Iraq's Maliki Purges Iraqi Security Forces
I am sure you probably missed this. But, Iraq's leader, Maliki, a Shiite, is taking the coming US leaving in December as an excuse to purge the American created Iraqi Security Forces. This is the same force, actually, only force, that will be present in Iraq once the USA leaves. This purging may or may not be a good thing, depending on how the Sunni minority views it.
The purging is anyone who had served in Saddam Husseins security forces forcing them to retire or quit. Some are loosely accused of aiding local terrorist groups. Some 600 were accused of plotting to overthrow Maliki. How would they know this? Maliki, himself, control Iraq's security, defense and interior departments, so he controls the bulk and shares limited power to the minority, Sunnis. Sunni regions in Iraq are already threatening to break away from Iraq. Maliki has threatened to use the Iraqi Army to not allow this.Some 40 Sunni officers were fired for having terrorist ties according to Maliki. But, how does one know this was true? Maliki will not assign anyone to a cabinet post unless he can trust them. In the Defense Ministry, only 13% of the officers are Sunni, the rest are Shiite. The Interior Ministry is worse, only 5% are Sunni.
The writing is on the wall. With Iran next door and Sunni, they will no doubt cause a lot of mischief in Iraq after Dec, 2011. Tensions are rising between the sects and some predict the Sunnis will start a civil war once again.