Alwaght- While the pro-resistsnce factions in the Iraqi parliament intend to enhance the job benefits of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) as an appreciation of a decade of sacrifices of these voluntary forces, this worthy and necessary move is running into targeted and politically-motivated obstacles.
After the law for integration of the PMF into the official Iraqi armed forces was passed in December 2016, the parliament plans to pass a law concerning their service and retirement, but the first attempt to take the draft bill to the parliament for final voting has proved a failure.
In this connection, member of parliament Mohammad Al-Khafaji said on Sunday: "Today's session did not reach the quorum due to the lack of agreement among the lawmakers on the inclusion of the law related to the Popular Mobilization Forces on the parliamentary agenda, and the session was postponed."
Suhaila Al-Sultan, another MP, said: "We will never attend parliamentary sessions until the law on the Popular Mobilization Forces is put on the agenda."
Alal al-Nashi, another MP, also held that: "Appreciation for the sacrifice of the heroic Popular Mobilization Forces fighters who have watered this land with their pure blood is only possible with the adoption of this law."
"There is no compromise or waiver of the law on the service and retirement of the heroes of the Popular Mobilization Forces," another parliamentarian said.
The State Law parliamentary faction announced that it will boycott parliamentary sessions until the law in question is included in the parliamentary agenda. Aqeel al-Fatlawi, head of the faction, pointed out the great importance of this law, saying that "this is a vital law that guarantees the rights of the children of the Popular Mobilization Forces and strengthens their legal and social status."
The Iraqi parliament recently approved the draft law on the service and retirement of the PMF in its first reading. Faleh al-Fayyadh, head of the force that was founded in 2014 in opposition to ISIS terrorist organization, welcomed the parliament’s move and maintaining that "this law will ensure fairness for the Popular Mobilization Forces’ fighters in terms of their duties and rights, under the umbrella of the law and under the command of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.”
The fact that the parliamentary sessions did not hit the quorum due to the boycott of MPs close to the resistance groups shows that the political weight of the pro-resistsnce groups in the parliament is heavy, and they can use political pressure to pass this law.
The PMF are a military force and part of the country’s armed forces, acting under the command of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and consists of about 67 factions. The PMF were formed after the issuance of a fatwa by Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al-Sistani, the highest Shiite authority in Iraq, after the takfiri group ISIS took control of large tracts of land in the Iraqi provinces.
Some analysts believe that the delay in adopting this law may be part of an effort to undermine or even eliminate the PMF. These analyses are based on the fact that by not approving protective laws, the rights and benefits of the PMF forces may be ignored, which will lead to a weakening of the morale and efficiency of these forces. Also, some reports suggest that there is pressure from the US to disband the PMF. Iraqi officials have dismissed these claims, however.
Foreign pressures on the PMF
There is no doubt that any action against the PMF should be tracked to the US, which since foundation of this popular force has struggled to deal blows to it by any means to drive it out of Iraq's political and security equations.
Washington has concerns about the role and influence of the PMF in Iraq. The Americans claim that these forces, as militias with close ties to Iran, could pose a threat to US interests in the region. For example, in the past years, the US carried out attacks on them, considering them a threat to its own forces in Iraq. These American concerns have motivated the US to oppose enhancing the living conditions and job benefits of these forces, including the pension law.
The Americans know very well that they cannot implement their evil plans in Iraq as long as the security of Iraq is in the hands of the resistance forces, and therefore they are trying to build pressure on the them through their foothold in Iraq.
The Americans are well aware that the approval of the retirement bill will once again demonstrate the will of the political and democratic government in Iraq to solidify the position of the PMF as the main pillar of the armed forces, and this will render futile and unjustified any political pressure against the PMF on the pretext of the government’s lack of control over these forces.
Washington’s efforts to weaken these anti-terror forces have increased, especially after the defeats of the Israeli army in Gaza and Lebanon, because the PMF are considered a potential threat to the American interests and the Israeli occupation in the region. In the middle of Gaza war, the PMF showed that they stand by the resistance groups in the region with hundreds of missile and drone attacks on American bases and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Another issue is that the PMF are an obstacle to the repetition of the American and Israeli regime’s Syria scenario in Iraq.
Iraqis know that they owe the relative security they are enjoying to the PMF fighters who, without any expectations, defended the lives and property of Iraqis against ISIS terrorists and did not allow a single inch of the country's soil to remain in the hands of the takfiris and their foreign backers. If it was not for these forces, the same scenario that is being implemented in Syria by the Israeli regime would be repeated in Iraq in order to realize the plan to expand the occupied territories "from the Nile to the Euphrates".
Establishing the US foothold in Iraq by Iraqi elements
It seems that Washington's pressures on Baghdad have another aspect and it is the push to maintain the American military presence in Iraq beyond October 2025 deadline.
A senior Iraqi national security official held that he had emphasized in a government meeting that "this time, the request for the withdrawal of the United States and the international coalition from Iraq is not advisable.” Although the government spokesman later had to back down and said that “the agreed-upon timetable between Iraq and the international coalition forces, which was issued by the Supreme Military Committee, remains in place and has not changed so far,” Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani during a meeting with Admiral Stuart Monk, Commander of NATO’s Joint Forces Command, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference maintained that Baghdad is still interested in cooperating with NATO.
During the meeting, al-Sudani underscored the importance of working with NATO within the framework of a long-term partnership, especially in the field of advisory support to combat terrorism, and the development and reconstruction of the Iraqi security forces, which will help strengthen security and stability in Iraq. The interest in long-term cooperation with NATO is the main desire of White House officials to consolidate their presence in Iraq under another guise.
Some Iraqi officials argue that with the rise of armed groups in Syria, they are better to allow the American forces to stay in Iraq so that terrorists cannot attack Iraq again and repeat of experience of ISIS rise.
This is while in the eyes of the resistance forces, the US presence in Iraq is the root causes of instability in the country.
Baghdad officials are setting their hopes on Washington's assistance against terrorism while Republican US Congressman Scott Perry recently in a report justifying cutting off budget of the USAID accused the agency of providing millions of dollars to terrorist and militia groups including ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, Buku Haram, and the Taliban annually under the guise of humanitarian aid.
With regard to the key role of the PMF in Iraq's security and the enormous popular support to these forces, any push to impair or eliminate them is doomed to failure, and passing the bill of employment benefits to these forces not only boosts their legal position and secures their rights, but also helps cut off foreign hands seeking to destabilize Iraq.
