"The article seems to make sense from the security perspective. That is, if your goal is to eliminate AQI and the local Sunnis won't trust the mainly Shia Army, let them form a Sunni militia to do it. However, doesn't this cut against the central COIN tenant of establishing the legitimacy of the government?"

Yes, this does--leading us to ask if our operations in Iraq, or at least in Baghdad, are best understood as a counterinsurgency.

Doug