| Page 3 of 3 < |
For U.S. and Sunni Allies, a Turning Point
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
First Lt. Greg Garhart, 26, who supervises more than 400 Sons of Iraq in the Dora area, said the guards who work under him have all but lost hope. None has been admitted into the National Police.
"They kind of see the SOI as a dying organization" he said. "I've had a few quit recently. I don't know if they lost their faith or are afraid of the NP."
Of more than 54,000 Sons of Iraq guards in the Baghdad area, roughly 3,400 have secured jobs in the Iraqi security forces, according to the U.S. military. Despite their misgivings, the vast majority have registered to continue getting paid by the Iraqi government.
U.S. soldiers see Sons of Iraq leaders as extraordinary sources of intelligence, but what makes them so attractive as allies -- their connections to the insurgency -- is also what makes the prospect of their dissolution so alarming.
John recently visited Kurtani to seek information about a Katyusha rocket that narrowly missed the small outpost in Dora where his platoon is assigned.
"How does a [expletive] rocket the size of two of my weapons get into the mahallas without SOI seeing it," John asked teasingly, using the Arabic word for neighborhood.
After a lengthy back-and-forth between Kurtani and his aides, John's interpreter quietly told the lieutenant that a cousin of one of Kurtani's deputies may have been involved.
"Tell him I want addresses for all of his lieutenants," John told the interpreter as they were preparing to leave. "Tell them I'm going to come visit them. And say it with a wink."
The next day, another Sons of Iraq group spotted two men fiddling with a small billboard fixed to a light post along a main road.
Police arrested the men and found, inside the double-paneled billboard, a rocket attached to a triggering device. U.S. military officials later concluded that it could have been used against the gunner in an American vehicle.
Under stern questioning by John, one of the men began to weep and said he knew nothing about the rocket. But field tests for explosives residue on their hands were positive.
"How much did they pay you to do this?" demanded John.
In one of the men's pockets, police found two crisp $50 bills. Later that day, John told his men to keep looking for similar booby traps and found a billboard disguising a mortar launcher.
That night, he met with Subhi, 48, the Sons of Iraq leader whose men had spotted the first billboard.
"Good work today," John said.
"Of course!" Subhi replied.
Special correspondent Aziz Alwan contributed to this report.
