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New Leaders Of Sunnis Make Gains In Influence
Mutual Lack of Trust
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The future of the Sunni community, perhaps of Iraq itself, will likely be shaped by men such as Hassan, the Awakening fighter in Maderiyah. For the past few months, he has tried to join the Iraqi security forces, but he has had no response. Neither have his comrades or Hadi's men.
"I do not trust this government," Hassan said. "It is based on religion, ethnicity, and they just do not want to share power with us."
The government is worried that the Sunni fighters could turn against it when U.S. troops pull out of Iraq. In public statements, government officials warned they would not permit the Awakening movement to become "a third force" alongside the police and army.
If he does not get a government job, Ahmed Nadji, a 20-year-old Awakening fighter, predicted this scenario: "We will quit. Al-Qaeda will come back again. Adhamiyah will go back to chaos again. The Iraqis who have returned from Syria will go back again. Everything will collapse again."
Yet that grim scenario is also why his community's newly empowered leaders are optimistic. "The government has no choice but to accept us," Suleiman said. "They have seen what we have done, how strong we are on the land. The political process cannot run without us."
Special correspondent Zaid Sabah in Baghdad contributed to this report.
