U.S. Makes Improbable Sunni Ally in Iraq

Blindfolded terrorist suspects are brought to an Iraqi army base in Baqouba, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, Saturday, June 23, 2007. Eight suspected al-Qaida members were arrested Saturday during a joint US and Iraqi offensive in Baqouba. (AP Photo) (Str - AP)

"We've given them a little ammo, some flares, but mostly humanitarian aid. We're not arming these guys, we're just changing the direction they're pointing their guns in," said Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the U.S. ground forces commander, who made a one-day visit to the Baqouba battlefield this week.

U.S. commanders turned down the Brigades members' request for ammunition when they straggled into the U.S. post in Buhriz two months back. American intelligence spent weeks vetting the volunteers before they started lining them up for the operation that opened in the early hours Tuesday, said Command Sgt. Maj. Jeff Huggins, a 41-year-old Honolulu native of the 2nd Infantry.

Despite intelligence checks, there is concern that some of the Brigades men, or people close to them, tipped al-Qaida to the coming offense. Odierno said 80 percent of al-Qaida leaders managed to flee the city before American soldiers stormed into Baqouba before sunrise Tuesday.

The troops found roads with buried bombs and booby-trapped houses across the city.

The men who first contacted American forces in April had been picked up by Iraqi police after a bloody gunfight in nearby Buhriz, and taken to a joint U.S.-Iraqi outpost, where they asked to speak with U.S. military officials.

Al-Maliki complained that the U.S. was turning them and other Sunni insurgent groups into nothing but better trained and armed Sunni militias that will torment the Shiite population and turn their guns on Iraqi troops and police once U.S. forces leave the district.

The group says it abhors the killing of Iraqi security forces, and a commander, speaking on condition of anonymity out of security concerns, said his group turned against al-Qaida over just that issue.

"We do not kill police or army members, or call for their killing," he said. "Al-Qaida threatened us for taking this stance. ... They began to kidnap and kill our fighters, so ... we began to fight back."

That leaves open whether the men will revert to form _ their history of killing American soldiers. The commander would not address this.

The commander said his group had turned down a previous request from U.S. officials to join the fight against al-Qaida.

"But after recent killings among our Iraqi people in the province, we decided to fight alongside Iraqi and American troops," he said.

Maj. Gen. Abdul Karim al-Rubaie, an Iraqi army commander who works at a U.S.-Iraqi operations center for Diyala province, said his troops are comfortable working with the 1920s scouts.

And he suggested that help from the Sunni insurgent group could lend legitimacy to the Shiite-dominated Iraqi security forces in the area. Baqouba's civilian population is majority Sunni.

"I've found them very beneficial _ they've helped us in Buhriz and Tahrir (neighborhoods of Baqouba)," said al-Rubaie, a Sunni. "They're fighting on the side of the Iraqi army with enthusiasm, and without requesting a lot of money or weapons."

To U.S. officials here in Baqouba, the Brigades members offer a window into Sunni divisions where American forces can apply pressure.

"They're grassroots, organized _ even like neighborhood firemen _ and they've decided they want a safe environment," said Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, deputy operations commander for the Army's 25th Infantry Division. "Will we leverage that? Darn right we will. And is it a potential risk? Sure it is _ but it's one we're willing to take."

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