Iraqi parliament speaker: Sunnis must be empowered to defeat ISIS

WASHINGTON DC – Iraq’s parliament speaker said Monday that three things were needed to ensure that the Islamic State (ISIS) is permanently defeated in Iraq: empowering local communities with their own security, restructuring the military and international support for a stabilization period after the militants are crushed.

“The law for (the formation of) a national guard will be the guarantee for the security of the provinces threatened” by ISIS, Salim al-Jubouri said at a public forum at the Washington-based US Institute of Peace.

“We must end all calls for a military outside the military, because the militarization of society means the beginning of a totalitarian system,” he warned. “We must have political reforms and the restructuring of security institutions based on efficiency and an ethnic and sectarian quota system.”

The Iraqi speaker, a Sunni from Diyala, is currently leading an official and senior delegation to the United States. He is expected to meet US lawmakers and government officials about political and security developments in Iraq.

His invitation appears to be part of a US outreach to different communities in Iraq to discuss ways of confronting ISIS.  Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani have visited Washington over the past two months.

Despite expressing appreciation for the Iranian-backed Shiite Popular Mobilization Force (PMF) militia, which has assisted Sunnis against ISIS, Jibouri lamented that the Sunnis do not have any protection force of their own.

“Kurds have the Peshmerga, the Shiites have the Popular Mobilization Force,” he explained. “But we Sunnis, how can we contain them (ISIS)?” he asked. He said many tribesmen were ready to fight against ISIS, ”but they don't have the weapons and dont have the capabilities.”

Sunni politicians have been lobbying the United States for arms and training for Sunni tribal fighters.

Jibouri blamed the sectarian policies of Iraq’s previous government, as well as official corruption that has seeped into the military, for the rise of ISIS. He lamented that Sunni warnings about these issues had gone unheeded by the United States and other Iraqi allies.

Jibouri said the situation in Iraq is “dark,” but expressed optimism about peace with the help of the international community.

“Peace can be achieved in this war that is led by the children of my country against this dark force. We are sure that you and all the forces that love peace will stand by our side in this confrontation,” he said.

The speaker called for the US to put pressure on regional powers to halt meddling in Iraq, which he said had deepened the country’s problems.

He said that all forces must be reorganized under a single military command to avoid internal conflict. He blamed problems with command and leadership for the fall of Ramadi in Anbar province last month.

“The problem of multiple leadership led to the military failure in Ramadi,” he said.