Iraq Update 10/10/06

Prime Minister Maliki Addresses Security Issues: (MG William Caldwell, MNF-I Press Brief, 10/9/06) “On Saturday, Prime Minister Maliki, key ministerial leaders and sheikhs from the Al Anbar province met in Baghdad to dialogue and discuss recommendations aimed at tackling some of the tough security, culture and economic… problems facing the Al Anbar province. 

*         On October 1st, the prime minister, flanked by key political parties and religious sects, also signed a pledge aimed at ending internal battles and sectarian violence in Baghdad by setting up district committees representing community leaders from all sects. 

*         Later this month, several hundred civil society representatives will meet for the third of four conferences as part of the prime minister's reconciliation and national dialogue plan.  Already participants of that conference have agreed to work together to reduce the level of violence in this country.

*         There have been numerous other tribal and civil society conferences at the provincial and local levels to address the same security issues. 

*         Iraqi Sunni and Shi'a religious leaders are currently meeting in Saudi Arabia and discussing inter-Islamic fighting during a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.   

*         The most telling sign of progress towards reconciliation is that the leaders from diverse factions, with different interests, are working together and are communicating with each other."

Iraqi Parties Work Out Security Details: (Qassim Abdul-Zahra, AP, 10/10/06) Iraqi political parties have agreed that every security checkpoint in Baghdad will have an equal number of Shiite and Sunni troops in an effort to ensure the security forces do not allow sectarian attacks, officials said Tuesday.  The arrangement was the first reached under a new four-point security plan announced by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki a week ago. It is aimed at uniting the divided parties behind security efforts to stop Shiite-Sunni killings that have killed thousands in Baghdad this year.  Al-Maliki's plan called for the creation of local Shiite-Sunni committees that will oversee policing in each district of Baghdad, reporting back to a Central Committee for Peace and Security to coordinate with the security forces and the prime minister… In talks on Saturday, the parties agreed on the make-up of the Central Committee, said a member of the new committee, Bassem Sherif, who will represent the Shiite Fadila party.  The Central Committee includes four representatives each from the Shiite coalition that dominates parliament and the main Sunni coalition, along with one representative each from the Kurds and the Iraqi List, a mixed, secular party, Sherif said.   The parties also agreed that each checkpoint in Baghdad will be manned by an equal number of Sunni and Shiite troops, whether police or military, "so no violations can take place," said al-Hassan al-Shimmari, a spokesman and lawmaker from the Shiite Fadila party.  For example, the troops at a checkpoint can keep an eye on each other to ensure neither side lets by a Shiite or a Sunni armed group to carry out an attack or covers up for a militia after an attack, he said…

Prime Minister Maliki Addresses the Al Anbar Tribal Leaders' Conference: (10/7/06) “We have developed our compact [agreement or document] legitimately during this holy month of Ramadan to forbid the Iraqi “bloods” and covenant to stop the bloodshed and to cooperate through mechanisms agreed to monitor this compact and activated to be supportive of and complementary approaches to reconciliation and pave the way for practical matters to reassure and verify the processes to produce reform in the political process, security and economic.”