Iraqi militias aspire to be like Iran’s Revolutionary Guards
Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units consider themselves as an "alternative" state institution, like the IRGC; Russia-Turkey "reset" stumbles on Syria; United States and Russia need to conclude agreement on Syria.
Iraqi militia leaders cite government "corruption"
Iraq’s popular militias have no plans to merge with the army, Jean Aziz reports from Beirut, where a meeting was held among Western diplomats and representatives, nongovernmental organizations and officials from Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).
“We will be a military force that is part of the Iraqi state, but not part of the Iraqi army. This is due to many reasons that we explained to them, namely the corruption spread within the Iraqi government institutions, and I think they understood our point of view. We made it clear that we will be an alternative army subordinated to the state, just like Iran's [Islamic] Revolutionary Guard Corps,” an Iraqi militia leader told Aziz.
The PMU official sought to downplay the perception of the militias as sectarian and instead stressed the PMU’s bona fides as Iraqi nationalists, rather than Shiite partisans.
