From the MASTER of COUNTER-insurgency himself!
"A U.S.-Backed Plan for Sunni Neighborhood Guards Is Tested" by JAMES GLANZ and STEPHEN FARRELL
BAGHDAD, Aug. 18 — The United States is pressing ahead with an American-financed effort to recruit and pay local Sunni Arabs to protect neighborhoods in districts scattered across a wide swath of central Iraq. The initiative has generated deep skepticism in some members of the Shiite-led Iraqi government, who fear that the strategy could intensify the already intense sectarian warfare here.
The American military says it is not arming the new forces, at least initially, but in some areas, tribal groups bring their own weapons.
On Saturday, in the ravaged Sunni neighborhood of Ghazaliya, freshly recruited members of the local force were on display in crisp new cargo pants and flak jackets during a visit by the top American commander in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, and the American ambassador, Ryan C. Crocker. Both made it clear that the United States sees the creation of the so-called Guardian forces as a major new initiative to improve security on the streets of Iraq.
The effort is loosely based on successes the United States has had in Anbar, the desert province where Sunni tribes have been paid to ally themselves with American-led multinational forces in fighting insurgent groups.
[Yeah, it is a "success" that we finally adopted a strategy and a deal we could have had FOUR YEARS AGO but REJECTED!
And HOW MANY DIED in between?]
In an interview in the back of a tiny shop in Ghazaliya, General Petraeus said that the United States was pressing to set up Guardian forces in places where the tribes were not strong or prevalent enough to serve as a backbone of the program.
Iraqi streets are both protected and terrorized by militias of all kinds.
[Including BLACKWATERS!]
Some of the existing militias are loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, some to other Shiite political groups and many to no one but local commanders. At the same time, the Sunni tribes have armed wings, and a wide spectrum of insurgent groups and criminal gangs also wield the power of the gun.
[So it is EVERYBODY and ANYBODY who is an "insurgent" -- except for the Sunnis who are killing us.
We ARM THEM!]
The Guardians could also be seen as natural targets for some Shiite militias, potentially generating violence even as they try to tamp it down.
General Petraeus , asked whether he supported the Guardian program, whether he thought it should be put in place countrywide and whether he thought it could improve security, replied:
“Yes, yes and yes.”
But he said that the effort would have to be tailored to individual neighborhoods.
Variants of such forces have turned up in Amiriya and Abu Ghraib neighborhoods in western Baghdad, in Diyala Province in the east, in Falluja in Anbar Province and elsewhere. On Saturday, the No. 2 commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, reviewed a similar force in Yusufiya, in a deadly region just south of the capital.
Even though the initiative could be seen as a sign of mistrust for the Iraqi police forces, General Petraeus said it was supported by high-ranking members of the Iraqi government, including Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. The police are heavily infiltrated by members of Shiite militias that are accused of sowing terror among Sunnis in Baghdad.
But Iraq’s deputy national security adviser and a member of its reconciliation council, Safa al-Sheik, said that the Iraqi government had not been involved when the Americans began the program and it was divided on it now.
Mr. Sheik said: “Some of the people think it is arming the Sunnis. They believe it will be preparation for civil war.”
General Petraeus said that the Guardians had not so far been issued arms, but were to phone Iraqi and American security forces if problems turned up. Although American officers in Ghazaliya repeatedly referred to the Guardians as “volunteers,” once the Guardians sign a contract pledging allegiance to the Iraqi government they are in fact paid, with American taxpayer money.
[That is MORE MONEY you don't need, Amurkn!]
The Guardian force in Ghazaliya, so far numbering only 160, looks and functions very much like a private security force paid by the American military, said Col. Faleh Hussein of the Sixth Division of the Iraqi Army, who was along on the visit to Ghazaliya. Colonel Hussein said that because of mistrust of the police force in Ghazaliya, it had been effectively barred from entering the neighborhood.
The heavily promoted Guardian program was presented weeks before General Petraeus is to issue a report on progress in Iraq.
In Sadr al-Yusufiya, a village in the Sunni Triangle south of Baghdad, General Odierno visited a checkpoint operated by Concerned Citizens, a team that local American commanders created and named. Members of the force are being paid around $10 a day each to provide security in their area. They carried Kalashnikovs and wore fluorescent orange-and-yellow jackets.
[I could use $10/day from MY GOVERNMENT!]
The delegation of sheiks sought reassurances from General Odierno that in return for their cooperation they would be able to promise their villagers jobs, weapons, vehicles, military supplies, electricity and a guarantee that the new security force would lead to long-term jobs, and official positions in the Iraqi security forces.
General Odierno told them: “We have a system in place that we will provide on a three-month basis contracts that will pay each one of your volunteers. And in a few days they will have that money to begin paying salaries to all of the volunteers.”
[But Americans who are being FORECLOSED ON don't need any help!
Pffffffftttttt!!!!
I am SO PISSED at this PASSING AROUND MONEY for WARS and NOTHING FOR US!]
In the impromptu interview in the shop in Ghazaliya, General Petraeus also responded to recent reports by the Government Accountability Office and the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction that were critical of his handling of hundreds of thousands of weapons given to Iraqi security forces when he was previously in charge of training those forces. The weapons were not properly registered by serial number and thousands were lost, potentially to insurgent groups, the agencies found.
General Petraeus said that early in the conflict, he faced the choice of either quickly getting the weapons to willing Iraqi fighters who were defending the country or delaying while the tracking mechanisms were put in place.
The general said he decided to get the weapons out fast, in one case landing in Najaf in Marine helicopters and dumping the weapons out the back hatch to waiting Iraqis.
General Petraeus said: “We made a decision to arm guys who wanted to fight for their country.”
[Good God!
So it is THIS ASSHOLE who is responsible for the MISSING, UNTRACEABLE WEAPONS, huh?
Just DUMPED OUT of a helicopter to waiting Iraqis!!!!
Holy shit!! Sure none were insurgents or "Al-CIA-Duhs," or Mahdis?
But it is Iran responsible for all the problems! FUCKING LIARS!!!!!
And look at the flip comment by this BUTCHER!!
Yeah, fighting for their country by KILLING AMERICANS -- and 60% of Iraqis AGREE!!!
Yup, ARM Sunnis who are fighting for their country!!
This is ILL, people, and SO IS Petraeus!!!
WTF are we doing over there?
Just CREATING CHAOS and KILLING as many as possible, as many ways as possible.
Sorry, Amurkns, but your country is a fucking MASS-MURDERING, MENTALLY-DERANGED, WAR-CRIMINAL NATION!!!]
