Iraq's interim President Ghazi al-Yawer said in an interview broadcast Monday that the U.S.-led coalition was wrong to dismantle the Iraqi security forces. "Definitely dissolving the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Interior was a big mistake at that time," al-Yawer told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. "We could have screened people out instead of screening them in and this could have saved us a lot of hassle and problems," he said. The BBC said it spoke to al-Yawer in London, where he was briefly stopping after a visit to the United States. Al-Yawer said the security situation wouldn't be resolved unless Iraq's own security forces were "100 percent efficient." "We have to reinstate some of the clean-record army officers and police officers," he said. "As soon as we have efficient security forces that we can depend on we can see the beginning of the withdrawal of forces from our friends and partners and I think it doesn't take years, it will take months." The Iraqi president said he feared insurgents would intensify their campaign of violence in the run-up to elections on Jan. 30 "Their tactical target is to undermine the electoral process and to stop us having our first elections," he said.
