The effect of institutionalization of the militias of popular crowd on the unity of Iraq

Popular crowd militias in Iraq are paramilitary forces belong to the Shiite component appeared in the Iraqi scene after a fatwa “jihad Ulkipaia ” issued by the higher Shiite religious marja in Iraq , in the June 13, 2014 m, to confront ISIS attacks , “Daash.”
militias popular crowd consists of Iraqi Shiite youth spread over more than 42 factions, some of those factions are composed of about one million people and the other are comprising of a few hundred, the observers attribute the large number of factions that the popular crowd up the desire to get on the authoritarian and military privileges. factions of the popular crowd are divided into two parts: the first is the large known factions , such as the Badr Organization and the Hezbollah Brigades and the Kataib Ahl-AL-Haq, and Saraya Al-salam (peace) , brigade Kherasan and others. Those organizations are linked ideologically, organizationally and financially in a direct form to the Iranians, and this poses a threat to the future of those forces and their role in the existing political conflict in the country. the second section is the young people who listened to the call of the religious marja after the fall of Mosul to the hands of state organization in June 2014 and joined the army and police sectors in Baghdad belt and in other provinces, according to the parliamentary security committee member Ammar Tohme.
The militias of popular crowd are directly linked to the Iranian regime , as headed by Jamal Mohammed Jaafar, known as his nom de guerre, Abu Mahdi Mohandes, who his Iraqi officials say about him that he is the right hand of the commander of the Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, and some of the popular crowd fighters praised him considering him as if a commander for all forces that his word is like a sword on them. Although the Iraqi government to deny the existence of Iranian support for the militias, but the Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi finally forced to admit that the Iranian regime provides “substantial support” to the popular crowd militias allied with the Iraqi military and security forces.
The crowd, which was established basically for the very theory to fight the state organization in Iraq and the Levant “Daash” but realistically it has committed many of the sectarian killings of the people of the Sunni provinces of Salahuddin and Anbar province and recently in Diyala, and the strangeness of these crimes it comes completely in line with the psychological and mental makeup of the murderer, who sees every Iraqi belongs to the Sunni component is part of state organization that should be killed !.
Therefore the Sunni political forces in Iraq have submitted a formal request to the United Nations mission, to provide international protection for the Sunni community in Diyala, and the threat of producing a legal judicial suit against those responsible organs, organizations and militias committed sectarian abuses. Furthermore, repeated violations of the popular crowd militias in the provinces of Salahuddin, Diyala, Anbar and others pushed the Sunni politicians to claim the Shiite Marja to disband the militias, which ordered its formation earlier. Crimes of the militias, especially the series of bombings and physical liquidation in Muqdadiya district in eastern Baghdad, the goal behind it was causing a demographic change in the region, which is not only dozens of kilometers away from the Iranian border, as described by many Iraqi and Arab political figures. the MP Haider Mulla described the Muqdadiyah events that have occurred recently as a response to the work table of the Iranian “agenda” in Iraq.
And the abhorrent sectarian behavior of the militias of the popular crowd raised also US commanders fears as Gen. Martin Dempsey, the former Chief of Staff of the US Joint armies summed up the current Iraqi scene in the statement he made during his recent visit to Baghdad, which he said “when he flew aboard a helicopter over Baghdad ,it could be seen a lot of flags and emblems of the known Shi’ite militias without seeing the Iraqi flag between them, but rarely, and added “the war against the Islamic state’s efforts are doomed to fail if the Baghdad government did not succeed in commitment to its obligations toward the Sunnis to be a government for all Iraqis.”
The former head of the CIA , David Petraeus, that the real threat to Iraq’s stability and security in the region in the long term comes from the “popular crowd” militia backed by the Iranian regime, not from the state organization in Iraq and the Levant “Daash” . David Petraeus, who was also the leader of his country’s forces in Iraq, in response to questions from The Washington Post in March of last year, said these militias have committed flagrant massacres against Sunni civilians, though he acknowledged its role in stopping the advance of state organization fighters “Daash” in Iraqi areas. US General believes that the excesses of the Shiite militias against Sunni civilians constitutes a threat to all efforts to make the Sunni component part of the solution in Iraq and is not a factor for failure. He stressed that the state regulation “Daash” does not represent the first danger to the security of Iraq and the region “because it is on the way to defeat, but the most danger comes from the Shiite militias backed by Iran ,” he said.
David Petraeus, warned of the growing influence of the militia backed by Iran so that the Iraqi government becomes unable to contain it.
. Petraeus stressed to defeat al-State “Daash” in Iraq, a task that must be accomplished through Iraqi forces backed by international coalition , pointing to the need to create a parallel Sunni forces , and to stop the excesses of Shiite militias against Sunni citizens
that increase sectarian tensions in the country.
. Commenting on the emergence of the Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani inside Iraq, US General expressed his surprise at seeing Soleimani that he moves from working in the secrecy to the character more openly.
As a proactively step by the Iranian regime in order to maintain the sustainability of militias of the popular crowd as a military arm in Iraq, this regime practiced its pressure on Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to issue a decision in which militia of the popular crowd is part of the Iraqi armed forces and undertake the task of fighting terrorism , this is in the public, but the real mission is to address the opponents of the Iranian policy in Iraq, and thus become like the Lebanese Hezbollah, which is considered one of the most important military tools of the Iranian regime in the Mashreq Arab.
But there is a formal difference between them, that the latter works out of the Lebanese government and political system, but quite influential on the Lebanese scene, while the militias of the popular crowd will be an integral part of the government institutions of the Iraqi political system, and the Iranian regime hopes to be in the same Hezbollah level if not more , so how is not like this ? and the word “Basij” is in the Persian language, means the crowd (Alhashed)! .

If this matter is becoming a reality in Iraq that means the involvement of the militias of the popular crowd in the Iraqi military institution , it means to disable the international efforts led by the United States efforts to re-correct the Iraqi political system that has veered far from the track path, as it completely eliminates the project of the Guard National, which is a gateway to a course correction .
There is no doubt, that this engagement will deepen inevitably the case of societal concern in Iraq that could lead to a split of it , how can a military militia leaders committed sectarian crimes and pro of the Iranian regime to become by a fait accompli, “the leaders’ of divisions or brigades in the Iraqi army,” the leaders , if it is allowed to us to say that their natural places are prisons because they committed crimes against the Iraqi people and not the “leaders” of the divisions and brigades, “leaders” of the militias , least that can be described by that they are thirsty for revenge, each according to his instinctive motives against his partner in the homeland, but the question that arises in this context: Do the current US administration or the next one to accept this engagement , being an official sponsor of the Iraqi political system in the phase of the post-Saddam Hussein .

Rawabet Research and Strategic Studies Center