A leading member of the Iraqi Interim Governing Council spoke to Omayma Abdel-Latif about the current situation Reports that the Iraqi Interim Governing Council (IGC) is planning to form Kurdish and Shi'ite militias to prevent attacks on US-led occupation troops was denied by Adel Abdul-Mahdi, spokesperson for Abdul-Aziz Al-Hakim, the current chairman of the IGC, in an interview with Al- Ahram Weekly on Monday. Abdul- Mahdi is also deputy head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). "We are not going to form militias based on factional or sectarian divisions," said Abdul-Mahdi by telephone from Baghdad. "The IGC is studying proposals to form a security task force which will operate under the supervision of the Iraqi Interior Ministry and will include Iraqis from across the political divide." The 60-year-old Abdul- Mahdi, an economist who joined the SCIRI in the early 1980s, served as special envoy of the late Ayatollah Baquir Al-Hakim to Iraqi Kurdistan until the invasion and occupation of Iraq. He is considered to be the movement's main ideologue. Abdul-Mahdi's statements came a day after the Body of Iraqi Muslim Ulama, a popular Sunni group formed after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, protested against the move and cautioned against what it sees as attempts to "Lebanon-ise" Iraq, a reference to the civil war fought by Lebanese militias from 1975 to 1990. A statement from the group stated that, "there are constant attempts by the occupying forces to invoke the sectarian and ethnic divisions. This is akin to the divide and rule policy. The Iraqi people should not subscribe to such a strategy". Defending the IGC's decision, Abdul-Mahdi told the Weekly that the security force will function only "until the build-up of the Iraqi police and armed forces is completed". He continued by saying that, "this force is meant to operate during the transitional period. We have been asking the Americans to leave the security issue for the Iraqis to handle and we are taking things into our own hands now." Abdul-Mahdi emphasised that the IGC was working to dissolve the militias rather than encourage their formation. He cited as an example the Badr Brigade, the 15,000-man strong paramilitary wing of the SCIRI that disarmed -- under US pressure -- several months ago. According to Abdul-Mahdi, the new security forces "will be composed of the elements which fought the former regime". Though he declined to elaborate on whether it will include members of the Badr Brigade, Abdul- Mahdi explained it would be made up of "Iraqis of all stripes, and their loyalty will not be to the political parties or groupings to which they originally belong, but rather to the Iraqi state". Abdul-Mahdi said the IGC is still struggling with different proposals on how to respond to Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani's demands to hold elections. He said there is a consensus among the IGC members on the need to make decisions that reflect the true will of the Iraqi people. "We are still studying proposals on the most suitable election mechanisms for the present circumstances in Iraq. Perhaps we will resort to popular recommendations in some areas, while conducting elections in others," said Abdul-Mahdi. Abdul-Mahdi pointed out that the views of the Grand Ayatollah reflected those of the Iraqi people. When asked whether Iraq's most senior religious authority would be consulted on the IGC decisions regarding elections, Abdul- Mahdi responded, "the Grand Ayatollah is a religious authority who is keen to emphasise the general principles, but does not get involved in the day-to-day politics. We know he does not want to be involved in the intricacies of the political process, but that he wants to ensure that the Iraqi people's choices are respected." Abdul-Mahdi dismissed recent reports of divisions within the IGC as "unfounded", insisting that "there is a high degree of consensus, and that issues are discussed in a democratic manner". He acknowledged, however that, "there are differences with the US-led occupation administration in Iraq on how to handle the post-war situation." "We know that the occupation forces have their own agenda and proposals, and we have ours," he said, "but we are still struggling to represent the Iraqi point of view which, in many ways, opposes that of the occupation administration." Commenting on statements made earlier this week by US Chief Civil Administrator Paul Bremer on the signing of a defence pact between the US-led forces and the IGC, Abdul-Mahdi said that it was still under consideration. "We are about to begin negotiations with the civil administrator to reach an agreement on how the status of the foreign troops on the Iraqi soil should be defined," he said. Abdul-Mahdi believes that "Iraq does not need any troops after sovereignty has been handed over to Iraqis", but he added that "a US-led global agenda has been imposed on Iraq; we should know how to deal with an agenda like this in a way that does not undermine Iraqi national interests." Abdul-Mahdi admitted that the Sunnis have been marginalised in post-war Iraq but that they remain an important part of the make-up of the country. "No Iraqi party can exclude the Sunnis from the political equation. They have a very strong presence which cannot be ignored," he said firmly. When asked whether the guerrilla resistance against the US-led occupation -- confined largely to the so-called Sunni triangle -- would embarrass the Shi'ites of Iraq, Abdul-Mahdi quickly rejected the idea. Rather, he said, "there is a peaceful Iraqi resistance which aims to put an end to the occupation of Iraq. Iraq's Sunni and Shi'ite population constitute the bulk of this resistance. And it is this kind of political resistance that has the backing of the Iraqi people". Abdul-Mahdi believes that the "destructive acts" committed by the remnants of Saddam's regime are acts of self-defence rather than attempts to liberate Iraq. "I think those acts, in fact, provide the occupation forces with an excuse to extend their stay in Iraq by deploying more troops on the ground." Abdul-Mahdi believes that peaceful methods of resistance, like civil disobedience and marches, constitute a much more effective method of resisting the occupation.
