MINISTRY OF DEFENSE NEWS CONFERENCE
DATE: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2005
MIN. SHAALAN: Thank you very much for your good excellent performance in the day of elections and after the elections. The media coverage was real and truthful, and this is an indicator to real organization.
Concerning the organization of the national process, I would like to pay tribute to the members of the armed forces who performed their duties honestly in the greatest day in the history of Iraq. They were able to provide security and peace at that day. The enemy was betting on that day, because it would be the landmark in the history of Iraq, and that's to put Iraq in a state of chaos and instability. But the Iraqi people proved -- all the Iraqi spectrum, all the Iraqis were able to score good performance in these elections. And even those who didn't vote -- thousands and millions of all people pulled out of the cities to cast their ballots.
On the day of elections, your brothers in the armed forces set the best example to protect our people during these elections. During this day there were other innumerable activities carried out by the Iraqi army to protect the citizens and at the same time they were carrying out raids on the terrorist safe houses, and the armed forces were able to capture a number of terrorists who were planning terrorist attacks on the polling sites.
This performance, these heroic deeds, were performed, were carried out silently. We didn't announce everything which took place during this operation. We as commanders in the Ministry of Defense -- they were working in silence, and now this silence has testified to the heroic deeds of these armed forces.
On the eve of the elections, the armed forces carried out many operations in Baghdad. These operations were also carried out silently, secretly, without any provocation, and even in those cases in which we had encountered some resistance. This is not only inside Baghdad; it applies to all the governorates throughout Iraq.
On this occasion, I would like to pay tribute to our courageous army. I would like to congratulate this courageous army and kiss their heads and foreheads. And this is the moment the Iraqi people are waiting for.
Now for your questions.
Q Hamid Zubabi (ph) from Free Iraq Radio from -- (inaudible). One media announced that there was some dispute between you and Mr. Jaafari concerning the Syrian and Iranian interference.
Second question. You said you have captured a number of terrorists. What are the nationalities of these terrorists?
MIN. SHAALAN: (?) You didn't leave anything for the other media to ask. I didn't have any dispute with my friend Brahim Jaafari. But I want to explain that when I explain the facts to Mr. Jaafari, the logical facts, according to eyewitnesses he was convinced that I am right. On this occasion I would not talk about Syria, although I talked two days ago before the elections, when I said that we can open a dialogue with Syria, and we have positive results from our brotherly country Syria.
As for the second part of your question, I would like to point out to our accomplishments during these days and during these questions I would explain all the details concerning these operations.
Q Raad Hasoun (ph) from Al-Shuyal (ph). You talked that the Iraqi armed forces are now efficient. Can these forces handle the security file instead of the multinational forces? And when are they going to be able to handle this file?
MIN. SHAALAN: (?) I want to speak with you frankly. The Ministries of Interior and Defense should be kept aside from any political movements. The great victory and the great success scored by the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense is because the two ministers do not belong to any political movement. This is the right principle to continue for these two establishments. Otherwise there would be something abnormal in this country.
Q (Off mike) -- from al-Hiyat Diwaniyah (ph). Yesterday I toured a number of polling centers, and one of the ladies told me that she came to cast her vote, because she knew that the security situation will be stable after the elections. What do you think of that? Do you think the security situation will be stable after elections?
MIN. SHAALAN: God willing if the politicians help us in this issue, security will be provided in Iraq.
Q (Off mike) -- from Tigris newspaper. You pay tribute to the media, but there were some instances in which the media was subjected to violence.
Second question: What about Mr. Ahmad Chalabi -- are you going to arrest him as you announced?
MIN. SHAALAN: As for the media, I am a press man, and I believe in the powers and the potentials of the media, but I think that the media should be objective, peaceful, and not biased, if the press is to be free. Otherwise as for me as a minister of defense, I was not informed of any accidents concerning any journalists being subjected to violence during these elections.
As for the other issue, yes, we are now following our legal procedures and we never give up this issue. And in the next few days the media will hear about the complaints submitted by the Ministry of Defense.
Q I have two questions. The first question: What is the real percentage of the intelligence of the nearby countries being involved in violence in Iraq?
Second question: You said that the Ministry of Defense will not give up the case against Mr. Ahmad Chalabi. He is a member of -- Mr. Ahmad Chalabi is a member of the National Council, and he is immune. How can you arrest him?
MIN. SHAALAN: We are working within the rules of law. Immunity means that a person should be clean, and the decision to be taken by the courts will determine this.
Q Yes, there is any legal right?
MIN. SHAALAN: This is something different.
Q All right, what about my first question as about the interference? These countries are still interfering in our internal affairs, and I showed Mr. -- (inaudible) -- Jaafari strong evidence to that, and this man sympathized with me. He told me that he didn't know of these things, these interferences. We want an end for this interference, whether it is from Syria, from Iran, or any other country. We want to build good neighborhood relations with all the neighboring countries.
Q (Off mike) from Sawa. I have two questions, a second question to Lieutenant General Babekr Zibari. What is -- after the end of elections, what is the plan to prepared by the Ministry of Defense for the period after the elections. Are you going to continue the security procedures like the curfews?
MIN. SHAALAN: As my colleague said, the travel of media is still very difficult, and even the citizens are questioning this.
Q My second question is for Lieutenant General Babekr Zibari. Recently he made an interview with foreign media. He said that the Iraqi army is still underdeveloped, and the Iraqi army needs the presence of the multinational forces in Iraq to help the army to develop its potentials. We want more details about this issue, because we think that the elections are very important for all the Iraqi.
GEN. ZIBARI: As for the security procedures, the curfew will be canceled, will be lifted. As for the security procedures, the security procedures will continue. As I said, we have many operations carried out at night and during the day in Baghdad, and all provinces. And these security procedures will continue and will be escalated, because this operation is not an easy operation. It is not an easy thing. There is some interference from outside Iraq, and even in the day of elections the provinces near to the borders, we have some precise information. These information depend on foreign sources. They are all correct and precise. When we have these sources, we will take the legal necessary measures towards these targets.
Even in the day of elections a number of suspected people were able to cross the borders inside Iraq.
As for the second question, the chief of staff will answer this question.
CHIEF OF STAFF: During the past six months we were able to form many units, battalions and brigades, and they all performed their duties well during the elections, and I think that international terrorism is very dangerous for Iraq. All the international terrorists have gathered to fight democracy in Iraq.
MIN. SHAALAN: I think that after six months, after we have established a strong base for the Iraqi army, at the end of this year I hope that during the next six months we'll complete the construction of the Iraqi army, and I think at that time the Iraqi army will be able to provide security side by side with Iraqi security forces. And after that the multinational forces can leave Iraq, but not totally.
Q Iyad Kamel (ph) from the Middle East Newspaper. You said that American forces made a big mistake when they dissolved the Iraqi army. Do you still believe in this, and have you taken any measures to reestablish this army?
MIN. SHAALAN: Yes, I agree that there are some mistakes. I don't want to blame the American forces for this. We as Iraqis, we made many mistakes when we contributed to the forming of the Governing Council, when we pressed the Americans to form the Governing Council. We have nominated non-efficient ministers. Yes, we have committed some mistakes. But now we have made the first step with multinational forces to achieve success. And this was proved on the day of the elections. Yes, I agree there were some mistakes.
Q Hadad Hassan (ph) from New York Times. The minister of Interior said yesterday that within 18 months -- said that the security forces will be able establish themselves and after that the multinational forces will be able to leave. And can you say that American forces will hand over the security file to the Iraqis at the end of this year?
MIN. SHAALAN: The departure of the American forces is a big mistake. The American forces cannot now leave Iraq. The American forces will leave Iraq when security is provided, when there is security forces able to protect the citizens. This is the right logic. We don't want to have foreign troops in our country, but at the same time we believe that these forces should stay for some time until we are able to control the borders and establish a new modern army, and until we have efficient intelligence. At that time we'll tell them that the Iraqi army is now capable of that file, and we'll ask them to leave.
Q I have two questions. What is the number of women volunteers in the Iraqi army? Do you think that this time is a good time for political disputes between the politicians?
MIN. SHAALAN: As for the women recruits in the Iraqi army, I think it is between 150 to 200 women. This number might increase, but the families of these recruits are threatened. Men can endure such threats, but women cannot. We have a number of -- thousands of applications from Iraqi women who want to join the army. But the state of intimidation against the citizens in the street -- there are some mad people, some mad terrorist people who kill the National Guards because they are wearing their uniform. We will take the necessary security steps, measures, against these gangs. We have a film, and that film -- seven people will talk about how they are killing the Iraqi National Guards with cold blood for 750,000 Iraqi dinars. They talk to -- they themselves talk about this in this film, and they ask for mercy. And we also show some Arab tourists as we have showed the Saudi tourists before the elections.
Q You didn't answer my second question: Do you think this is the right time for political disputes between politicians?
MIN. SHAALAN: These disputes should stop. You as the media should identify the persons who started these disputes. We are in a very critical situation. We want to achieve at that time and build a new Iraq.
Q Safa el-Hafaji (ph) from Astromonie (ph). You talked many times about security penetration, especially in the Ministry of Defense and Interior. And what is the number of Iraqi armed forces who participated in securing the elections? And the Iraqi National Guards are showing great courage.
MIN. SHAALAN: As for the intelligence penetration, these penetrations will never stop. They always send us different people, men and women, and these all ignorant people -- we are all aware of that, and we have a number of cases in the Ministry of Defense. Now we have efficient intelligence and we are doing great duty.
As for the Iraqi army, not all the Iraqi took part in securing these elections.
Q What are the privileges for these National Guards?
MIN. SHAALAN: We decided that 115,000 Iraqi dinars will be rewarded for every member of the armed forces who took part in securing these elections. This sum of money will be for the three days of the elections. But the minister of defense agreed.
Q Now we know that terrorists are coming from outside Iraq.
MIN. SHAALAN: Yes, I think that our biggest problem is the borders. When a pipeline exploded and cost us $2 million or $2 billion -- now the ministers are demanding that there should be a department in the Ministry of Defense to protect the government installations. But when we ask for the money to establish such a department, we are confronted with some problems from the Ministry of Finance.
Q I'm -- (inaudible) -- We have seen the members of the National Guards during the elections, and citizens were happy when they came and saw these members of the National Guards in the streets, and they have witnessed the armored vehicles and the tanks, the Iraqi tanks. Now the people know that there is now an Iraqi army.
I want to explain that in the days before the elections we were not able to go to bed until 2 a.m. I would like you to pay tribute to these people. We want you to thank the Ministry of Defense and the police. If we are not able to thank these people, it's your duty as citizens to thank these people.
You are only looking for problems and disputes. I am talking with you as a press man. You have to give people their rights. Don't mention the minister of defense. I want you to talk about these heroes who took to the street, this hero who tried to stop the terrorists. Don't look for certain gaps. You are going to build this country, and you can develop this country or keep it backward.
Q (Off mike) -- from Financial Times. I as a citizen, I would like to pay tribute to the Iraqi army for protecting the citizens. When the election campaigns were done before the elections, I have seen numbers of the Iraqi army distributing posters with your picture on these posters. Did the Iraqi army vote for your list, number 255?
MIN. SHAALAN: If you believe me, some officers came to my office and asked me about the number of my list. I don't want you to mercy me. The uniform is sold in the street, and anyone can buy this uniform from the market and hold this poster. My pictures were torn in the streets, and I didn't send any National Guard to prevent this.
Q Aziz Shimani (ph) from the Syrian News Agency. What about the salaries of the formal Iraqi regime? And are you going to pay them a new payment?
MIN. SHAALAN: We are not going to delay the payment of former Iraqi regime. Two days before the elections, we captured 11 people. Now they are in custody. Among them is a Palestinian, and this person said that he's ready to appear on TV and talk about some information. And a Saudi person was also captured before the elections, and we showed him on TV, and he gave us precise details about some safe houses, and we took the necessary steps to capture the terrorists in these safe houses. And we have been also able to carry out some raids in the north of Babylon, and we have uncovered a number of weapons caches. And I will circulate the pictures of these caches, and we have also captured Iraqi terrorists and others from the neighboring countries. Today the governor of Kut called, and he said that the Iraqi forces have been able to capture two groups of terrorists, and they confiscated a number of weapons and explosive materials like TNT. These explosive materials were prepared for the days after the elections -- not only in the day of elections. And we have a clear picture of this plan.
Yesterday night, the 31st of January, the Iraqi intervention division in Mosul was able to capture two groups of terrorists. A woman was among them, and these two groups were disputed. They number 12, and they have some very important documents which prove that some neighboring countries are intervening in Iraq's affairs.
On the eve of the 29th of January, the 3rd Infantry Division was able to capture a number of terrorists trying to plan terrorist attacks on the polling stations, and also members of the military intelligence were able to launch raids. All these raids are legal. We don't carry out any operation without permission from a judge. We want to teach our brothers in the Iraqi army that they should respect the law, because in the former regime there wasn't any law. Also, we have a number of intelligence operations in Saydiya (ph) and Adorra (ph). Among them were some Arab Islamists. We have also discovered a number of new safe houses and hide-outs. Some terrorists are writing some letters to us. They want to surrender. And some of them are Arabs involved in terrorist attacks inside Iraq. And this is a new indicator, a good indicator, and we are going to study this indicator from the security point of view so that our armed forces won't be deceived.
As like what happened in Ghazaliya (ph) when the police raided a house and this house was detonated by the terrorists.
Frankly speaking, if the situation remains as it is, our security operations will cover all Iraq, and I would like to congratulate our people inside Iraq and outside Iraq. And we are -- and Iraqi ex patriates can come back to their country and serve their country. As I said, I would like you not to look for the gaps.
I just want you to tell the truth. We were looking -- when we were against Saddam we didn't want to deform the reality concerning Saddam.
Thank you.
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