A Nervous Meeting on the Future of America's Tribal Allies

Checkpoint Baghdad

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Babak Dehghanpisheh

Larry Kaplow

Rod Nordland

Lennox Samuels

Silvia Spring

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Larry Kaplow

A meeting today in the Rasheed Hotel's faded ballroom was meant to reassure America's tribal allies. But the so-called Sons of Iraq tribal fighters, so crucial in stabilizing Iraq, remained worried they are being shoved aside and left vulnerable to their old Al Qaeda adversaries. Some said the mayhem of 2006 could start again if they are disbanded.

Starting next month, the command and bankrolling of the more than 50,000 militia men in Baghdad will be handed to the Iraqi military (thousands more around the country will follow). As the hand-off approaches, the anxiety is building. Many of the Sunni fighters suspect that, since they have quelled Al Qaeda, they have outlived their usefulness to a Shiite-led government that might now turn on them. Moreover, there's personal prestige and local patronage at stake. The U.S. ran the groups through local contractors, usually sheiks or former Iraqi army officers, who will now see their men and their money controlled by rival Iraqis.

Some U.S. commanders have couched the handover in the kind of rosy pronouncements that characterized the coalition spin machine in the early years of the war. They hail it as a victory for reconciliation and tout Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's stated intention to provide a soft landing for the militias in the security forces or government jobs. But others say it's simply a transition that must be made, that Iraq cannot be a real state if bands of armed men act outside of government control. "There will be friction but our goal together," in the U.S. and Iraqi forces, said Brig. Gen. Will Grimsley, "Is to help mitigate the friction as well as possible. This day was inevitable." American commanders – who stayed off the stage Thursday – vowed in interviews to monitor the transition closely and even continue paying the fighters if the government doesn't follow up.

But one by one, leaders of the Awakening movement – the name usually used by Iraqis - aired their fears for Iraqi leaders on the stage before them. Many of their fighters will fail literacy requirements for the security forces. Many are officers from Saddam's old army who, they predicted, will be excluded or relegated to foot-soldier status in the today's Iraqi Army. They talked about the fighters and family members killed by Al Qaeda. Amid concerns that the government is holding arrest warrants for hundreds of fighters, one leader asked if they would face prosecution for their killings of Al Qaeda militants.

Iraqi Baghdad Commander Lt. Gen. Aboud Qanbar promised that the fighters could keep their guns during the transition – though the weapons' serial numbers would have to be recorded. He said the government still needed them for security for a limited time. But otherwise the somber group, perhaps 50 or so of the more than 300 militia leaders in Baghdad, received little relief. Qanbar told them the government could not assure their protection any more than it could protect its own officials and that they would get no breaks in meeting security forces recruitment criteria. One Sahwa commander warned, "You are taking our power and that is a mistake."

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Member Comments

Posted By: nawawimohamad (September 11, 2008 at 11:39 PM)

The US cannot afford to have two countries dominated by the Shiites in the region but since the Shiite in Iraq is the majority the US has no choice but fact to the fact that there are going to be two Shiite majority countries in the region.This is definitely bad for Israel. The US need another Saddam to control Iraq which is not possible.With Russia gaining strength by the day, the Taliban getting more organised in Afghanistan and Pakistan at the verge of collapse, North Korea refusing to stop its nuclear ambition, Chavez trying the last effort to outsmart the US and the strains on the US economy while the EU is divided in its support to the US against Russia, the US has to make some serious compromises. But these are all US made problems in trying to be the master of the world. While the Europeans are pouring their money into science with the Large Hadron Collider, the US is wasting money and lives complete with sufferings and destruction in waging unending wars and invasions. All for nothing which is rather stupid.

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