U.S. Defense Secretary warns to fight Shiite militias if Iraqi authorities won’t do that

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Visiting U.S. Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, has warned that the American troops would move unilaterally against the Shiite militias in Iraq , if the Iraqi authorities won’t do that, saying that his government would press on the Iraqi leaders to accelerate the assignment of Defense and Interior Ministers in the cabinet.   Panetta, in a statement to al-Sharq al-Awsat (Middle East) Newspaper in Baghdad , has expressed “his country’s anxiety towards Iran ’s armament of ( Iraq ’s) Shiite militias, which had stepped up their attacks against the American troops during the recent period,” calling on the Iraqi authorities to chase those militias.   “The American troops in Iraq shall move unilaterally and in isolation from the Iraqi troops against the Shiite militias, if the Iraqi authorities won’t do that,” he said, stressing that his troops “won’t stay hands-aloof towards those attacks.”   Noteworthy is that 14 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq last June, to become the most bloody months for the American troops in the country over the past 3 years, along with 3 U.S. soldiers killed in July, including one killed at the same day of Panetta’s arrival in Baghdad, on his first visit for Iraq since his recent assignment as the U.S. Defense Secretary.   “We are too worried towards Iran’s armament of extremists here in Iraq, and we see that the result of such activity had been the killing of a large number of Americans due to those attacks last June,” Panetta said, adding: “We shall press on the Iraqi government and Army to chase the Shiite groups, responsible for those attacks.”   The new U.S. Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, had arrived in Baghdad on Sunday, on a surprise official visit, to discuss the withdrawal of his country’s troops from Iraq .   “We shall do what we see important unilaterally, in order to face the said danger,” Panetta said, adding that his government “would press on Iran , in order to stop such trend.”   Meanwhile, the U.S. Defense Secretary said he “would press on the Iraqi Leaders to accelerate the assignment of Defense and Interior Ministers, as well as other vacant posts in the Iraqi Cabinet, that are still vacant due to the absence of political consensus.”   The visiting U.S. Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, had conferred on Monday with Iraq ’s President, Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, each separately.   SKH (FT)