SubWater
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- Jan 6, 2017
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What is happening in Basre??I don't know what this army move was about, I doubt that we will see any major problems between army and PMU. PMU needs a transformation to cut the political strings and become a security force that focuses on defense rather than politics, this is slowly happening however there is resistance from certain people (Amiri etc.).
The army works closely with the US military which could plan things with the Iraqi army command to go against the PMU, hopefully that's not the case as seeing army going against PMU to overpower them is not something needed. It can be solved politically rather than by force, the army already wields more power than the PMU when it comes to firepower, finances, troop numbers and basically holds higher command over the PMU. However it wouldn't surprise me if America tries to plan anti-PMU moves with the Iraqi army as the difference between the two forces on is very large on a political level. Iraqi army command is unofficially allied to the US whereas the PMU is allied to Iran.
I believe the only reason this doesn't result in an all out war between the army and PMU is the fact that they're both Iraqis of all backgrounds, fighting for the same cause and same state. Otherwise there would be a massive problem. Abadi has lately been taking tougher stances and made statements against the former Maliki gov as well as against Iran.
The Iraqi political landscape is no longer defined by 'Sunni/Shia', it's pro-US and pro-Iran alliance camp. US seems to still have the upper hand in the country considering army and Sadr/Abadi alliance come out on top. Whilst Sadr is against the US it's unlikely he can just send them out as the Iraqi army is working with them closely and seems to have regained some level of independence from politics. (Recently some top generals voiced opposition to the government for its failure to govern). We'll see what happens I don't know either.
Is Basre second largest city of Iraq after Baghdad???