December 4, 2003	Thursday	Shawwal 8, 1424

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WASHINGTON, Dec 3: The United States has decided to form a paramilitary unit composed of militiamen from the Iraq’s five largest political parties, US newspapers reported on Wednesday.

The militia will identify and pursue insurgents who have eluded American troops and Iraqi police officers, the reports said.

The five parties will contribute a total of 750 to 850 militiamen to create a new counter-terrorism battalion within the Iraqi Civil Defence Corps that would initially operate in and around Baghdad. US Special Forces soldiers would work with the battalion, whose operations would be overseen by the American-led military command in Iraq.

The party leaders had long been demanding such a force, arguing that Iraqi police officers and civil defence forces would not be able to fight the insurgents. US authorities in Iraq, however, had resisted raising such a force.

Although the new battalion is significantly weaker than the force the party leaders had hoped to create, the unit would nevertheless give the five political organizations an unrivalled role in the country’s internal security, the reports said.

Some independent members of the Iraq’s governing council, however, still fear that such a force would allow militia leaders to suppress political dissent or target enemies after the US occupation troops leave Iraq.

US officials, however, have tried to allay such fears by saying that the battalion would be subject to rigorous conditions aimed at ensuring that the new unit does not become a collection of autonomous militias loyal to their party leaders instead of a unified commander.

Some in the occupation military command have acknowledged the risk in forming a new force with members of militia organizations, but said they have agreed to support the venture largely because of pressure from the five parties, which have long argued that Iraqis should be given more responsibility for security.

The parties contend that their militiamen are better trained than existing Iraqi security forces and possess a degree of local knowledge that American soldiers lack.

Backing for the force has gathered momentum since a Nov-15 agreement between the governing council and US administrator L. Paul Bremer that calls for the occupation to end by summer. Top officials of the parties insisted an independent Iraq will need a security force other than the three that already have been established: the police, the civil defence corps and the new army.

Although now over 50,000 police officers are back at work, many lack firearms, training and vehicles. The civil defence corps assists US troops, but it has not been trained to take a lead role in offensive operations.

With attacks on US troops increasing and fewer nations contributing soldiers than the Pentagon had expected, the Bush administration has sought to speed the training and deployment of Iraqi security forces.

A senior official with the US occupation authority insisted the plan was still “very fluid”. But a senior US military official said there was agreement in principle among senior American civilian and military leaders in Baghdad to implement the plan.