Iraq taking control of anti-Al-Qaeda fighters

TAKING CONTROL: The 'Sons of Iraq' are mostly former insurgents who fought US and Iraqi forces after Saddam Hussein fell in 2003. (AFP)

Iraq began taking control of 100,000 Sunni Arab anti-Al-Qaeda fighters from US forces on Wednesday, amid concerns that many in the militia credited with curbing the bloodshed in the country will be neglected.

The transfer of responsibility and payments for all "Sons of Iraq" begins with 54,000 men in the province of Baghdad.

The US military uses Sons of Iraq, or "SOIs", to refer to the militia, also known as Sahwa (Awakening) Councils, which it recruited from among Sunni tribesmen and former insurgents.

Iraqi National Security adviser Mowaffak Al-Rubaie told newswire AFP "the GoI [government of Iraq] will pay the first salary on the Oct. 31, 2008". The monthly bill of Baghdad's 54,000 Shawas is around $15 million.

Control of the remaining Sahwas in central, western and north-central Iraq will be transferred gradually.

The mostly former insurgents who fought US and Iraqi forces after Saddam Hussein fell in 2003, have helped curb the violence since late 2006 after they sided with the Americans to battle Al-Qaeda jihadists.

Baghdad has said 20 percent of them would be absorbed into the country's security forces and that most of the remainder would be considered for civilian jobs.

The Sahwas have expressed mixed feelings about the transfer.

"I am looking forward to working with the Iraqi government. I would like to join the police force," said Firaz Abdullah, 19, as he guarded a checkpoint in Baghdad's Sunni bastion of Adhamiyah, a one-time Al-Qaeda stronghold.

"It will be good to be paid by the Iraqis rather than the Americans," said the fighter, dressed in a uniform similar to that of the Iraqi army.

But Sahwa leaders such as Abu Safa'a are worried.

"We are happy but also afraid," he said. "I am concerned about those who do not join the security forces. They are going to be targets of Al-Qaeda."

Al-Rubaie said Baghdad will continue to employ these men to expand the security gains.

"All volunteers are being carefully screened to ensure their physical abilities and background permit integration into the security forces. All will be treated fairly," he said.

Baghdad has also taken responsibility for assuring the economic future of those Sahwa volunteers who do not join security forces, he added.

However, if the transfer does not take place smoothly, Iraq risks erasing security gains achieved since late last year, lawmakers and analysts say.

Kurdish MP Mahmud Othman said "the Shi'ite government looks at them as a political enemy. It sees them as Arab Sunni fighters who were former Al-Qaeda or insurgents fighting the government and they have to be punished".

US commanders have also said they will help to ensure a smooth transition but warned that those fighters who do not find employment could be tempted to return to insurgent activities.

"The Sons of Iraq have paid a heavy price fighting Al-Qaeda with us," the US commander for Baghdad, Major General Jeffery Hammond, said last week.

"The whole world is watching what the government does with SOI transition, above all in Baghdad where it starts," he said.

"Guys who are not successful, they could be back on streets, angry, Al-Qaeda will be recruiting them, and we take a step in the wrong direction."

Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group said the real problem was not the transfer, but the absorption of the militiamen.

"It is very likely that as a result of mutual distrust the integration of the SOI into the state apparatus, security forces and jobs will be less than optimal," Hiltermann said.

"In that case it is very likely that elements of the SOI will revert to insurgency as a way, probably unsuccessful, of achieving their objectives of rolling back Iranian influence and regaining power."

Iraq has seen a downward trend in violence since the middle of last year.

As it stands, the number of Iraqis killed in September was 440, little changed from August, officials announced on Wednesday.

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