The Difference between PMF and Awakening
23 December 2016
By Abdulrahman Al-Rashed
Recent warnings from international organizations of the Popular Mobilization
Forces (PMF) had brought the militia back to the front as a dangerous
organization. There is a serious campaign trying to mislead the public by
comparing it to other organizations like the the Sunni Awakening and Peshmerga.
During the last years of U.S. presence in Iraq, military leadership formed a
force of Sunni tribes of al-Anbar to fight the terrorist organization al-Qaeda,
after U.S. troops failed to do so.
New York Times published back then statements of U.S. intelligence officials
saying that Anbar governorate was in a desperate state and the situation in
west of Iraq has gotten out of hand.
A force was then formed called the Awakening (Sahawat), which was ridiculed
given that all residents of Anbar are suspects, and since Qaeda was in its
prime, especially after the formation of its most dangerous wing, what we now
call ISIS, led by Zarqawi. They managed to kill the Awakening leader, after
which the area was under two years of grueling battles that ended terrorism
there.
At that time, government of Nouri al-Maliki objected the formation of such a
sectarian tribal movement, given that Awakening is Sunni. The government
claimed that the movement will become an armed force against the central
government. Eventually, Awakening was terminated and its allocated funds were
stopped. Few members of the movement were enrolled in the armed forces.
Theoretically, their fears were justified since there is no parallel force
facing it. But in the field, Awakening was sacked and no alternative
governmental forces was deployed to guard the west of Iraq. The result was
that Qaeda returned and took control of large areas killing and displacing
thousands of civilians.
Due to Maliki's failure to present a substitute for Awakening, the caner of
terrorist organizations and it surrounded Baghdad, took over Mosul, Biji and
many other cities.
This is the story of Awakening.
There is another alternative force: Peshmerga.
Peshmerga is an armed Kurdish forces and it was agreed that it will operate in
its areas and thus the government doesn't have to deploy its forces there. As
long as the Kurds enjoy a special situation in their semi-independent region,
Peshmerga will remain there to protect their areas.
But, the situation with PMF is different than that of Awakening and Peshmerga.
PMF was formed of previously existing Shi'ite militias and is backed by the
authorities as part of the allocations among the rivalling Shi'ite forces.
After ISIS took control of Mosul, and military officials escaped the area,
Iran wanted ''to help''. It instructed the political powers to undermine the
regime, including the army, formed by the U.S., claiming it was of the remains
of Saddam Hussein regime.
This is not true.
Since the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime, thousands of the armed forced
were killed or neutralized in 2003.
But Iran and sectarian leaders have the will to form a sectarian military
force, in parallel with the army and their orders, where the government
ensures the funds for its armament and payroll of its members.
The case is similar to what Ayatullah Khomenei followers did after the
revolution against the Shah. They formed the Revolutionary Guard to be part of
the authorities and alienate the rest of Iranian partners in the revolution.
PMf is a large militia which in formality is part of the government, but we
will later see how it evolved to empower a single Shi'ite party of ruling the
country and marginalizing other Iraqi and Shi'ites forces. Thus, Iran will be
the dominant over political powers that control PMF.
The difference between the two armed groups, Sunni Awakening and PMF, is that
the former was formed to fight Sunni extremists in Sunni regions, while the
latter is a Shi'ite militia devoted to rule Iraq as a whole. Now that
Awakening has been terminated, PMF is growing and not only in liberating Mosul
or fighting ISIS.
Though Iraqi authorities tried to ensure the skeptics and those opposing by
including small Sunni units, PMF and its leadership remain a dangerous
sectarian project and a weapon with which Iran can threaten all Iraqis.
The final question here is: can Iraq be saved from those threatening
alterations?
As long as the elected central government is weak, and as long as Iran is
gradually overtaking the Iraqi institutions, it won't be easy to stop the PMF
project. It is similar to that of Hezbollah militias in Lebanon, who
practically have taken control over the whole country without having to cancel
out the ruling political institutions after rendering them useless.
The solution lies within the hands of the Iraqis, firstly, to stop the
sabotage of the government. It is after all up to the international
organizations to hold PMF accountable for its actions and enlisting its
leaders on the black list. The U.S. should also be responsible and prompt to
take action and rectify the situation.
Iraqis will lose their modern state if they don't unite against the militias
and sectarian blocs and in face of the Iranian control over the government.
Al Rashed is the general manager of Al -Arabiya television. He is also the
former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al- Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly
magazine, Al Majalla. He is also a senior Columnist in the daily newspapers of
Al Madina and Al Bilad. He is a US post-graduate degree in mass
communications. He has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs. He is
currently based in Dubai.
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EsinIslam.Com
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