MidEast Dispatches: 'Awakening' Forces Arouse New Conflicts
Defendario
'Awakening' Forces Arouse New Conflicts
Inter Press Service <http://ipsnews.net/>
By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail*
*
FALLUJAH, Dec 26 (IPS) - The controversial move of the U.S. military to
back Sunni "Awakening" forces has created another wedge between Sunni
and Shia political groups.*
Following disputes between the tribal groups assembled into Awakening
forces and the Iraqi government, the creation of these forces has become
also a political issue.
U.S.-backed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who heads a Shia
political bloc, has adamantly opposed the U.S.-military policy of
backing tribal groups and former resistance fighters.
To date, the U.S. military has paid more than 17 million dollars to
these fighters, whose groups it calls "Concerned Local Citizens" and
"Awakening Forces." Each member receives around 300 dollars monthly.
Many are former resistance fighters who used to attack occupation forces.
These new forces now have a strength of more than 76,000. According to
the U.S. military, at least 82 percent are Sunni. It hopes to add
another 10,000.
The groups have been credited with chasing foreign fighters out of
cities in al-Anbar province to the west of Baghdad, and also from parts
of Baghdad. But members of these groups are often accused of extortion,
corruption, and brutal tactics.
The Shia-led government has opposed creation of groups who might rival
its own security forces, which comprise many members of former Shia
militias.
"We completely, absolutely reject the Awakening becoming a third
military organisation," Iraqi defence minister Abdul-Qadir al-Obaidi
said at a news conference Dec. 23. He said the groups would not be
allowed any infrastructure like a headquarters building which could give
them longer term legitimacy.
Some Sunni groups also reject these forces. Offices of the Awakening
forces have been closed down in Fallujah and Najaf despite warnings from
Awakening leader Sheikh Ahmad Abu Risha.
"Fallujah city is not under the Awakening influence and never will be,"
Ihsan Ahmad, a follower of the Islamic Party in Fallujah told IPS.
"Those tribal leaders want to control everything everywhere, but they
are not qualified for leadership. They are just a group of ignorant
tribal men."
Fear of a new conflict between tribes and political parties has arisen
in many parts of the country.
"The same story of overthrowing Saddam Hussein is being repeated," Issra
Yasseen, a teacher in Fallujah, told IPS. "They say they finished the
influence of al-Qaeda and so they want to take over everything for
themselves. We are afraid of the possibility that they will then fight
each other and naturally, our lives will be the price."
Many Awakening leaders and members of these groups in al-Anbar and
Baghdad say they have been betrayed by Islamic Party leaders and by the
Iraqi government.
"The government was using us to protect its interests, and now it
ignores our legitimate demands," Sheikh Hassan al-Alwani from the
outskirts of Fallujah told IPS. "Only those enlisted with the Islamic
Party are getting jobs and contracts, while we who fought only get the
lowest ranks and the worst jobs."
"We were evicted from Fallujah twice by the Americans and Iraqi
government troops, and our houses were destroyed under the flag of
liberating us," Salim Mahmood, a former army officer who now works as a
barber in Ramadi told IPS. "Those so-called sheikhs and politicians were
all hiding in Amman while we were being brutally butchered by their army
and allying Americans."
Tensions between politicians in the government and local tribes
affiliated with the Awakening are evident all over Fallujah. Many people
say they fear a new phase of fighting, this time local.
"This was the American plan from the beginning," Sammy Hussein, a poet
from Fallujah told IPS. "We knew that after creating a Sunni-Shia fight,
they would start a Sunni-Sunni fight and a Shia-Shia fight so that they
ensure control of our country. The only thing they have not calculated
well is that people are still armed, and that the fighting spirit is
still alive in Iraq."
Residents who do not belong to either side are feeling lost, and living
with the consequences of the lack of any responsible rule.
Many shops are open in Fallujah, but they have little to sell. "People
do not have money, and business is very slow," a 30-year-old merchant
who gave his name only as Marwan told IPS.
"We are living the worst days since the November 2004 siege of Fallujah.
Unemployment is killing us slowly, and we have no real government to
care for us. Only those who work with the Americans can afford to buy
food, while over 90 percent of residents are very poor. People are
always the biggest losers."
An Oxfam International report released in July estimated that 45 percent
of Iraqis live in abject poverty, on less than a dollar a day.
(*Ali, our correspondent in Baghdad, works in close collaboration with
Dahr Jamail, our U.S.-based specialist writer on Iraq who has reported
extensively from Iraq and the Middle East)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
Order your copy of Dahr's new book, /Beyond the Green Zone/
http://dahrjamailiraq.com/bookpage
(c)2007 Dahr Jamail.
More writing, commentary, photography, pictures and images at http://dahrjamailiraq.com