BAGHDAD, May 30: Iraq’s new prime minister said on Tuesday his patience was wearing thin with excuses from US troops that they kill civilians by mistake. “We are worried about the increase in ‘mistakes’. I am not saying that they are intentional. But it is worrying for us,” Nuri Al-Maliki told Reuters in an interview.
Maliki also vowed to disband militias.
Maliki has talked up the prospect of foreign troops leaving and has mentioned a timetable of 18 months for Iraqi forces having overall control of the country.
He appeared keen to speak up for the concerns felt especially among Sunnis over US tactics in their areas.
He vowed to investigate killings of Iraqi civilians in the western town of Haditha last November after local witnesses said they were shot by Marines.
US defence officials have said charges including murder may be brought against Marines following a US investigation into the 24 civilian deaths in Haditha, a stronghold of the resistance.
“There is a limit to the acceptable excuses. Yes a mistake may happen but there is an acceptable limit to mistakes,” Maliki said.
“We will ask for answers not only about Haditha but about any operation ... in which killing happened by mistake and we will hold those who did it responsible.”
Many Iraqis believe unjustified killings by US troops are common, though few have been confirmed by investigations.
Maliki also said no pro-government party militias would be exempt from his plan to disband irregular armed forces, a vow that could put him at odds with close coalition allies.
Pressed to confirm that even the biggest militias run by governing parties would have to go, he specifically named the Kurdish peshmerga, the Mehdi Army of radical Shia cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr and the Shia Badr movement as being among those that would have to be disbanded.
“Our plans on the militias must go ahead because the presence of militias ... will mean the security situation remaining unstable. The militia disarmament plan is linked to reconciliation and development in security,” Maliki said.—Reuters
