Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Arizona Daily Star (Tucson)
November 30, 2007 Advises wary eye on Sunni allies in tribal militias
By Associated Press
BAGHDAD — An Iraqi military chief delivered a sharp warning to an American commander: Beware of your new alliances with former Sunni insurgents.
The U.S. officer, Lt. Col. Wilson A. Shoffner, had his own message to pass on. Iraq's Shiite-dominated leadership, he said, must learn to live with the outreach to Sunni tribes, whose help is considered crucial in recent blows against extremists such as al-Qaida in Iraq.
The exchange this week at a joint U.S.-Iraqi base — witnessed by The Associated Press — highlights one of the deepest ruptures in strategic outlook between Washington and Baghdad.
The Pentagon sees the Sunni tribal militias — known as Awakening Councils and other names — as vital partners to weaken the Sunni-led insurgency. On Tuesday, Sunni sheiks in north-central Iraq pledged 6,000 fresh fighters to join tens of thousands of others.
But the Iraqi government, which is under heavy Shiite influence, is hesitant to incorporate the Sunni recruits into the regular security forces and worries they could easily slip back to the rebel side.
The balancing act even can reach down to individual Sunni figures.
At the meeting with Shoffner, the Iraqi officer, Lt. Col. Yahya Rasoul-Allah Ali, objected to U.S. overtures to a Sunni religious leader known as Sheik Saad, who was released from U.S. custody last month after being held a year. A wanted poster for Saad still hangs in Shoff-ner's office.
Ali produced a photo of Saad brandishing an AK-47 rifle. Ali said the others in the photo were insurgents linked to al-Qaida.
"Let me tell you something, my friend," Ali told the American commander. "Those who attacked and planted bombs to kill us once will do it again a hundred times. Meet him and reach your own conclusions, but our reputation as soldiers fighting for principles is at stake."
Shoffner, a paratrooper who leads U.S. forces in several northern Baghdad neighborhoods, sought to reassure Ali that he would be cautious.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, has promised to prevent what he called the infiltration of the Shiite-dominated security forces by Iraqis who wish to "turn the clock back," a reference to the minority Sunni Arabs who dominated the country under Saddam Hussein.
Al-Maliki's government has not tried to formally block the American strategy but has managed to stymie efforts, according to U.S. officers in Baghdad.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced that a soldier was killed Wednesday by small-arms fire in western Baghdad.
Fewer Iraqi volunteers reported
The American military discovered there are fewer Iraqi civilians serving as volunteer guards in their home areas than it had thought, saying accounting mistakes had inflated the number by thousands.
Senior military officers said they had reduced the nationwide total from 77,000 to 60,321 — most of them Sunni Arabs.
The officers also expressed impatience with the Shiite-dominated government's failure to fully embrace the U.S.-backed home guard program and warned that the armed men could "drift back toward violence" if they aren't put to work.
Officials said the 22 percent discrepancy in guard numbers came about because not all Iraqis recorded as enlisting to protect towns against extremists had been accepted into the Concerned Local Citizens program, which has been credited with helping curb violence.
Col. Martin Stanton of the military's reconciliation and engagement office said he detected the discrepancy during an audit that found 17,000 people previously listed on the rolls "were not standing post as a volunteer."
November 30, 2007 Advises wary eye on Sunni allies in tribal militias
By Associated Press
BAGHDAD — An Iraqi military chief delivered a sharp warning to an American commander: Beware of your new alliances with former Sunni insurgents.
The U.S. officer, Lt. Col. Wilson A. Shoffner, had his own message to pass on. Iraq's Shiite-dominated leadership, he said, must learn to live with the outreach to Sunni tribes, whose help is considered crucial in recent blows against extremists such as al-Qaida in Iraq.
The exchange this week at a joint U.S.-Iraqi base — witnessed by The Associated Press — highlights one of the deepest ruptures in strategic outlook between Washington and Baghdad.
The Pentagon sees the Sunni tribal militias — known as Awakening Councils and other names — as vital partners to weaken the Sunni-led insurgency. On Tuesday, Sunni sheiks in north-central Iraq pledged 6,000 fresh fighters to join tens of thousands of others.
But the Iraqi government, which is under heavy Shiite influence, is hesitant to incorporate the Sunni recruits into the regular security forces and worries they could easily slip back to the rebel side.
The balancing act even can reach down to individual Sunni figures.
At the meeting with Shoffner, the Iraqi officer, Lt. Col. Yahya Rasoul-Allah Ali, objected to U.S. overtures to a Sunni religious leader known as Sheik Saad, who was released from U.S. custody last month after being held a year. A wanted poster for Saad still hangs in Shoff-ner's office.
Ali produced a photo of Saad brandishing an AK-47 rifle. Ali said the others in the photo were insurgents linked to al-Qaida.
"Let me tell you something, my friend," Ali told the American commander. "Those who attacked and planted bombs to kill us once will do it again a hundred times. Meet him and reach your own conclusions, but our reputation as soldiers fighting for principles is at stake."
Shoffner, a paratrooper who leads U.S. forces in several northern Baghdad neighborhoods, sought to reassure Ali that he would be cautious.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, has promised to prevent what he called the infiltration of the Shiite-dominated security forces by Iraqis who wish to "turn the clock back," a reference to the minority Sunni Arabs who dominated the country under Saddam Hussein.
Al-Maliki's government has not tried to formally block the American strategy but has managed to stymie efforts, according to U.S. officers in Baghdad.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced that a soldier was killed Wednesday by small-arms fire in western Baghdad.
Fewer Iraqi volunteers reported
The American military discovered there are fewer Iraqi civilians serving as volunteer guards in their home areas than it had thought, saying accounting mistakes had inflated the number by thousands.
Senior military officers said they had reduced the nationwide total from 77,000 to 60,321 — most of them Sunni Arabs.
The officers also expressed impatience with the Shiite-dominated government's failure to fully embrace the U.S.-backed home guard program and warned that the armed men could "drift back toward violence" if they aren't put to work.
Officials said the 22 percent discrepancy in guard numbers came about because not all Iraqis recorded as enlisting to protect towns against extremists had been accepted into the Concerned Local Citizens program, which has been credited with helping curb violence.
Col. Martin Stanton of the military's reconciliation and engagement office said he detected the discrepancy during an audit that found 17,000 people previously listed on the rolls "were not standing post as a volunteer."