Word: sunni
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...Iraq, it is big news when a Shi'ite leader extols the virtues of Sunni fighters. But that is what happened just a few days ago, on Dec. 21, when Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of Iraq's largest Shi'ite political party, offered some praise for the mostly Sunni volunteers who have been key to this year's dramatic drop in insurgent violence. "They are practicing an honorable role, they are expressing the unity of Iraqis in confronting the enemies of Iraq...
...Iraqi government, in turn, is wary of integrating more than a small number of CLCs into the army or the police. Sometime next year then, tens of thousands of armed Sunni men - many with insurgent backgrounds - will find themselves unemployed. If that happens, the dramatic security improvements of 2007 may not survive...
...depend on the Iraqi government. It has pledged $155 million of its own. But Iraq's corrupt and sectarian government has so far been unable to move forward on basic issues like how to share oil revenue. Its willingness and ability to administer a jobs program for Sunni men is questionable to say the least...
...military has recruited thousands of Sunni insurgents to join the fight against jihadist groups like al-Qaeda, but the Shi'ite militias mainly responsible for last year's sectarian carnage remain largely untouched. In August, Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Mahdi Army, ordered it not to attack American troops. But U.S. commanders on the ground know there was no goodwill behind the decision. "It wasn't because Sadr saw Jesus--let's put it that way," says Major Christopher Coglianese, a staff officer in Baghdad. More likely, the Mahdi Army is waiting for the Americans to begin their drawdown...
...military may have embraced Sunni insurgents, but the al-Maliki government has been less enthusiastic. American officials say Sunni "concerned citizens" groups (a euphemism for armed groups that protect Sunni areas) are examples of "bottom-up reconciliation." The officials say the best way to keep the Sunni fighters from returning to the insurgency is to integrate them into official Iraqi forces, just as the Shi'ite militias have been. But many Shi'ite leaders see Sunni groups as a long-term threat--a fifth column within the armed forces. The distrust is so deep that many Sunni fighters injured...