Iraqis turning against U.S.-led “militias” - Inflicting defeat
Posted By Karima Saifullah
October 5, 2007
Unable to curb Iraq’s raging violence on its own, the U.S. army is providing young Iraqi men with weapons to fight insurgents and secure their neighborhoods -- an initiative that’s being equally praised and criticised in the war-torn country.
The U.S. commander Colonel Robert Menti told AFP this week that about 50,000 Iraqi civilians had joined 150 different initiatives across the country aimed at eliminating al-Qaeda operatives and restoring security to local areas. Such initiatives range from powerful tribal leaders forming units to hunt down insurgents to local programs under which volunteers armed with AK-47s inform the police about suspicious activities or arrest suspects.
"I'm not afraid. I'm wanted by al Qaeda anyway," Mahmoud Jablawi, a Sunni Arab sheikh in the town of Tuwaitha, southeast of Baghdad, told Reuters when asked about the dangers of working with the U.S. army.
According to Lieutenant-Colonel John Kolasheski, potential recruits have their information recorded in a U.S. biometric database that also checks personal data. Anyone who has a criminal record or has fought against U.S. or Iraqi forces is ruled out. Sheikhs sign a security contract with the U.S. military and are paid what Kolasheski described as a "stipend" that amounts to about 70 percent of a policeman's salary per man.
At least 265 young Iraqis have joined a "concerned citizens" group in Tuwaitha, one of the latest examples of tribal police units which are based on the model formed by the late Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Reesha, a Sunni tribal leader in the western Anbar province, who last month formed a powerful coalition of 42 tribes against al-Qaeda, known as the Anbar Awakening Conference.
But using tribal police to reduce Anbar violence, praised by President Bush on his last visit to Iraq, was dealt a major blow when Sheikh Abu Reesha was killed by a roadside bomb on September 13 in a bloody attack strongly condemned by Iraqi and American officials.
U.S. commanders believe that the initiative is vital for restoring stability to Iraq, and some Iraqi officials agree. "This project is the last card you play for the life of Iraq," said Karguiliya Sheikh Qais Abbas Mohammed.
Despite the enthusiasm, many Iraqis criticize the U.S.-led initiative, saying that such groups could easily turn against Iraqi troops and U.S. occupation forces in the future.
When asked about the U.S. reaction if that happened, Kolasheki said: "We could shut it down tomorrow."
But some Iraqi officials argue that this would not be easy as these groups carry their own weapons, adding that they are no more than sectarian militias being used by the U.S. army.
The Shia-led Iraqi government is now trying to bring all such armed groups set up by the U.S. military under the control of the Iraqi army.
"There shall be no handing over of weapons away from the control of the state," Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told a news conference on Wednesday. "The state and the reconciliation committee formed by the government should be aware of those holding weapons."
However, Menti, who is deputy head of the military's Reconciliation Cell in Iraq, claims that the process is being driven by Iraqis and not the U.S. military, which however funds these armed groups. "It is an Iraqi process driven by the Iraqi people. People come to us (the U.S. military) and the Iraqi security forces and we all coordinate the process. It is not our initiative," said Menti.
But Maliki and his Shia United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) parliamentary bloc insist that the U.S. army forms these armed groups outside the control of the central government. "The (project) involves founding new militias outside the law. It is also an interference in the security and political affairs of the country and creates a serious situation now and in the future," the UIA said in a statement.
The UIA statement even accused one of the groups, called “Saydiya Awakening", of committing criminal activities. "Some of the members of these armed groups implemented acts of kidnapping, killing and blackmailing in Saydiya,” it said.
Whether these armed groups are an Iraqi or American initiative, they just prove one thing: The Iraqi government has no control over the country, and the U.S. army is trying everything to show any glimpse of success in a country where its allies could easily fight it with its own weapons.
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