Yesterday's Insurgents Are Today's Allies in Iraq
U.S. officials see Sunnis' shift as a sign of progress
Sunnis have turned to the U.S. military because they are tired of the violence and the extreme version of Islam enforced by the Sunni terrorist group Al Qaeda in Iraq. And their shift comes after almost two years of sectarian ethnic cleansing by the Shiite-led government and Shiite militias. There are also money payments and jobs involved.
In Baghdad's Ameriya district, Lt. Col. Dale Kuehl and his 1-5 Cavalry Battalion were the first to encourage the volunteers in late May, when they aided a Sunni leader who had gathered a band of armed men to dislodge al Qaeda fighters. The leader, known as Abu Abid, denounced the radicals for "killing, kidnapping, and terrifying people."
Abu Abid, a former Iraqi Army intelligence officer, personally led the assault, and his fighters are now working on contract with Kuehl's men. And, even though his two brothers were tortured with power tools and beheaded last year by Shiite militia, he says he wants peace, not revenge. The joint effort has led to a dramatic decline in Ameriya's violence. Only two bombs went off last month, versus 35 in May.
But U.S. officers have been unable to persuade Iraqi officials to allow Abu Abid's volunteers into the police force. The only U.S.-contracted volunteers from greater Baghdad whom the government has admitted to the police academy to date are 1,500 Sunnis from Abu Ghraib, and that was under pressure from Petraeus. But in one sign that the government may be moderating, it has taken an unpublicized step to bring some former Iraqi officers back into the Army. U.S. News has learned that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office has circulated a survey and received 48,600 responses from former soldiers wanting to rejoin. According to U.S. officials, Maliki has decided to bring back 5,000 officers, offer civil service jobs to 7,000 others, and grant full pensions to the rest.
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