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In an interview that aired on March 27, 2015 on the Iraqi Al-Rafidein TV channel, Sunni political analyst Bahjat Al-Kurdi said: "We should salute the young men fighting in Tikrit" and called the Shiite militias "a bunch of corrupt people, a bunch of thieves."
Following are excerpts:
Bahjat Al-Kurdi: These [Shiite] militias, which enjoy unlimited Iranian support – armaments, militias, military advisors… Incidentally, we are talking about over 50,000 fighters, from the Iraqi army, SWAT, and the federal police, and more than 30 militias, including the [Hizbullah] Brigades, Badr, Asai'b Ahl Al-Haq, and Al-Khurasani. We praise and thank Allah for disgracing them. This has to be an act of God. 400-1,000 fighters stopped this Iranian Hashd [Al-Shaabi militia]. Serious research will be required in order to understand how such a modest number of rebels could stop the masses of attacking militias. Besides, it was not the militias that announced their withdrawal. Apparently, the Americans said to them: "We will join the fray on condition that you withdraw your militias, and they will not be allowed to enter the city in the event of a victory." Even if they achieve a victory, it will not be an honorable defeat for the young [Sunnis in Tikirit], because at the end of the day, this is a battle, and they are outnumbered and outgunned, but they are honorable because they did not let the Zoroastrian Persians and their gangs be victorious in Tikrit.
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It is an unparalleled disgrace for these militias and this army, on which trillions of dollars have been spent. Billions of dollars have been spent on this army, whose commanders reached the conclusion that they could not enter Tikrit without the support of the coalition. May their eyes be gouged out! By God, we should salute these young men fighting in Tikrit.
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This is a bunch of corrupt people, a bunch of thieves. They steal weapons and money. The officers take the soldiers' wages and send them on open-ended leave. That's what they call fedayeen? My dear brother, these people cannot built a state or liberate [any land]. Without Western support, without the planes, without the coalition, they would not be capable of liberating a single village. What would they liberate it with – with these sectarian slogans? With the barrel bombs they drop on innocent people?
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This is ludicrous. The viewer said: "They entered Abu Ajil." Is Abu Ajil as big as Washington? It's a mere village. You have been besieging it for six months with artillery, mortars, and planes. The same goes for Al-Dour. Is Al-Dour as big as Baghdad? It's a mere village. What kind of victories are these? Besides, he said that the U.S. imposed itself on the battle for Tikrit. You [Shiites] begged the U.S. to join [the battle]. [PM] Al-Abadi and the army commanders begged it to join, because you are incapable of doing it yourselves. That's the extent of your capabilities.
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Voice of caller: We suspended our participation in the military operations because of the intervention of the U.S. air force…
Interviewer: Thank you.
Bahjat Al-Kurdi: I don't know. It's very strange. He said: "We suspended…" That's a joke. A joke. You are a sacred militia, sent on the basis of a fatwa by your sacred religious source of authority. How come you are withdrawing? You were forced to do so. If you had an ounce of honor, you would seek revenge from Al-Abadi. You would go and chastise him. Brother, let me say this: We must respect these fighters. We may not agree with their [ISIS] agenda, but by God, these are courageous people. A militia of 30,000 Iranian advisors, Qassem Soleimani, and all those militias - Al-Asai'b, Al-Khurasani, Hizbullah, the Revenge of Allah, and all sorts of names the devil knows where they got them… Their defeat… Now they are saying: We decided to withdraw. You decided to withdraw?! No, you didn't. You failed, and this is a failure of Al-Abadi and his government.
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The tragedy is that this government, in its constitution… If we read the constitution, we will see that there is an article there that says: "The Arab people in Iraq constitutes part of the Arab nation." That means that Iraq is not Arab. Iraq as a land is not Arab. These are the people who introduced this article into the constitution. If they are told that there is room in the Rub' Al-Khali desert, they would send all the Arabs of Iraq over there, and would tell them that this is in keeping with the Iraqi constitution: You are part of the Arab nation, so go to the desert!
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