|
 Amiri, one of Iraq's most powerful men, told Reuters in an
interview over the weekend nobody from pro-government paramilitary
groups had set foot in the village of Barwanah where the worst of
the atrocities is alleged.
That clashed with accounts from Diyala's Sunni governor and
provincial council members who described Shi'ite militia fighters
and security forces executing at least 72 unarmed civilians last
month in the eastern province.
Five witnesses Reuters interviewed on Jan. 28 also fingered the
militias.
Amiri, who heads the Badr Organization, a political movement with an
armed wing, is tasked with Diyala's security file, giving him
control of army and police there in addition to the government-run
Hashid Shaabi, or popular mobilization committee, which includes
paramilitary groups and volunteers.
He has led the campaign against Islamic State in other parts of the
country as well, answering directly to the prime minister.
"I did not put even one Hashid Shaabi in the Barwanah operations
zone. They might be residents of the area but they are not Hashid
Shaabi," he said, adding that he had given residents a month's
notice ahead of operations.
"The element of surprise is a principle of warfare ... We renounced
that in order to preserve civilian lives."
Amiri blamed unnamed Sunni politicians sympathetic to Sunni
militants for slandering the Hashid Shaabi and called the reported
killing in Barwanah "lies".
"These politicians are defending Daesh," Amiri told Reuters, using a
pejorative term for Islamic State. "These people don't want Hashid
Shaabi to liberate Iraq."
"It's a battlefield and if anyone from Barwanah was killed, give us
their names. We are ready to investigate and will punish whoever is
responsible."
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, a moderate Shi'ite Islamist who has
sought reconciliation between Iraq's Sunni and Shi'ite communities,
has opened his own inquiry into the accusations and sent his Sunni
defense minister to Barwanah on Thursday.
Abadi and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most senior Shi'ite
cleric, have also denounced looting and torching of homes in areas
freed from Islamic State, which itself has blown up and
booby-trapped the areas it once controlled.
Amiri insisted to Reuters that paramilitary fighters were not to
blame, instead faulting residents of those same areas for seeking
revenge against alleged Islamic State sympathizers.
 "We suffer not from the Hashid Shaabi. We suffer from the reactions
of the residents," he said.
"Security forces are busy with the battle. We can't hold down an
area. We can't lock the people in. It's an open area. What can we
do?"
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WAVE OF POPULARITY
Amiri has previously been viewed with scepticism by many Shi'ite
Iraqis because of the Badr Organization's history as an
Iranian-trained group that fought Iraq during the 1980-1988
Iran-Iraq war.
But despite that association and more recent accusations of
brutality, his leadership in expelling jihadists from areas across
central Iraq has positioned him as a hero to many Shi'ites.
"When people see a minister leave his post and take to the
battlefield, this might create feelings of respect and admiration,"
said Amiri, who rushed to Diyala last June, despite then being
minister of transport, to halt Islamic State's advance toward
Baghdad.
"They said Amiri would stop at Diyala. I told them I wouldn't stop
and I would continue until all of Iraq is liberated," he told
Reuters at his compound in Baghdad's heavily secured Green Zone,
which houses Iraq's main government buildings.
Amiri forecast the next battles would be in Salahuddin province and
near Kirkuk, an oil-rich city 250 km (150 miles) north of Baghdad,
where Islamic State has advanced against Kurdish forces in recent
weeks.
He predicted pro-government forces could defeat Islamic State within
months given the proper arms, but said the United States needed to
speed up delivery of weapons and the repair of Iraq's U.S. Abrams
tanks.
"We hear sweet talk but no action. The government is not receiving
weapons. If they were available, the battle would not take more than
a few months," he said.
U.S. deliveries of 36 F-16s have not reached Iraq due to lengthy
training programs required for pilots, along with fears that the
Iraqi government cannot secure the equipment and prevent it from
falling into the hands of Islamic State.
A former U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity,
estimated 30 to 40 percent of Iraq's Abrams tanks are in disrepair
because the Iraqi military failed to maintain them.
(Additional reporting by Saif Hameed; Editing by Giles Elgood)
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