From: Romi Elnagar <bluesapphire48@yahoo.com>
To: American Conscience <AmericanConscience@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, 8 May, 2009 0:20:21
Subject: [afro-asiareport] Fw: MidEast Dispatches: Laying the Groundwork for Violence
Laying the Groundwork for Violence
by Dahr Jamail
May 7th, 2009 | T r u t h o
u t
To read story with picture click here
Throughout history, those who collaborate with the occupiers of their
country tend to end up hung out to dry, or dead. The occupation of Iraq
is no different - collaboration and the poison fruits that come of it
are on full display for the history books once again. Only now, the
rapidity with which this is happening is staggering.
On May 5, the Iraqi military killed Basim Mohammed and detained his
brother. Mohammed was a member of the Sahwa, the 100,000-strong Sunni
militia composed mostly of former resistance fighters that the US
created in order to use them to battle al-Qaeda in Iraq, as well as
paying them off to draw down the number of attacks against occupation
forces.
The Sahwa, who were supposed to be given government jobs either in
security or in civil services, have been betrayed. Instead of being
given the promised jobs, they have been consistently targeted by the
Iraqi military, and at times the US military, which has left them
vulnerable as well to attacks from al-Qaeda. As a result, they are
walking off their security jobs for lack of pay, and have largely
ceased their military operations against al-Qaeda. The predictable
result is what we have been witnessing over the last months - a slow
but steady increase in the number of attacks against Iraqi and US
forces and a dramatic rise in the spectacular car bomb attacks in
largely Shia areas that kill scores at a time.
The obvious solution would be for the Obama administration to pressure
its client government in Baghdad to fulfill promises to incorporate the
Sahwa into its ranks, as well as applying pressure to Prime Minister
Maliki to lay off targeting the Sahwa and its leadership.
Instead, Sahwa members like Mohammed are being killed and their family
members detained, and the attacks continue. On May 3, Iraqi forces
arrested Nadhim al-Jubouri, a Sahwa leader in the volatile Salahadin
province. In March, Iraqi forces detained Adil al-Mashadani, head of
another Sahwa group in the Fadhil neighborhood of central Baghdad -
which ignited clashes between US, Iraqi and Sahwa forces that left
three men dead and set the stage for more bloodletting.
Let us be clear - the US military knew, when the Sahwa were formed back
in mid-2006, that most of the members were either former resistance
fighters or members of al-Qaeda. Promises were made to these men that
if they took the $300 monthly paycheck and promised to stop their
attacks against occupation forces, they would be granted amnesty from
any Iraqi government reprisal. The latter was necessary because from
the beginning of the Sahwa's creation, the Maliki government has
opposed them, and spoke in bellicose terms that there would be measures
taken to exact revenge on Sahwa members who had been in the Ba'ath
Party, or who were former resistance fighters, which describes the vast
majority of its members.
Sahwa leaders are complaining about this, to little or no avail. After
his arrest on May 3, Sahwa leader Nadhim al-Jubouri, a former al-Qaeda
militia leader, told reporters that his arrest by Iraqi police violated
the amnesty deal he'd signed with the US military last year. Shame on
al-Jubouri for putting any faith in the occupiers of his country.
Clearly, he believes he lives outside of history. Jubouri told AFP, "We
signed a cease-fire agreement with American forces, just as we signed
an agreement to grant us immunity from the courts, even if we killed
half the American army or shot down a plane."
Clearly, he believes the occupiers, and their client government in
Baghdad, would hold true to their word. Jubouri must read about as much
news as Sarah Palin, or he would have known better. In a classic
good-cop/bad- cop routine, while the US military played good-cop and
offered immunity and money to the Sahwa, the Maliki government promised
there would be no immunity, and the attacks began. The US military
issued a statement after Jubouri's arrest by the Iraqi government,
saying, "Coalition forces had a very minor role in this as the warrants
originated from the Iraqis." It's clear who has held true to their word.
Violence across the country continues unabated. On the same day the
Iraqi military killed Basim Mohammed, nearly 40 Iraqis were killed, 31
of them "suspected militants" (read Sahwa members) killed by the Iraqi
military in Diyala province.
In the last 72 hours, most of the violence is due to Iraqi government
operations that are in full swing to take out as many Sahwa members as
possible.
On May 4, at least 15 Iraqis were killed and 24 wounded. Four of the
dead were policemen (read Sahwa) in the Dora area of Baghdad (security
in Dora is run by the Sahwa) who were killed when someone threw a
grenade at their checkpoint.
The day before this, the Times of London reported
that a leading member of the Political Council of Iraqi Resistance,
which represents six Sunni militant groups, said, "The resistance has
now returned to the field and is intensifying its attacks against the
enemy. The number of coalition forces killed is on the rise."
While the rhetoric is laden with hubris, there is a rising trend of US
soldiers being killed in Iraq. At least 18 soldiers were killed last
month - making it the deadliest month since September for US occupation
forces. This, coupled with the large uptick in Iraqi deaths, prompted
Richard Haass, president of the US Council on Foreign Relations, who
returned from a visit to Iraq last week, to state, "It is obvious there
are still multiple fault-lines in society. In my view, Iraq and the
United States are going to have to adjust the timelines and leave a
residual force of tens of thousands beyond 2011."
Sahwa groups around Baghdad and other areas of Iraq are now reporting
that half their members are leaving their posts to rejoin the
resistance. Others are reporting that 75 percent have already left.
On May 2 in Hilla, south of Baghdad, over 120 members of a Sahwa group
abandoned their posts at dozens of checkpoints south of the capital
city, on the grounds that they had not been paid their monthly
salaries. "This strike is going to continue until we get our April
salaries, and some of the Sahwas have not been paid for March either,"
Nazar al-Janabi, one of the militiamen, told AFP. This is becoming
common.
I suspect it will take some time for new resistance groups being formed
of disenfranchised Sahwa members to reconstitute themselves. Sporadic,
yet increasing, attacks against US forces will continue in the
meantime, and the Iraqi people, who always bear the brunt of failed US
policy in Iraq, continue to die in the hundreds with each passing week.
-----Inline Attachment Follows-----
** Dahr Jamail's MidEast Dispatches **
** Visit Dahr Jamail's website http://dahrjamailir aq.com **
Dahr Jamail's new book, /Military Resisters: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan/ , is now available for pre-order
Pre-order book here http://tinyurl. com/cnlgyu
As one of the first and few unembedded Western journalists to report the truth about how the United States has destroyed, not liberated, Iraqi society in his book Beyond the Green Zone, Jamail now investigates the under-reported but growing antiwar resistance of American GIs. Gathering the stories of these courageous men and women, Jamail shows us that far from “supporting our troops,” politicians have betrayed them at every turn. Finally, Jamail shows us that the true heroes of the criminal tragedy of the Iraq War are those brave enough to say no.
Order /Beyond the Green Zone/
http://dahrjamailir aq.com/bookpage
"International journalism at its best." --Stephen Kinzer, former bureau chief, New York Times; author /All the Shah's Men/
Winner of the prestigious 2008 Martha Gellhorn Award for Journalism
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