Iraq's awakening drives out al-Qaida

KIRKUK, Iraq, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. military officials in northern Iraq say despite continued violence, a citizen neighborhood watch program is beginning to drive al-Qaida out of the region.

The citizen patrols, who call the initiative Sahwa, an Arabic term meaning "awakening," recently approached soldiers of the U.S. 10th Mountain Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment. Officials say more than 1,000 citizens showed up to be recruited in an effort to drive out terrorists, the U.S. Defense Department reported.

"What this program is doing is creating significant problems for the insurgents, because it drives a wedge between them and the populace," Army 2nd Lt. Alan Finnie, 1-87 infantry, said in a statement.

"By taking away the one incentive advantage the insurgents had over the government, namely money, the people now have every reason to reject terrorist intimidation and embrace the responsibility of eliminating al-Qaida in Iraq influence in their communities."

Officials say for joining the program citizens are provided with weapons and a regular paycheck based on the effectiveness of their performance.

"This is the biggest thing going on for the local Iraqis ... because one, it's putting money in their pockets and stimulating the local economy, and two, these people really want to provide their own security," said Maj. John Allen, 1-87 infantry operations officer.

“AQ’s recruiting was fueled by the fact we fired the whole army and left a bunch of men, many with weapons, with no jobs. AQ paid ‘em, well.”

Half truths.

We did not fire “the whole bunch”. (1)Most of it’s command structure, filled with Saddam-Baathist loyalists, (a) went into active-duty hiding with Saddam, (b)went to Jordan or Syria, (c)went home and hoped to just sit out the invasion and the denouement of Saddam, (d)joined a Sunni militia group. I have read of only one top former Saddam officer who formally allied with Al Queda. (2)Most of the grunts followed their leaders, if they could and if their leaders kept them in touch and only a minority drifted into the arms of Al Queda; the majority were (a) “hired” into knew Iraqi forces, in the various stages of that development, (b)hired into local Iraqi police and national Iraqi police units we developed (c) hired into private security units for Iraqi politicians, (d) joined a Shia militia, or went into the sheer criminal enterprise of kidnapping for money.

For the most part, we did not fire Saddam’s military, it was disbanding itself from the day of the invasion. Reconstituting that military, with the heavy component of Saddam and Baathists in its command structure, presented as many possible problems, some fatal, as it did potential benefits - it was not a zero sum proposition. In particular, at the height of the invasion and while Saddam and so many of his associates were still on the loose, accepting the trust of many ex-Saddam officers could have lost us all trust of all the major Shia and Kurdish groups. With their trust lost the political developments would have taken even longer. Again, putting Saddam’s military on our payroll (even if it were practical, which it wasn’t) and sending them out to keep order was NOT a zero sum proposition.

The ONLY reason it has taken as long as it has to route the terrorists is our vile democrats cheerleading for failure.

...as will as the DBM, which has been given cover by the Dems.

They not only will never admit it, they will not even acknowledge it to themselves. They still think that they had nothing to do with the slaughter of so many in southeast asia after we abandoned them.

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