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TAS: By foreign countries, you mean Iran, Syria?

Al-Hasani: Whoever, I don't care who is doing that, but if somebody is paying the salaries for the militia and providing them with weapons and training. So, unless we deal very hard with these countries and pressure them to stop doing that, it will be very difficult.

TAS: How much, do you think, of the insurgency and the militias is based on economics -- they pay well so people join them -- and how much is based on a belief in radical Islam or rejecting a democratic society? In other words, how much are people ideologically motivated and how much are people motivated just because if you are young in Iraq, it's a better deal just to join a militia than it is to do something else?

Al-Hasani: I think a very small percentage of these people became militia because of religious beliefs. Most of them I think became militia because of the economic situation in Iraq. We've got 60 percent unemployment in Iraq. You got all these people that were in the Iraqi army when they dissolved the Iraqi army. All these people were left without jobs and with no pay. So, they don't have any salaries, they cannot make a dignified living with the situation like it is in Iraq. They cannot find a job. De-Baathification, and other measures, lead to a pool, a large group of people available for the militias to recruit. So when somebody comes and says "I'm going to pay you $200 a month to be part of the militia," and you don't have a penny to spend on your family, I think everybody will accept that. And that's what's happening. This large number of people who are recruited in the militias basically are recruited because of the economic situation. That's why military and economic measures go hand in hand.

TAS: There's an expression in the U.S. about not letting a few bad apples spoil the whole barrel. But if you have a certain, even small, percentage of people who are willing to give their lives and do suicide bombings -- is that enough to cause enough instability to ruin things for everyone else?

Al-Hasani: I think you can see it right now with this small percentage that are causing the problems in Iraq. You can see the results, of course. The few bad apples can rotten the rest of the apples if nobody stops them...

TAS: How much of the violence is being fueled by the rulers of Iran?

Al-Hasani: It's not just Iran. There is other regional interference. Whether it's Iran, Syria, for one reason or another. And I think they are big factors in the instability that we are facing. I think there is some kind of proxy war going on in Iraq between the United States and other countries. And these countries one way or another, they are feeding this war in Iraq. So it isn't a war between Iraqis and themselves, but it is a war between the proxies of these states and the United States. So, that's why there is, I've said it before, a moral responsibility for the United States to play the role they should play in Iraq, no matter what people say. I know there is an election coming here in this country, but this is about much more than an election...

topics:
Foreign Policy, Economics, Business, Islam, Constitution, Law, Military, Iraq, Iran, Oil