Awakening Groups Want More Money...Or Else

by: Chris LeJeune

Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 12:07:00 PM EDT

The Iraqi officer leading a U.S.-financed anti-jihadist group is in no mood for small talk -- either the military gives him more money or he will pack his bags and rejoin the ranks of al-Qaeda.

"I'll go back to al-Qaeda if you stop backing the Sahwa (Awakening) groups," Col. Satar tells U.S. Lt. Matthew McKernon, as he tries to secure more funding for his men to help battle the anti-U.S. insurgents.

What do you call someone who fights for money?  Mercenary.  And in this case, the mercenaries started out on the other side of the battlefield.

Most members of the Awakening groups are Sunni Arab former insurgents who themselves fought American troops under the al-Qaeda banner after the fall of the regime of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Some, like Satar, had served in Saddam's army before joining Al-Qaeda. Others were members of criminal gangs before deciding to fight the insurgents, with the backing of the U.S. military.

This poses quite a problem for the US military, and for the US government, as well as for the Iraqis.  Many military leaders and Iraqi civilians have credited the Awakening groups with the huge drop in violence.  The logic is rather simple, really.  If you pay your enemy to stop attacking you, violence will go down.  But now they want more.

They earn around 300 dollars a month and their presence at checkpoints and on patrol has become an essential component of the U.S.-led coalition's strategy to restore order in the war-wracked country.

"I like my work," said Satar, who is in charge of security south of Baquba in Iraq's eastern Diyala province.

According to McKernon Satar has a contract with the U.S. military to employ 230 men "but he has more than 300" under his command, which is why he wants more money to keep them happy.

The U.S. military knows perfectly well that many people joined Awakening groups simply because it was a good way to make money, and that if the cashflow dries up some would not hesitate to return to al-Qaeda.

In a bid to avoid this, the U.S.-led coalition is helping Awakening members to return to a "normal life," according to US Admiral Patrick Driscoll.

He told AFP that options included helping them return to the lives they had before joining the insurgency or joining the Iraqi security forces.

Some 17,000 Awakening members have opted for the second choice, and 2,500 of them now hold administrative positions, Driscoll said.

The pay is rather good considering that in 2004, most Iraqi police were only getting 60 dollars a month.  This is very confusing to Iraqi families.  When I was in Iraq, there was much animosity towards the Sunnis.  Although they are the minority, they had held great power over the Shia under Saddam.  Now the government of Iraq is predominately Shia, and most of the military and police are drawn from the Iranian Badr Organization.  The Sunni Awakening groups are a delicate balance.