The US has taken steps to ensure it controls Iraq through its future army even after it formally transfers political sovereignty to a civilian government, reports today’s Washington Post.
The Post says the US is creating an Iraqi defence department modelled on the Pentagon, and is presently training its top officials in Washington. The US wants to secure Iraq as a strategic base for its forces in the region, but the Pentagon has no assurance of what kind of “shared forces agreement”, if any, it might negotiate with a new Iraqi government after planned elections at the end of 2005. So “the establishment and staffing of an Iraqi Defence Ministry”, as the Post notes, “appear aimed at ensuring that the Iraqi military's new leaders will be responsive to U.S. interests, regardless of what kind of agreement is eventually reached.” In the interim, as the New York Times reported earlier this week, the US claims it has the right to continued military occupation of the country and command of all Iraqi and foreign units. Articles available on www.supportingfacts.com Sorry for any cross posting.
