Officials: Shiites Interested in Alliance With American Troops

foxnews ^ | 9/15/2007 | ap

[tobyhill]

KUT, Iraq — American commanders in southern Iraq say Shiite sheiks are showing interest in joining forces with the U.S. military against extremists, in much the same way that Sunni clansmen in the western part of the country have worked with American forces against Al Qaeda.

Sheik Majid Tahir al-Magsousi, the leader of the Migasees tribe here in Wasit province, acknowledged tribal leaders have discussed creating a brigade of young men trained by the Americans to bolster local security as well as help patrol the border with Iran.

He also said last week's assassination of Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, who spearheaded the Sunni uprising against Al Qaeda in Anbar province, only made the Shiite tribal leaders more resolute.

"The death of Sheik Abu Risha will not thwart us," he said. "What matters to us is Iraq and its safety."

The movement by Shiite clan leaders is still in the early stages but offers the potential to give U.S. and Iraqi forces another tactical advantage in curbing lawlessness in Shiite areas. It also would give the Americans another resource as they beef up their presence on the border with Iran, which the military accuses of arming and training Shiite extremists.

Similar alliances with Sunni tribes in the western Anbar province helped break the grip of groups such as Al Qaeda in Iraq and were widely cited in the Washington hearings as a major military success this year.

[Balding_Eagle]

The surge is a failure.

Oh, Wait.

The surge is working but the Iraqi’s hate us.

Oh, Wait.

The surge is working, the Iraqi’s are also working with us, but the GOVERNMENT is a failure.

There, that’s better.

[DoughtyOne]

This is the good news coming out of Iraq. It’s why the Democrats had to backpeddle on their claim the surge was not working.

Things are starting to fall apart big-time for the Democrats.

Next summer when Iraq is stable and our drawdown is excellerating, they’ll look like the bufoons of the new century.

That’ll be two in a row for them.

[RightWhale]

Better late than never. It’s getting late.

[ClaireSolt]

I think this happens after careful cultivation of relations by our troops. I wonder how many soccer balls it takes to get a sheik’s attention.

[shrinkermd]

Good news. Incidentally, from the Declaration of Independence to the final signing of our Constitution was about 13 years (1789?). It took this amount of time to glue a country together. Should the Iraqis have a lesser problem considering they were ruled by the Turks, the Brits and finally Saadam with little or no opportunity to excerecise their democratic desires.

[elhombrelibre]

ping

[jveritas]

More good news.

[CodeMasterPhilzar]

You think the Shiite leaders are starting to get the message that we will be leaving? One way or another, the 'rats surrender/exit or our getting their internal security up to an acceptable level, we are not going to be there forever.

Maybe the leaders are starting to realize that they are going to be left to run their own country? No dictator, no benevolent outsiders, just them. Yeah, they better take advantage of any/all training they can get.

[elhombrelibre]

Indeed. It must break some people’s heart.

[RightWhale]

That’s right. The political forces in the US tend to undermine those years of trust-building. By that I mean the incessant beating of the failure drums by the Press and Dem Congress, and the Rs who have lack of fortitude.

[ClaireSolt]

They haven’t practice, but they have been reading and watching and waiting for their chance ever since the shot heard round the world.

[Marine_Uncle]

Things really are getting interesting. As for some months readings at ITM had indicated, more Iraqi across the ethnic/tribal/religious boundaries have been growing extremely weary of the lack of incentive the central government has made in attacking all forms of the the insurgency.
As each province sees it's majority turn against the local militas, as well as the many known elements of the insurgency, (how easy it is to class them all under one name), perhaps we shall see a full mirror image of what has occurred in al Anbar.
The IG will have no excuse to exclude any group of law abiding Iraqi. Sectarian division will be inexcusable, in that it will be seen as breaking the law. After all their constitution gives all natural born Iraqi the same level of rights.
Since the now common consensus throughout Iraq is to use the vote and political pressures verse the gun, the IG has little excuse not to include all in the new Iraq structure.
IMHO, Maliki and his adherents, will be put under a huge amount of pressure to stop playing favors. With the widening negatives coming in from all parts of the world, they have little option but to demonstrate that the new government will work toward improving the lives of all law abiding Iraqi.
The gate close upon Maliki. Will he break with Iran or will he end up getting booted out.
Like a few, amoung myself not being the inventor of the concept a few months back eluded to, he as well as all the key leadership must stop operating like they are running for office and start learning how to govern with effeciency.
This is all new to them for the most part, but time is not on their side within the constraints of many forces attempting to pull them one way or another.
Maliki can ill afford to allow people like Sadr and Hakim etc., to dictate how the country should be ran.
He must not forget, he has employed a number of ministers to run his country. And outside influences will only undo what gains they have made in this new form of government.
Iraq is a rather voilatile place to begin with, and it may not take to much more lack luster leadership to bring down the walls. The common Iraqi of all strains must be getting very weary at this point.
Hopefully the recent moves we have seen to more equitably lead the country and distribute funds will become the norm.
All Iraqi must have adequate incentive to turn on not only the al Qaeda types but the many radical Islamic groups and not so radical that have killed a lot of their people.
We often see really honest comparisons to how the United States's early years struggled to evolve into the republic it became. That is all good and well. But Iraq is in a different period of time, geography (stressed), and surrounded (unlike the early US) by countries that can have profound effects on it's short term and long term future.
Unlike the Canadian and Mexican border disputes and wars, that really favored the US, Iraq fits into a different mold.

[Kevmo]

Finally getting their shiite together.