Word: qaeda
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Opponents of the SOFA want the U.S. military to leave Iraq sooner than the 2012 deadline that al-Maliki is pushing for. But many of the sheiks are leaders of the Awakening Councils, the U.S.-funded paramilitaries that helped drive al-Qaeda out of Anbar. They - and thousands of their men - receive salaries from the U.S. military, and they don't want their paymasters to leave any sooner than absolutely necessary...
...What the Iraqi government will do with the SOI is a matter of great concern for U.S. commanders, who see them as allies in the fight against al-Qaeda. Iraqi officials are more likely to view them as criminals seeking to hide their murderous past. That's why the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is extremely reluctant to absorb all the SOI into the police and Iraqi army. Says one top police commander: "The Americans may forgive these people for killing American soldiers, but how can we forgive them for killing Iraqis...
...Iraq (SOI), one of nearly 100,000 Sunnis recruited by the U.S. military to fight al-Qaeda. Saif Abdallah (not his real name) is paid about $300 a month, and works with a group of 20 others somewhere north of Baghdad. His job? "Some patrols, some checkpoints," he says with a familiar shrug. "The work is not hard." (See pictures of five years of U.S. troops in Iraq...
...city dweller, got a tribal sheik to speak on his behalf. He hints that some money changed hands. "Everything is possible with dollars," he says with a laugh. He claims that at least five of the men in his SOI group had been foot soldiers for al-Qaeda. The U.S. soldiers with whom they have regular contact "don't know anything about us," he said...
...spare time, he tools around in a makeshift laboratory at home - these days, he says, he mostly helps friends and neighbors repair malfunctioning computers. His one connection to his old life: jihadi websites, where he follows the fortunes of his onetime employers. "I read on the Internet that al-Qaeda are using some of my triggers against the Americans in Afghanistan," he says with giddy excitement. "It is fantastic...