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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
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5

US Gives Iraq Control of Sunni Guards

Former insurgents will be given jobs in government

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(Newser) – Baghdad took control today of 90% of the former insurgents employed by the US military to combat al-Qaeda, Reuters reports. Turnover of the roughly 84,000 “Awakening Council" Sunnis, who were paid about $300 a month to patrol neighborhoods, will test Iraqi reconciliation as the US prepares to withdraw combat troops by August 2010.

Some feared authorities would retaliate against their onetime enemies, but “a lot of concerns have not come to fruition,” said a US official. Baghdad will place a fifth of the members in security jobs, providing the rest with training or civilian work. “It'll take 6 to 7 months to complete the job transition,” the official said, “and I predict success.”

Iraqi soldiers pay salaries to Awakening Council members, also known as Sons of Iraq, at an army base in Taji, north of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008.
Iraqi soldiers pay salaries to Awakening Council members, also known as Sons of Iraq, at an army base in Taji, north of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008.   (AP Photo/Loay Hameed)
U.S. and Iraqi soldiers walk with the Azamiyah Awakening council leader Amir al-Azawi stand at a shopping center which housed U.S. military base Callahan for more than a year.
U.S. and Iraqi soldiers walk with the Azamiyah Awakening council leader Amir al-Azawi stand at a shopping center which housed U.S. military base Callahan for more than a year.   (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
An awakening council member stands guard during a demonstration supporting them in the Azamiyah area of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008.
An awakening council member stands guard during a demonstration supporting them in the Azamiyah area of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008.   (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
U.S.-backed Awakening Council fighters provide security in a street in Tarmiyah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Baghdad in Iraq, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008.
U.S.-backed Awakening Council fighters provide security in a street in Tarmiyah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Baghdad in Iraq, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008.   (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
A masked member of an armed group of local citizens flashes a victory sign while patrolling the streets of north Baghdad's Azamiyah neighborhood, Iraq, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007.
A masked member of an armed group of local citizens flashes a victory sign while patrolling the streets of north Baghdad's Azamiyah neighborhood, Iraq, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007.   (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
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The eyes of the world are on you, Iraq, and it's the opportunity to prove that you're going to pull it together in spite of the many, many doubts.
- Major General Mike Ferriter

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justme
Mar 21, 09 8:43 PM CDT
Where are all the Bush- bashers? Iraq may actually become a stable, country with a mostly representative government. Might even shy away from hating the US or threatening Israel every ten minutes. Reply
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SPH
Mar 22, 09 11:35 AM CDT
Then again it deteriorate into a civil and then regional war....
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freethemall
Mar 21, 09 9:40 PM CDT
Nevertheless, is it all worth the billions of dollars squandered, and the 10's of thousands of lives lost? I wonder. Reply
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riffran
Mar 22, 09 5:22 AM CDT
truly a tough question........I don't really think it was worth the cost, and the lives lost....but...just to play the devils advocate (a little) I bet the "blue thumbed " ladies now able to vote, and those survivors of some of Saddams butchery might......so I geuss it just depends on who you talk to. It would be nice if NO body had to go into war in the first place though. Reply
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Forderon
Mar 23, 09 7:55 PM CDT
Um, thanks a lot Bush? I guess? If the goal was to free a nation from an oppressive regime, I can give you a whole list of others he could have kindly helped (invaded) also (Zimbabwe, Sudan, North Korea, Somalia). But he chose only Iraq. To make the argument that he did it to free the Iraqi people is so dishonest. Just because the violence is finally starting to go down at the cost of thousands of lives, hundreds of billions of dollars, a world economy destabilized, and increased terrorism, it doesn't make it a success. Reply
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