Sunni Worries In Iraq

Brig. Gen. Tarek Abdul Hameed, with the Iraqi Army, talked to Awakening leaders for the Baghdad neighborhood of Adhamiya in Iraq.

U.S. And Iraqi Officials Try To Reassure Citizen Patrols
About Transfer -- New York Times

BAGHDAD — Gathered in the domed hall of a palace built by Saddam Hussein, Awakening Council leaders in the Adhamiya neighborhood met with Iraqi and American military officers on Monday to learn what the future holds for them once the Sunni-dominated citizen patrols begin reporting to the Iraqi government on Oct. 1.

About 75 leaders and rank-and-file members from the western side of the neighborhood listened and murmured as Brig. Gen. Tarek Abdul Hameed explained what would happen when responsibility for paying and directing 54,000 Awakening patrol members in and around Baghdad was transferred from the Americans to the Iraqi government.

The meeting, the Iraqi and American officers said, was called in part to quash rumors that there would be mass arrests of Awakening members and that American forces would no longer be involved with the patrols.

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My Comment: The Americans ..... instead of being perceived as occupiers ..... are now being perceived as honest brokers and a guarantor for sectarian peace. What a difference two years makes.