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Backgrounder: Iraq Security: Limping Forward

Council on Foreign Relations

Author: Lionel Beehner, Staff Writer
May 26, 2006

Introduction

Security problems and violence overshadow prospects for political stability in Iraq. Sectarian violence has escalated in the absence of a national unity government in recent months. Now, with a government finally in place, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's top priority is establishing law and order and some semblance of security on Iraqi streets, where Sunni insurgents—or so-called "taqfiris"—and ragtag commandos roam unimpeded and engage in revenge killings, kidnappings, and death squads. Based on figures from Baghdad's morgue, deaths among Iraqis have climbed to 1,000 per month, not including casualties from bombings. The prospect of a partial pullout by U.S. and British forces by the end of the year steps up pressure on the Iraqi government to consolidate its control over the country's fledgling security forces.

What are Maliki’s plans to improve security?

Addressing his cabinet for the first time on May 21, Maliki vowed to employ "maximum force" to stamp out the insurgency and disarm the militias, but added that force alone would not end the violence. Equally important steps, he said, include improving Iraq's economy, speeding up reconstruction, and reconciling long-standing tensions between Iraq's Sunni and Shiite communities, whose relations worsened in the wake of a February bombing of a Shiite shrine by Sunni insurgents. "The first of order of business is taking the next step toward a grand ethnic and sectarian compromise such that Sunnis decide it's in their interest to stop shooting people," says Stephen Biddle, a CFR senior fellow for defense policy. "Until that happens, they will have a hard time cleaning up the militias and reforming the [defense and interior] ministries." Gregory Gause, a Middle East expert at the University of Vermont, agrees on the need for a compromise of sorts between the warring factions.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2006 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.