Iraqi Militiamen Frustrated That Promised Jobs Haven't Materialized

Sons of Iraq Payday in Multaka
Members of the Sons of Iraq gather at their headquarters in Multaka, Iraq, to register for their monthly salaries, March 6, 2009. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Brian Short

From McClatchy News:

RAMADI, Iraq — Al Qaida in Iraq fighters are returning to this dusty desert town and attacking the Sunni Muslim militias that once subdued them, and they may have infiltrated the makeshift police force.

However, Raad Sabah al Alwani, a local Sunni leader who helped the U.S. military overcome the extremists in embattled Anbar province in 2007, said his pleas to the Shiite Muslim-dominated Iraqi government for reinforcements and support had fallen on deaf ears.

In another Sunni enclave, south of Baghdad, Mustafa Kamil al Juboori, a local Sunni militia leader who helped oust Sunni militants from his Doura neighborhood, said that U.S. forces had guaranteed jobs in the Iraqi government for his men if they turned against al Qaida in Iraq. Nearly two years later, he said, only 20 of his 2,000 fighters have the jobs they were promised.

Read more ....

My Comment: It took an enormous amount of time, energy, blood, and negotiations to put together the militia that finally brought peace to the Sunni enclaves of Iraq .... and what we see today are the small steps that will ultimately lead to more sectarian conflict, bloodshed, and ultimately to the destruction of the Iraqi state.

This McClatchy story is very depressing.