January 4, 2004
Telegraph (UK)
CIA plans new secret police to fight Iraq terrorism
By Julian Coman in Washington
Nine months after the demise of Saddam Hussein's regime and his feared
mukhabarat (intelligence) operatives, Iraq is to get a secret police
force again - courtesy of Washington.
The Bush administration is to fund the new agency in the latest
initiative to root out Ba'athist regime loyalists behind the
continuing insurgency in parts of Iraq.
The force will cost up to $3 billion (£1.8 billion) over the next
three years in money allocated from the same part of the federal
budget that finances the Central Intelligence Agency.
Its ranks are to be drawn from Iraqi exile groups, Kurdish and Shi'ite
forces - in addition to former mukhabarat agents who are now working
for the Americans. CIA officers in Baghdad are expected to play a
leading role in directing their operations.
A former United States intelligence officer familiar with the plan
said: "If successfully set up, the group would work in tandem with
American forces but would have its own structure and relative
independence. It could be expected to be fairly ruthless in dealing
with the remnants of Saddam."
The secret police will be the latest security force created by the US
and its Iraqi political allies in an attempt to quell the insurgency.
Although officially banned by the ruling Coalition Provisional
Authority (CPA), militia groups are already patrolling cities and
towns in many areas of Iraq against the backdrop of an increasing
number of extra-judicial killings of prominent former Ba'athists.
The Pentagon and CIA hope to organise the various and sometimes
competing groups into a single force with the local knowledge, the
motivation and the authority to hunt down pro-Saddam resistance
fighters. According to officials in Washington, the new agency could
eventually number 10,000. Initially at least, salaries will be paid by
the CIA, which has 275 officers on the ground in Iraq.
Former CIA officials compare the operation to the Phoenix programme in
Vietnam, which was launched in 1967. That programme sought to destroy
the civilian infrastructure supporting the Vietcong through
assassinations and abductions secretly authorised by Washington.
Vincent Cannistraro, a former chief of CIA counter-terrorism, said:
"They're clearly cooking up joint teams to do Phoenix-like things,
like they did in Vietnam." He said that small units of US special
forces would work with their Iraqi counterparts, including former
senior Iraqi intelligence agents, on covert operations.
The force is intended to take on a crucial role for Washington in
post-Saddam Iraq. The Pentagon and CIA have told the White House that
the organisation will allow America to maintain control over the
direction of the country as sovereignty is handed over to the Iraqi
people during the course of this year.
John Pike, an expert on classified military budgets at the
Washington-based Global Security organisation, told The Telegraph:
"The money for this has been buried in the 'other procurements'
section of the Air Force budget. The CIA is funded out of that
category.
"The creation of a well-functioning local secret police, that in
effect is a branch of the CIA, is part of the general handover
strategy. If you are in control of the secret police in a country then
you don't really have to worry too much about who the local council
appoints to collect the garbage."
In the short term, CIA officials expect that the very existence of a
strongly pro-American security force will terrify civilians who are
currently supporting the insurgency into refusing assistance and aid
to Ba'athist rebels. Despite the capture of Saddam last month, attacks
on US personnel and Iraqis co-operating with them have continued into
the New Year.
The scheme is believed to have been heavily backed by Vice-President
Dick Cheney, a key advocate of the war to oust Saddam. After deciding
in November to accelerate the handover of political power to a
sovereign Iraqi authority, Mr Cheney and other senior Bush
administration officials are anxious that Iraq should not fall under
radical Islamist control or degenerate into civil war.
"The presence of a powerful secret police, loyal to the Americans,
will mean that the new Iraqi political regime will not stray outside
the parameters that the US wants to set," said Mr Pike. "To begin
with, the new Iraqi government will reign but not rule."
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004.