Iraq Press Roundup

The Iraqi Hezbollah’s Al Baina newspaper carried an editorial Wednesday with the headline "No substitute to government forces."

It said Iraqi civilians were complaining about the behavior of "public committees" delegated to spread security in areas they are in charge of.

"These groups," Al Baina quoted civilians as saying, "have been practicing terrorists methods … that made civilians demand the government send government forces as a substitute."

It said the worsening security in cities that used to be "red zones" when they had members of al-Qaida and former supporters of Saddam Hussein "forced the Iraqi government to agree to the plan set up by U.S. forces to rely on tribal leaders to fight those factions."

"Fighting al-Qaida and arming many civilian groups … worries residents," the paper said.

It said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki "warned U.S. forces against arming civilian and local groups."

"There have been private meetings taking place between the U.S. forces and unknown groups, thought to be terrorist groups to get arms and funds," the paper said.

Al Baina said these groups take arms and financial support from U.S. forces "only to use them later to carry out their crimes against the civilians and the U.S. forces.”

The paper praised many groups, or salvation councils, that participated in the fight against al-Qaida and sacrificed their lives.

"This can only be considered as a nationalist deed," the paper said.

The editorial said the arming of civilians would make controlling these groups difficult.

The Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars’ Al Basaer newspaper in an editorial Wednesday spoke of the civil organizations in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.

The editorial said U.N. statistics reveal "there are around 6,000 organizations in Iraq, mostly formed before the Iraqi election in 2005."

"Many of these organizations are women's organizations that justify in a positive way the occupier’s action," the radical Sunni paper complained.

It said that recently around 35 organizations were called "fake" in Wasit province, south of Iraq. Around 50 organizations out of 300 others in Babil province, south of Baghdad, are practicing effectively.

"Civil society groups in democratic societies are necessary to achieve a balance between the government and its people, but what the occupation planned for is for those social groups that are generously supported by the U.S. government to replace the state; the state that was broken down by Paul Bremer," the editorial said.

"Bremer assigned $750 million to form the organizations yet most of this money goes to U.S. officials' pockets,” the editorial claimed.

Al Baina said the "occupation governments" (referring to the Iraqi governments) gave civil organizations a bad reputation when every political party established many organizations only to promote their claims and achieve their goals.

The paper defined such non-governmental organizations as a "disease that is being carried from the head of a patient (referring to the U.S. officials) to the rest of the body (the Iraqi government).

"Members of governorate councils in Iraq have used their positions to form organizations that only serve their militant sectarian aims," it said.

The paper also said these organizations "will eventually serve the Zionists-American goals and promote increasing the unwanted occupation forces' existence in Iraq."