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| Iraq |
| Iraq integrates over 40,000 Sahwa militiamen |
| 2010-01-11 |
| The Iraqi government has integrated over 40,000 Sahwa militiamen into the civil services, 30,000 of them directly into ministries. As part of national reconciliation efforts, Iraq has been integrating members of the Sahwa (Awakening) movement, who fought Al-Qaeda and its supporters alongside US and Iraqi forces in 2006 and 2007, which led to a drastic decline in violence across the country. Over 118,000 Sahwa members came under the direct control of the Iraqi government last October, US Major General Joseph Reynes told reporters on Sunday. Of them, around 10,000 have been integrated into the Iraqi security forces, he added. The US military began recruiting Sunni Arab tribesmen and former insurgents for the Sahwa militias in 2006, a move which some analysts say turned the tide in the war against Al-Qaeda in Iraq. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 There are many complaints about the pace of integration. Part of the issue is that most of these guys have no skills that can be used in governing, can't read or write, farmed or herded for a living before joining up. It's ten times worse in Afghanistan. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2010-01-11 17:50 |
| #1 This is an encouraging sign of integrating & nationalizing Iraq's various sects. Just think, if Joe Biden had had his way years ago, Iraq would have been partitioned along sectarian lines, and instead of integrating Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds under one flag in examples like this, there would be three separate nations with territorial/border disputes and proxy wars by neighboring powers to control the new mini-states. |
| Posted by: American Delight 2010-01-11 11:25 |