Members Of the Awakening In Iraq Have A New Paymaster

Members of the Awakening or Sahwa group control a checkpoint in north Baghdad in 2007. The US military will next month transfer responsibility for paying 100,000 mostly Sunni fighters battling Al-Qaeda to Baghdad's Shiite-led government, the military said on Thursday. (AFP/File/Ahmad al-Rubaye)

US Says Baghdad To Start Paying Anti-Qaeda Fighters -- Zawya

BAGHDAD, Sept 4, 2008 (AFP) - The US military will next month transfer responsibility for paying 100,000 mostly Sunni fighters battling Al-Qaeda to Baghdad's Shiite-led government, the military told AFP on Thursday.

The government of Iraq and coalition forces have agreed in principle to transfer all 100,000 "Sons of Iraq" from October 1, US military spokesman Major John Hall told AFP.

The US military refers to the Sunni fighters, also known as the Awakening or Sahwa, as the Sons of Iraq or "SoIs".

"The transfer will start with the Baghdad province, with the other provinces following at a later date," Hall said.

He said Baghdad alone has around 54,000 Sahwa members under contract to the US military, and these contracts are expected to be transferred to the government on October 1.

"The first payment by the government of Iraq will be November 1, 2008. The current average monthly cost of these 54,000 SoIs is 15 million dollars," he added.

My Comment: The best spent money in this war. The next thing that should be done is something like a G.I. Bill or equivalent .... these men will need jobs or doing things that would preoccupy their time. You do not want them to go back to the mattresses and their underground groups.