funded by Iran that blows up a car bomb in a market populated by Sunnis.
A recent political cartoon in Al-Ghad, Jordan’s largest newspaper, illustrated well the Arab impression of America as it had the outlines of Iraq, Palestine, and Lebanon standing up individually with smoke billowing out the sides of them just as though they were the World Trade Center towers.
Now once again, I am not saying America has not had any hand in [messing] this region up. It certainly has, and the anger I have seen in regards to America’s invasion of Iraq and its support of Israel has not surprised me. I expected that and understand it. What has surprised me though is the way that Arabs look the other way when Arab actors, whether it be Nasrallah in Lebanon or Baathist insurgents in Iraq, are the ones responsible for the current violence and chaos besieging many of the countries in the Middle East.
Arabs need to follow the lead of African-Americans by doing a gut check and begin denouncing “Arab on Arab” violence.
By Jim Garamone
WASHINGTON, Aug. 30, 2006 – The primary threats to Iraq's security are terrorists and death squads, the coalition commander in the country said today, and both must be addressed if Iraq is going to progress. Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr. said the Iraqi people "aren't going to have the security that they want until the Iraqi security forces are the primary and dominant providers of security in the country. That won't happen until all militias and insurgents are disbanded."
Casey spoke to reporters this morning in Baghdad. He said the Iraqi security forces are developing and continue to evolve and that soon they will turn into "security forces that the Iraqi people can be proud of." The Iraqi forces are receiving the equipment they need to deal with the enemy they face, Casey said. But they will receive more armored vehicles, more aircraft and more logistical capabilities in the coming months.
Casey said that while he does not know when Iraqi forces will be able to take over the security mission, they'll be able to take on security missions with very little coalition support over the next year to 18 months. The coalition and Iraqi government have a three-step process to develop the security forces, he said. The first step involved recruiting and training the army and police. This included giving the soldiers and police the weapons and equipment they need.
"The second step was to put them into the lead, still with our support," Casey said. "When they're in the lead, they're responsible for the area, and we still help them. That process is almost 75 percent complete." The final step will be to get the forces to the stage where they can provide security independently. "That step becomes primarily building institutional capacity, building ministerial capacity and building the key enabling systems - logistics, intelligence, medical support, those kinds of things - that can support and sustain the armed forces in place for a longer period of time."
Casey stressed that the Iraqi army forces in Diwaniyah "acquitted themselves quite well" in fighting against militia forces in the city. "They had losses, but they gave much better than they got," he said. "And that battle is not finished yet. There were (Iraqi) soldiers that were killed there. There is clearly an illegal armed force that is attempting to control areas of Diwaniyah, and I believe that the Iraqi division commander down there is going to continue to work to restore Iraqi governmental control to that city."
Disarming the militias is key to success in Iraq, Casey said, noting that the militias have to be confronted both politically and militarily. He said dealing with the militias is "fairly sophisticated and delicate, but both those tracks have to be pursued if we're going to stand the militias down in an appropriate fashion."
The experience in Baghdad illustrates the way to take down the militias. "What we're seeing in Baghdad, as these neighborhoods are cleared, is the Iraqi security forces that go in and hold the security in those neighborhoods," he said. "I think when the people begin to feel more confidence in their security forces, they'll feel less need to rely on the militias." Militias are a problem, with some militias "no better than murdering, criminal gangs" that "flout the rule of law every day," Casey said. "Those need to be dealt with firmly by the government, because no government can stand to have criminal groups terrorizing their population."
Casey said he has great hopes for the establishment of the Iraqi ground force headquarters and joint headquarters, both to begin operations in the next few days. This will give Iraqi security forces the oversight from their government that has been missing, he said.
Casey praised the work of the soldiers of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team in Baghdad. He extended the brigade's tour of duty in Iraq for four months to help combat sectarian violence in the capital. "It puts our most capable force at the decisive point in the campaign, and that's what we needed," he said. "They are magnificent young men and women, and their families are also magnificent for the support that they give these solders. I know it was difficult for the families. These soldiers are making a decisive difference here on the ground in Baghdad."
