Baghdad Crackdown Seeks Sunni Help

Militants check a map in the city of Buhriz, 60 kilometers (35 miles) north of Baghdad, Wednesday, June 13, 2007. Local militants took over the control of the town and vowed to fight al-Qaida. U.S. commanders, trying to seize upon a successful trend born in western Iraq's Anbar province, have started arming and training Sunni men across a vast stretch of the country including Baghdad and extremely violent, al-Qaida-infested regions north and south of the capital. (AP Photo) (Str - AP)

American deaths have risen steadily. The capital continues to fragment into Sunni and Shiite redoubts.

The sectarian slaughter has dipped slightly in Baghdad, but is up dramatically outside the city, according to AP tallies compiled from hospital, police and military officials, as well as accounts from reporters and photographers. The figures are considered only a minimum, and the actual number is likely higher, as many killings go unreported or uncounted.

The positive ledger is largely a list of sustained, but possibly superficial, blows against Iraq's resilient armed factions.

Thousands of militants _ Sunni insurgents, al-Qaida fighters, Shiite militiamen _ have been killed or captured. Each day, U.S. forces find or destroy big weapons caches.

But the biggest surprise _ and current source of hope to gain the upper hand _ has been the American opening to homegrown Sunni insurgents in Baghdad and surrounding areas as proxy fighters against factions inspired by al-Qaida.

U.S. commanders are following a trend born in the western Anbar Province, where U.S.-led forces have armed and trained Sunni groups. There, the Sunnis first took their cues from tribal elders angered by al-Qaida's extreme violence and Taliban-like strictures.

An extra enticement came later: a promise of a regular, paying, police job in the future.

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the Third Infantry Division, which controls a dangerous swath of territory south of Baghdad known as the "Triangle of Death," said the recruitment, arming and training of Sunnis is a matter of pragmatism.

"There are folks out there, there are populations out there who have tendencies to do things like plant IEDs (`improvised explosive devices,' or roadside bombs) or they have equal tendencies not to plant IEDs. We are trying to push them on our side. That's what we're trying to do," Lynch said this week.

In Baghdad's Amariyah neighborhood near the International Airport, members of the insurgent Islamic Army have begun calling themselves the Wataniyoo Baghdad, or Patriots of Baghdad, and recently fought al-Qaida in cooperation with U.S. forces.

The men, mainly former military officers under Saddam Hussein, worked with American soldiers in late May during fierce battles to oust al-Qaida members from the district.

U.S. troops worked in concert with Wataniyoo Baghdad members, telling them to wear white kerchiefs around their necks to identify themselves during the fighting, according to residents interviewed by the AP. They refused to allow use of their names, fearing al-Qaida retribution.