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Thread: Sunnis revolt against al-Qaida in Iraq

  1. #21
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    The Long War Journal, 22 Sep 07: An Interview with the "Lion of Arab Jabour"
    While in the Arab Jabour region, The Long War Journal had the opportunity to interview General Mustaffa, the architect of the Concerned Citizens movement. Mustaffa has recruited 537 volunteers, and works closely with the 1st Battalion, 30th Regiment, 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division to secure the region. His Concerned Citizens turn over weapons caches, find and dismantle IEDs, man checkpoints, provide intelligence for US forces on al Qaeda in Iraq cells, and battle al Qaeda when attacked.

    Mustaffa was a captain in Saddam Hussein’s army. He served as an administrative officer in Baghdad, reported Lieutenant Colonel Ken Adgie, the commander of the 1/30. While Arab Jabour is predominantly Sunni, Mustaffa is married to a Shia and has given one of his four sons a Shia name.

    Mustaffa has looked beyond the security piece in Arab Jabour and has reached out for assistance from the Iraqi National Team, a nongovernmental organization in Baghdad. The Iraqi National Team provides humanitarian aid in Arab Jabour, where the national and provincial governments have no presence.....

  2. #22
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    I would like to ask your esteemed opinion about the below opinion.

    While it is true that in the short term the break up of the sunni tribes with AQI brings the much needed results, wont the shia tribes feel that the coalition is on the sunnis' "side" thus creating bigger resistence than before?
    Last edited by UrsaMaior; 10-10-2007 at 05:38 PM.
    Nihil sub sole novum.

  3. #23
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    The Jamestown Foundation's Terrorism Monitor, 22 Feb 08:

    Uncertainty Facing Iraq’s Awakening Movement Puts U.S. Strategy at Risk
    As Iraq’s security situation deteriorates in the midst of resurgent violence, an increase in internal and external pressures facing the Awakening (Sahwa) Movement may jeopardize the prospects and goals set forth in the U.S. counter-insurgency strategy created by U.S. General David Petraeus.

    The formation of the Awakening Councils seemed a promising linchpin to the “surge” strategy, which has shown concrete signs of improving Iraq’s security sector. Though the rise of the Awakening movement contributed substantially in limiting al-Qaeda in Iraq in the short term, its forces face uncertain and problematic long-term challenges. If the dilemmas confronting the Awakening members continue to be marginalized by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government, Iraq’s improved security situation is likely to revert back to sectarianism and civil war-like conditions.....

  4. #24
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    The Jamestown Foundation's Terrorism Focus, 27 Feb 08:

    Mergers and Acquisitions within the Iraqi Insurgency
    For the U.S. military, 2007 was the year of the surge in Iraq. The controversial troop increase—along with the rise of the Sunni Awakening councils and Moqtada al-Sadr’s truce—has combined to help tame both sectarian and insurgent violence. As for the insurgents, 2007 was a year of mergers and acquisitions, with groups consolidating into new fronts and alliances. This process of consolidation has gone remarkably unnoticed, possibly because its first order of business has been to take on al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and its Islamic State. But does this evolution bode well for the future stability of Iraq?.........

  5. #25
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    ....and Jamestown continues to track the issue:

    Sunni Rivalries in al-Anbar Province Threaten Iraq’s Security
    Growing rivalries between Sunni factions in Iraq’s al-Anbar province threaten the gains made by local “Awakening Councils” working in cooperation with U.S. forces against al-Qaeda gunmen. Leading tribal shaykhs in the province have demanded the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) leave the province within days. The IIP is the largest Sunni political party and a part of the governing coalition of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. More than 95% of al-Anbar’s roughly one-million-strong population is Sunni Muslim.

    Al-Anbar province was the original launching pad for the insurgency in Iraq five years ago. The fall of Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-dominated regime was a historic blow to the Sunni tribes that live along the Euphrates valley.....

    ....Yet it was in the same al-Anbar province where a story of success emerged. In October 2006, the late Shaykh Abdul Sattar Abu Risha—assassinated in September 2007—launched his anti-al-Qaeda “awakening” movement, known in the province as Sahwat al-Anbar.....

  6. #26
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    I think this was inevitable once the immediate needs of establishing security are. Now that there is some stability and even prosperity emerging - the fight begins for control over it. It's a problem of success.

    This wasn't unexpected, we'll see how well MNF-I and MND-W have prepared to mediate it.

    Also as I stated in my SWJ Blog post, the result of the awakening for good or ill long term was directly tied to the ability of the central government resolving the national issues.
    "A Sherman can give you a very nice... edge."- Oddball, Kelly's Heroes
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