Nowadays, the government pays the salaries of its estimated 650,000-strong police and army on time, including the estimated 20,000 Sahwa fighters who have been assimilated into the security forces.
But the remaining fighters on the government payroll go without their checks, in some cases for as long as three months. The government cites lack of funds or bureaucratic snags for the delays.
Another Sahwa complaint is that the government detained scores of its leaders on terrorism charges last year. Although most detainees were released — often because of U.S. pressure — the arrests were seen as a humiliation.
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You know, I don’t blame these guys for being pissed off. These were the saviors of the surge, the Sons of Iraq, the Anbar Awakening! But then we go and allow Iraq to screw it all up and treat these guys like dirt. Yet again, the market of force dictates. If you don’t pay your people as much or more than your competitor in pay or benefits, or treat them poorly, then you will lose that contractor/soldier to your competitor who understands these very simple business principles.
Now there is always the idea that Sahwa guys are using this as a means of leverage. Nothing like a so called ‘statement’ from AQ that they are trying to lure people away with better salary, to put a little fire under Iraq’s ass about paying these guys. But I tend to go with the option that it is true, and that AQ is recognizing a deficiency within the Iraqi government and trying to exploit it. (go figure)
There is another reason why we should pay attention to this. I don’t care what anyone says. If AQ is even able to get a hundred guys back on their team, that is 100 booger eaters we will have to deal with as the war transitions into this new phase. That means more mortar and rocket attacks, more IED’s, more assassinations, and everything else you can think of that AQ loves to do at their parties.
The other thing to remember is all of these Sahwa fighters know exactly what the Iraqi military is capable of now. There has been plenty of time for them to observe and feel this stuff out as guards. They also wouldn’t have the US to worry about because of this congressionally mandated troop presence in Iraq of 50,000 folks. All AQ has to do is put the word out and pay the Sahwa tribes a decent wage, and tell them how cool they are with a couple of ‘hey buddy, we will be your friends.. wink, wink’.
Not only that, but these Sahwa fighters are also dealing with the Plomo O Plata Effect as well. AQ has certainly been assassinating these guys, and providing plenty of plomo or ‘lead’ for the tribes to think about. Pffft. –Matt
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Al-Qaida in Iraq offers cash to lure former allies
By HAMZA HENDAWI
August 7th, 2010
BAGHDAD — Al-Qaida in Iraq has begun offering cash to lure back former Sunni allies angry over the government’s failure to give them jobs and pay their salaries on time, according to Sunni tribesmen and Iraqi officials.
The recruitment drive adds to worries that the terror network is attempting a comeback after the deaths of its two top leaders in April and is taking advantage of a summer of uncertainty. The political stalemate in Baghdad is entering its sixth month after inconclusive elections, just as the U.S. military is rapidly drawing down its forces.
Al-Qaida’s strategy is to provoke the Shiite majority into launching revenge attacks — a development that could re-ignite open warfare, split the Iraqi security forces along sectarian lines and cement al-Qaida’s leadership role among Sunnis.
But if the extremists are unable to win back their former Sunni allies, it would be difficult for them to rebound as a significant threat — though al-Qaida could continue to be a deadly nuisance for years to come.
Al-Qaida’s overtures in recent weeks are notable because its militants have killed hundreds of former allies over the past two years, setting off blood vendettas between the Sunni extremist group and others in the Iraqi Sunni community. Many former insurgents also disliked al-Qaida’s imposition of a strict interpretation of Islam in areas under its control.
But tribesmen said the need for cash to feed their families is pushing some lower-ranking former al-Qaida in Iraq members to rejoin the terror group — and that al-Qaida’s presence is growing in Anbar province west of the capital.
“The government must help us counter the resurrection of al-Qaida in Anbar,” warned Mahmoud Shaker, an influential tribesman from the province’s Habbaniyah district.