Handover of Sunni groups a slow process

Americans retain some control over ‘Sons of Iraq’

By James Warden, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, October 11, 2008

TAJI, Iraq — Sheikh Abid Mohammad Hussein stood with his country’s flag in his hands Tuesday, just below a stage on the Iraqi side of Camp Taji.

The "Sons of Iraq" leader turned and handed the flag to Col. Todd McCaffrey, commander of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division. McCaffrey then passed the flag to an Iraqi army commander. The display — intentionally echoing the American military’s change of command ceremonies — symbolized the recent transition of the "Sons of Iraq" from American control to the Iraqi government.

In this case, though, that authority may be more symbolic than actual. While the Iraqi government will be footing the bill for the "Sons of Iraq," American units around Taji will retain operational control of the groups until they feel the Iraqis are ready to manage them on their own.

Multi-National Division — Baghdad turned over control of nearly 55,000 "Sons of Iraq" members to the Iraqi government starting Oct. 1. The decision was part of a push to give the Iraqis more responsibility for their own communities and to encourage cooperation between the government and a program that it has often criticized.

Yet the Taji arrangement suggests that transition is far from complete.

Partly this is because the Americans still control the battlefield around Taji, said Lt. Col. Tom Boccardi, commander of 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, a subunit of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. American units are taking the lead in the area, with Iraqi units in support.

"Some of them are very capable, but they do not have the things they need," Boccardi said. "Quite simply, we are still in tactical control of the environment."

The Shiite government also has a history of conflict with "Sons of Iraq" groups, which rose out of a Sunni movement to make peace with the Americans, throw out insurgents and secure their own communities. Many politicians disparage the groups as little more than militias, and most American commanders concede that the program simply hired away poor, restless men who form the traditional fodder for insurgent recruiters.

The Iraqi government has already generated controversy by arresting some "Sons of Iraq" leaders.

The precarious nature of Sunni participation in the political process could allow any mismanagement of the groups to threaten Iraq’s fragile peace.

The government could disintegrate the groups if it had full control of them, Boccardi said. It’s harder for them to do that if the Americans retain some authority.

They’ve established "redlines" to create checks and balances on what the Iraqis can do to the "Sons of Iraq," he said. The government can’t target group leaders. They can’t arrest them without a valid warrant, which must have been seen by a judge. They must have objective evidence against the leader, not just a neighbor nursing a grudge.

The 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry, working with "Sons of Iraq" leaders, also determines where the groups’ checkpoints will be — a point Boccardi reiterated when one leader told him Wednesday that he worried the Iraqi army would push his checkpoints outside Tarmiyah, a city north of Taji.

"The tactical deployment of the‘‘Sons of Iraq’ is an American responsibility,""Boccardi said. "The Iraqi army cannot push you out of town.""

The Iraqis feel they’re in control, which was evident during the speeches they made at Tuesday’s transition ceremony.

"Coalition forces are not responsible any more for the ‘Sons of Iraq,’ " one officer said, reading a letter from the prime minister’s office. "If you need anything, go to the Iraqi army, and they’re going to help you."

American comments were more carefully worded, though: "We have stood beside you in the past, we stand beside you today, and we will stand beside you (during the transition)," McCaffrey said.

Sheikhs who lead the groups used the day’s ceremonies to make demands from their ostensible overseers, but they were vague about their new relationship with the Americans.

Hussein, one of the leading sheikhs in the area, said it would be up to the U.S. to determine its new relationship with the "Sons of Iraq."

Asked whether he’d go to the Iraqis or the Americans for help, Hussein demurred.

"It doesn’t matter," he said. "We don’t have to cut our relationships with friendly sides."