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Top commanders in Basra to be reassigned

The Iraqi government said yesterday that it was reassigning the top military and police commanders in the southern city of Basra, three weeks after a crackdown on Shiite militias there that was widely criticised as a poorly planned offensive that failed to disarm the fighters.

  • By Amit R. Paley, Los Angeles Times-Washington Post
  • Published: 00:28 April 18, 2008
  • Gulf News

Baghdad: The Iraqi government said yesterday that it was reassigning the top military and police commanders in the southern city of Basra, three weeks after a crackdown on Shiite militias there that was widely criticised as a poorly planned offensive that failed to disarm the fighters.

Iraqi officials said the military commander, Lieutenant General Mohan Al Furaiji, and the police chief, Major General Jalil Khalaf, were not forced out of their positions. Both commanders were being promoted from their Basra posts, which were always meant to be temporary, the officials said.

But some Basra politicians said the moves were likely punishment for the botched execution of a campaign ordered last month by Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki against militias, particularly the Mahdi Army of anti-American cleric Moqtada Al Sadr. "It seems that the government wants to blame its failure on somebody," said Ali Al Suaidi, spokesman for the Al Sadr office in Basra. "It is not good for the government to change its commanders in such conditions and circumstances, but this indicates the bad planning of the government."

The two commanders said they were dispatched from their posts in the Defence Ministry last year to spend three months working to improve the situation in Basra, an oil-rich city that has been dominated by gangs and militias. Their contracts were then extended for another three months, a period that ended on April 15.

"We did not let down the government in carrying out our duty in the last crackdown and we have carried out a lot of difficult tasks and liberated a lot of areas in Basra from the control of the Mahdi Army," Khalaf said in an interview.

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