Word: anbar
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Iraq Returning Anbar to The Iraqis On Sept. 1, U.S. military commanders handed over control of Anbar province to Iraqi forces, a major sign of progress in a region that has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 U.S. soldiers since the war began. The move puts 11 of the nation's 18 provinces under Iraqi control. Yet the transition of Anbar, once a stronghold of al-Qaeda and the heartland of Iraq's Sunni insurgency, also underscores the changed nature of the U.S. role in Iraq. Though President Bush roundly rejected nation-building when he took office eight...
...duties after the hand-over) is an Islamic Party man, and they fear the police force will be infiltrated by their extremist Sunni enemies. "If the Islamic Party continues to pressure the government to remove the Awakening members from the security forces ... then there is a high likelihood that Anbar will return to violence," Sheikh Natah says...
...Iraqi Islamic Party dismisses the sheikhs' concerns. "Some people make accusations without solid evidence," says Omar Abdul-Sattar, a parliamentarian and the Islamic Party spokesman. Abdul-Sattar says that the decision to remove Dulaimi was a done deal between all of the various factions in Anbar, including the tribes, as well as the central government. "This is old talk, Tareq al A'sal has been replaced by consensus," he says...
...Awakening members don't see it that way. "The tribes are angry with the government's decision," says Colonel Jubeir Rashid, the security adviser to the Awakening Council and a member of the Anbar police force. Tribal elders see Dulaimi's removal as part of a wider government crackdown against the Awakening Council and the Sons of Iraq, the 100,000-strong, largely Sunni former militiamen who are each paid a monthly stipend of $300 by the U.S. to help keep the peace. In the past few weeks, the Iraqi army has moved against the groups in Diyala province, detaining...
...Anbar's tribal leaders say they feel threatened. "Our reward for defeating Al Qaeda is that we've been sidelined," says Sheikh Hamid al Hayess, a senior member of the movement. "We are sensing a change toward us," says Colonel Rashid. "The government should help us, not try to break us with its decisions...