Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
BAGHDAD, Dec 20 (AFP) - The US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, on
Tuesday issued a stark warning to Iraq's interior minister over the
importance of impartiality, his second such rebuke within a week.
"For a police force to be credible it has to have the confidence of all the
communities," he said. "You can't have someone regarded as sectarian as a
minister of the interior," he said in his year end address.
Sunni Arabs have long accused the interior ministry, led former Shiite
militia member Bayan Jabr Solagh, of being used by militias to settle old
scores with the Sunnis.
One week earlier, on December 13, Khalilzad criticized the ministry over the
discovery of two detention facilities where predominantly Sunni detainees
were tortured.
"This is unacceptable that this kind of abuse takes place," he said at the
time.
Solagh had played down the abuse in the most recent case, admitting only
that some of the detainees had been roughed up.
Khalilzad, however, publicly contradicted the minister.
"I can say that based on reports that I have received, in many instances it
was far worse than slapping around," he said.
The US military also announced Monday that five US soldiers from an elite
unit had been court martialed for abusing detainees, with sentences ranging
from one to six months detention and two being discharged from the army.
Tuesday issued a stark warning to Iraq's interior minister over the
importance of impartiality, his second such rebuke within a week.
"For a police force to be credible it has to have the confidence of all the
communities," he said. "You can't have someone regarded as sectarian as a
minister of the interior," he said in his year end address.
Sunni Arabs have long accused the interior ministry, led former Shiite
militia member Bayan Jabr Solagh, of being used by militias to settle old
scores with the Sunnis.
One week earlier, on December 13, Khalilzad criticized the ministry over the
discovery of two detention facilities where predominantly Sunni detainees
were tortured.
"This is unacceptable that this kind of abuse takes place," he said at the
time.
Solagh had played down the abuse in the most recent case, admitting only
that some of the detainees had been roughed up.
Khalilzad, however, publicly contradicted the minister.
"I can say that based on reports that I have received, in many instances it
was far worse than slapping around," he said.
The US military also announced Monday that five US soldiers from an elite
unit had been court martialed for abusing detainees, with sentences ranging
from one to six months detention and two being discharged from the army.