Insurgents have infiltrated Iraq's police force, but the extent to which they have done so remains unclear, Iraq's national security advisor Muwaffaq Rubaie said on Tuesday.
"Our Iraqi security forces in general, police in particular, in many parts of Iraq, I have to admit, have been penetrated by some of the insurgents, some of the terrorists as well," he told BBC television. "I can't deny this."
Rubaie's remarks came a day after British troops stormed a police station in the southern city of Basra, looking for two soldiers later found and freed from a house where they had been taken from a police cell by militiamen.
The incident triggered concern about collusion between the Iraqi police and militiamen, as the US and UK -- which invaded Iraq in March 2003 -- wonder how much longer they will need to maintain a military presence.
Rubaie said Iraq's interim government was putting into place "a very scrupulous, very meticulous vetting procedure" as it recruits new members of the police and armed forces.
It should, he said, "clean our security forces as well as stop any penetration in future from the insurgents and terrorists."
He added: "I can't give you a percentage of the extent of the penetration, but I have to admit that the Iraqi security forces are penetrated. To what extent I don't know."
The UK said yesterday that it would not cut and run from Iraq, and sought to calm fury in an increasingly volatile south over the rescue of the two undercover British soldiers.
The British operation followed rioting that began, according to police and local officials, when the two soldiers fired on a police patrol. At least two Iraqis were killed in the violence.
"We do not have designs to stay [in Iraq] as an occupying imperial power. Nor are we going to cut and run because of terrorists," British Defense Secretary John Reid was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
Reid, echoing past comments by British Prime Minister Tony Blair who has been US President George W. Bush's main ally on Iraq, said the transformation of the country into a democratic society would not be accomplished without great effort.
"Which is why we have to stay there and go through the dark periods ... there is light at the end of the tunnel," he said.
The UK, which has 8,500 troops in Iraq, said on Sunday it would send more if necessary. But a leaked memo signed by Reid in July envisioned bringing most home over the next year.
The Telegraph said Reid and British defense chiefs were to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari in London yesterday to discuss security issues.
Haider al-Ebadi, an adviser to Jaafari, told a news conference in Baghdad on Tuesday: "It is a very unfortunate development that the British forces should try to release their forces the way it happened."
But a later statement from Jaafari's office said there was no crisis in relations with Britain and added the interior ministry was investigating the incident in the south, largely populated by Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority.
"In the meantime we urge all sides to remain calm," the statement said.
Meanwhile roadside bombs exploded near three US convoys in and around Baghdad yesterday, wounding two soldiers, an official said. The attacks came one day after the death toll for US forces in the Iraq war rose to more than 1,900 since the invasion.
In the southern city of Basra, two Iraqi citizens who were wounded in clashes between British forces and Iraqi police died in a hospital yesterday, raising the civilian death toll to five, police said.
About 500 Iraqi civilians and policemen protested outside Basra police headquarters yesterday.
"No to occupation!" the demonstrators shouted. Others carried banners condemning "British aggression" and demanding the freed soldiers be tried in an Iraqi court as "terrorists."
In the worst attack on US forces yesterday, a roadside bomb exploded as a US military convoy drove through the Abu Ghraib area on the western outskirts of Baghdad, leaving two soldiers with minor wounds, said US Lieutenant Jamie Davis, a spokesman for the US army.
Iraqi police First Lieutenant Mohammed Khayon said the US forces then opened fire on people in the area, wounding an Iraqi civilian, but Davis couldn't confirm that.
Roadside bombs also exploded yesterday near two other US convoys in southwestern Baghdad and in the Taji area north of the capital. No soldiers were wounded, Davis said.
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
CONCESSION: A Shin Kong official said that the firm was ‘willing to contribute’ to the nation, as the move would enable Nvidia Crop to build its headquarters in Taiwan Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) yesterday said it would relinquish land-use rights, or known as surface rights, for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), paving the way for Nvidia Corp to expand its office footprint in Taiwan. The insurer said it made the decision “in the interest of the nation’s greater good” and would not seek compensation from taxpayers for potential future losses, calling the move a gesture to resolve a months-long impasse among the insurer, the Taipei City Government and the US chip giant. “The decision was made on the condition that the Taipei City Government reimburses the related
FRESH LOOK: A committee would gather expert and public input on the themes and visual motifs that would appear on the notes, the central bank governor said The central bank has launched a comprehensive redesign of New Taiwan dollar banknotes to enhance anti-counterfeiting measures, improve accessibility and align the bills with global sustainability standards, Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday. The overhaul would affect all five denominations — NT$100, NT$200, NT$500, NT$1,000 and NT$2,000 notes — but not coins, Yang said. It would be the first major update to the banknotes in 24 years, as the current series, introduced in 2001, has remained in circulation amid rapid advances in printing technology and security standards. “Updating the notes is essential to safeguard the integrity
RSS