Rape charges shadow security plan in Iraq

On Iraqi television screens this week, two visions of the Baghdad security plan have flickered in people’s living rooms.

On Iraqi television screens this week, two visions of the Baghdad security plan have flickered in people’s living rooms. On Iraqiya, the station controlled by the Shiite-dominated government, Iraqi soldiers and police calmly patrolled the streets and searched cars for weapons, as Baghdad residents spoke approvingly of the newly safe streets.

On the Sunni-controlled stations such as Sharqiya and Baghdadiya, a 20-year-old Sunni Muslim woman calling herself “Sabreen,’’ wearing dark scarves covering all but her eyes, recounted how three of those officers raped her.

The charges are hotly disputed by Iraqi authorities. But regardless of their veracity, the assertions threaten to turn people against the security effort.

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The claims reinforce the view held by some Sunnis that the new security plan is being executed by militia members determined to extend Shiite Muslim dominance in the new Iraq. Many Iraqis are wondering why Sunni strongholds have been among the first targets of the new security effort, but Sadr City, home to some of the most militant Shiite fighters, has been untouched.

Ahmed Samaraie, the head of the Sunni Endowment, called for an international investigation, but Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, sacked him. In the furor, people’s faith in the story has largely come down to whether they are Shiite or Sunni.