Shiite party's units in Iraq to be disarmed?

The top brass of the occupational troops in Iraq has decided to disarm Badr Brigades, the armed detachments of the Shiite party SCIRI, or the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

According to the Monday issue of Iraq's Al-Zaman newspaper, the subject is being discussed at a meeting the coalition's top brass and the party leaders are holding behind closed doors.

The armed forces of the parties that helped the coalition during the war, namely the Democratic Party of Kurdistan, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, will be able to keep their weapons.

"We did not fight with the coalition forces, but we also did not fight against them," the newspaper quoted a Badr Brigades commander as saying. "We shall not be disarmed at a moment when other Iraqi parties have their own armed units." SCIRI leaders and Badr Brigades returned to Iraq in early May after more than 22 years spent in emigration in Iran.