Something is rotten in Anbar

Recently we noticed that violence in Anbar was on the upswing and Americans in the province had started taking casualties again, after several restive months.

I have been dreading this day, but I have also known it was coming. It simply stood to reason. As a last-ditch effort, a deal was made with the devil, in spite of the smell of sulfur hanging in the air to serve as a warning, and arms and ammo began to flow to our newly-rented allies.

Then tonight I saw the news on CNN that a suicide bomber struck a funeral for a community leader in Abu Ghraib (the village, not the prison) killing at least 22 and wounding forty more. (No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, so speculating at this point would amount to little more than mental masturbation, and that and four bucks will get you a coffee at Starbucks.

I am afraid that this return to violence is an ominous portent of things to come.

I hope I'm wrong, but my track record on these issues doesn't give me a bit of reason to think I would suddenly stop being right at this point in time.

Another Interesting Aspect of the Surge

"...here, in Diyala, they are slowly turning against the Americans."

80,000 Angry Men. Is the US Surge collapsing?In an investigation carried out by GuardianFilms for Channel 4, we uncover how thousands of Iraqis employed at $10 a day by the US to take on al-Qaida are threatening to go on strike because they say they have been used by the 'Americans to do their dirty work' and haven't been paid.

For ten dollars a day, we've been paying members of the "Awakening Councils" to fight against the various AQI elements that have been conducting small scale operations in Diyala. These elements are now striking because they haven't been getting paid. Is this by accident or by design? There's never been a shortage of money to throw around before.

What these Awakening Councils were doing was pushing back against the attempts by AQI to intimidate people who weren't sufficiently "Islamic" or fundamentalist. So the Awakening Councils formed up, cleared out the AQI they could find, and are now angry that the US took credit for their work. They're also angry that the Shia government hasn't been allowing them to fill jobs.

And this is not just in Diyala--Awakening Councils all over Iraq are complaining about not being paid and are either withdrawing or striking.

Anyway, check out the video--take it with a grain of salt--and see what you think. It comes from the Guardian in Great Britain and there's no doubt that there is some bias to the piece. How much is anyone's guess.

This is not how you make friends and influence people

If you read the nightly news roundups, you know that I have been paying attention to the Sunni militias that have been standing down and abandoning their posts for over a couple of weeks now. If you have read this blog for any length of time, you know that I am no Janie-come-lately on this topic - this is part-and-parcel of a long-running hissy-fit.

Finally the Washington Post is paying attention to the issue...

Nowhere are the tensions more serious than in Diyala, one of the major battlegrounds in the U.S. fight against al-Qaeda in Iraq. Awakening groups, also known here as Popular Committees, are demanding the resignation of the Shiite provincial police chief, Maj. Gen. Ghanem al-Qureishi. They accuse him of running death squads and torturing Sunnis, allegations that Qureishi denied in an interview. The Awakening leaders are also seeking recognition as an official force.

On Wednesday, they vowed to dissolve the committees if their demands were not met. "In the last 10 months, we haven't received any kind of assistance or help from Americans or Iraqi government," said Abu Talib, a top Awakening leader. "On the contrary, the police started to hunt us down."

Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani said that Qureishi was highly valued and that such "good men" would be protected. "An accusation does not mean the crime actually took place," Bolani said.

The U.S. military acknowledges that it is caught in the middle of a political struggle. "Yes, they are frustrated," said Lt. Col. Ricardo Love, commander of the 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, who works in Baqubah, the provincial capital. "They think we can make the government of Iraq do anything. We tell them we don't control the government. But they think we are the mighty power."

"The position of Americans is hesitation," said Abu Imad al-Zuhaidi, another Awakening official in Baqubah. "They don't have any independent opinion, despite the fact they know it is the Awakening who restored order."

U.S. commanders said the Awakening's strike has not affected security, but Love and others are concerned about fighters who may be tempted, or forced, to rejoin the insurgency.

Keep in mind that if they resume their insurgent ways, they will be turning weapons on Americans that were provided by your tax dollars.